Bung busters lean on agent to blow whistle on top manager

The Quest inquiry and the Football Association are involved in behind-the-scenes negotiations to offer the agent immunity from serious punishment in return for hard evidence which would give the £1 million, year-long Premier League investigation the big-name scalp it needs.

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Despite suggestions that the authorities would not strip him of his licence if he spills the beans, the agent remains reluctant to become football's most famous whistleblower because of the huge publicity the case would attract and the likely effect on his ability to work in the industry afterwards.

But he now faces the threat of sanction if he fails to co-operate and it is thought he will throw himself on the mercy of the investigators.

The existence of the potential smoking gun' is believed to have been included in the report submitted by Quest to the Premier League on June 1.

If the manager concerned was found to have received an illegal payment, he would face the sack and a ban from the game,although from the experience of the one previous high-profile case uncovered against a football manager — the former Arsenal boss George Graham — it would not necessarily spell the end of his career.

Graham was exiled from football for a year in 1995 for taking a £425,000 bung from Norwegian agent Rune Hauge in connection with the transfers of John Jensen and Pal Lydersen. But he returned to manage both Leeds and Tottenham before concentrating on media work.

Neither Quest nor the FA were prepared to comment last night, but a source said: "It is a reasonable supposition that if someone were to provide information of a serious offence in which they were involved, they might receive a lesser penalty in return for their co-operation."

The agent's identity emerged in the course of Quest's investigation into two years of Premiership transfers and is the second important development in recent weeks.

Quest have shared information with the City of London Police's economic crime department, whose separate probe into football led to the arrest of a 61-year-old man in Manchester last month on suspicion of money laundering.

It is understood that evidence uncovered by Quest did play a part in the arrest but the person concerned is not a high-profile figure in the league of the Premiership manager under scrutiny.

Quest are continuing their inquiries while the Premier League decide how to deal with the latest report, which is also believed to reveal that they have been unable to sign off any of the 17 transfers which have been outstanding since the turn of the year.

One of the main reasons for not reaching a verdict on the deals has been the failure to gain co-operation from a number of foreign-registered agents.

Chief executive Richard Scudamore has long been under pressure to call time on the inquiry from clubs who feel it has cost too much and taken too long.

He is also being urged by clubs who believe they are in the clear to make public the transfers which remain under suspicion and so remove the cloud of suspicion from those who have done nothing wrong.

But closing the inquiry when it is apparently so close to a huge breakthrough would result in accusations of a cover-up.

Even if Quest are withdrawn, the FA will pick up the baton and investigate the outstanding issues. It has been suggested that they might ask the Quest team, headed by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens, to assist them.