Allardyce and Souness named in football bung report

The most damning criticism in the long-awaited document was for former manager Graeme Souness, who was accused of "inconsistencies" in evidence during his time as manager at Newcastle, and current St James' Park boss Sam Allardyce, due to the conflict of interests while in charge at Bolton, with his agent son Craig.

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They were the only two managers named in the summary of the 400-plus page report, together with 15 licensed and unlicensed football agents and third parties including the sport's most successful middleman, Pini Zahavi, who is registered by the Israeli FA and outside the jurisdiction of the English FA.

There are 17 transfers involving five Premiership teams - Chelsea, Newcastle, Bolton, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth - that remain suspicious and they will continue to be investigated by Lord Stevens' Quest team, the Premier League and the FA. The report states that Allardyce and Souness were each involved in four of them.

Souness's answers over the Newcastle transfers of Emre, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Amdy Faye were deemed inconsistent with those of Freddy Shepherd's son Kenneth, whom the report concluded "was acting in an undefined role but not as a club official".

Souness said through his solicitors: "I can't understand why my name features in this report. I volunteered full information to Quest as a witness and I've heard nothing further from them."

The biggest transfers named by Stevens were the three multi-million-pound Chelsea buys of Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Petr Cech. However, the finger was pointed at two agents, Zahavi and Francis Martin, who did not open their books for Quest investigators rather than the club, who were not accused of any wrong-doing.

The report claims Zahavi failed to co-operate, did not divulge his involvement in a number of transfers and did not allow his bank statements to be scrutinised.

There were also concerns about payments he made to agent Barry Silkman. Zahavi, Silkman and Souness have all lodged their protests over the findings and Zahavi's lawyer said: "My client believes he has been targeted because he is successful and enjoys a high profile in the football world. Mr Zahavi fully co-operated with the inquiry, providing Quest with detailed answers and documents regarding all questions. He gave an unprecedented offer to waive his bank account secrecy concerning the relevant transactions. Quest misused its powers and exceeded its authority. He has nothing to hide."

Silkman said: "I co-operated 100 per cent. I went to see them with my lawyer and showed them every single bank statement.

"They are a disgrace and I publicly challenge them to say what I did in the Fabio Rochemback deal (to Middlesbrough). If they say I have done anything illegal and suggest I've paid a manager, the manager concerned has to be Steve McClaren, the England coach who was then in charge of Middlesbrough. I will take them to court and do everything in my power to close down the FA, Premier League and Quest."

Martin's statement added: "Francis rejects the suggestion that he has been anything other than fully co-operative. He has been open, frank and transparent in his dealings with the inquiry and matters outlined in today's report. 'There is no evidence to suggest any irregular payments have been made to club officials or players. He has been taken somewhat by surprise by the findings and we will be pursuing this matter further as we are unhappy at some of the remarks being made."

Stevens wants FIFA to investigate Zahavi's worldwide involvement in football but a spokesman for the game's governing body said yesterday's announcement was the first they had heard of his involvement in the inquiry. Nevertheless, the FA will continue the hard detective work.