EXCLUSIVE: The REAL scandal behind Game 39: Managers' union were poised to cash in

The League Managers' Association (LMA) were in detailed discussions for two years with Australian company Global Football Events (GFE) about signing a partnership contract that would have entitled them to a significant cash windfall if the International Round got off the ground.

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Last December, the LMA's deputy chief executive Olaf Dixon told the Australians they were 'willing to sign'.

The union's central role in this shoddy affair has emerged in a powderkeg email sent by a senior executive at Melbourne-based GFE, who floated the scheme but now have deep concerns at how events have unfolded.

Director Sharon Hall even claimed that the LMA could use Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, their most influential committee member, to help defuse criticism.

She wrote: "If the cynicism comes out, Alex Ferguson might be a strategy of the LMA — as in we can control him and remove one of the unrelenting negative influences if you sign us up."

Ferguson was one of the first managers to hear about the proposed International Round at an LMA committee meeting in August, but there is no suggestion that he was party to the strategy.

The LMA's plan was derailed when their chairman Howard Wilkinson told the Premier League's Richard Scudamore before Christmas about his union's proposed deal with GFE.

Scudamore hijacked the scheme, ensuring all dealings with Melbourne were directly with the Premier League — and rushed through the launch of the '39th step'.

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The Australians clearly detail their subsequent worries in the email sent by Hall who fears that Scudamore's demands and their long working relationship with the LMA will result in her company facing legal action — as the LMA will not be happy at being dumped.

She writes: "We need to understand how Richard is dealing with the LMA. He has not been privy to the extent of the financial benefit proposed for the LMA."

Sports Agenda revealed yesterday that former LMA chief executive John Barnwell had been the original go-between and his involvement was far more than introductory.

Barnwell, 70, who left the LMA last year with a sixfigure pay-off, has been offered a job by GFE as a consultant.

LMA chairman Howard Wilkinson said: "This is an issue between GFE and the Premier League. We never signed the contract. But any match abroad needs the managers' say-so."