Tottenham is facing severe charges of breaking transfer rules in the Jermain Defoe move to Portsmouth.
Tottenham is facing significant charges that they broke transfer rules when Jermain Defoe moved to Portsmouth in 2008.
According to the Times, new evidence suggests that Tottenham used an unregistered agency when agreeing to transfer ex-England star Defoe to Portsmouth for £7.5 million in January 2008.
The Football Association took no action at the time, but it is understood that the governing body is prepared to investigate the allegations.
Previously, violations of FA agent rules resulted in point reductions, transfer bans, and punishments for club officials.
“The case was heard by an independent arbitration panel 15 years ago,” said an FA spokeswoman.
“The FA did not participate in the arbitration.” The amount of information shared with the FA at the time is unknown, and no disciplinary action was taken. If there is new material that was not available at the time that implies major violations of our policies occurred, we will evaluate it.”
In the same year, Luton Town were punished ten points for breaking agent laws, while Tottenham finished three points ahead of Manchester City to qualify for the Champions League.
Sky Andrew, Defoe‘s agent, originally raised the charges about the former striker’s move to Fratton Park after he was dropped by the former striker, who claimed to represent himself in the transaction.
“At the arbitration hearing over the Defoe transfer, the panel found that Mitchell Thomas, the former West Ham United and Tottenham player and unlicensed agent, was a central figure in the deal,” according to the Times. In 2008, the FA included Thomas to a list of agents who were working in football without a licence.
“It was also heard that Levy hired a licenced agent, Stuart Peters, to represent Tottenham, but no representation contract — as required by FA rules — appeared to be in place.” Levy agreed to pay Peters about £1 million for his contribution to the £7.5 million transfer.”
When contacted for comment, Tottenham and Portsmouth both declined.
The Times’ chief sports writer, Matt Lawton, joined talkSPORT to provide context on the story.
“At the time, Defoe had a representation contract with Sky Andrew,” he explained. It resulted in arbitration because Sky believed Defoe was in breach of his contract, because a footballer cannot use his agent if he essentially negotiates himself.
“However, the consensus was that he’d used a licenced agent named Stuart Peters, as well as the assistance of Mitchell Thomas, an ex-Tottenham and West Ham footballer who was an unlicensed agent.”
“There was a private arbitration, and there was some reporting at the time, but we don’t get to hear these arbitrations, what happened, the outcome, or anything.” Actually, we now know that Sky won the case, and the panel of three QCs at the time found that Mitchell Thomas, an unregistered agent, was a key participant in this negotiation.
“He basically helped broker the deal and had dealt with Tottenham, with Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy, with Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, and with Defoe himself on numerous occasions on the day of the transfer.” This was all recorded in phone records obtained through a High Court order, and once the panel received these phone records, they realised there were probable violations of FIFA and FA agent rules.
“These rules are in place to protect the integrity not just of football but of the transfer market, they’re are very serious rules that have to be complied with.”
“Another issue raised by the panel was that the agent that Tottenham did enlist, there was no evidence in the hearing that there was a formal representation contract in place,” Lawton continued. You must also have one of those, resulting in two potential breaches.
“When Luton Town were found to have paid agents without representation contracts the same year, they received a ten-point deduction.” When Massimo Cellino of Leeds was found to have dealt with an unregistered agent in 2017, he was suspended from football for a year, fined £250,000, and the entire Leeds board was had to attend a football intermediary education course. So, once again, I want to underline that these are significant violations.
“At the conclusion of such an arbitration, the arbitrators forward the file to the FA.” We don’t believe the FA took any action in this matter. We don’t believe any charges were filed, no punishments were imposed, and no one was penalised for this.
“By the time this award was given in early 2010, Defoe was an England footballer who had played in the World Cup that summer.”
“No action was taken, according to the FA.” They are also not certain, based on the statement they gave us, that they received all relevant material, and now what they’re saying is that if the full details of this case come to light, which we are now exposing in The Times, they will revisit the case.”
Meanwhile, Defoe‘s former agent Andrew concerns football’s regulating bodies’ lack of action.
“Arbitrations need to be taken seriously, it’s supposed to be a serious process where people get evidence and people get to the truth,” he told talkSPORT.
“Once that happens, I believe the governing bodies must look into it to see if anyone has done anything wrong or anything of the sort, because otherwise, what’s the point of an arbitration?”
“The entire point of it is to be a court of law, outside of a court of law, and a confidential process that comes to a conclusion, and once it comes to a conclusion, it has to move on to the next phase.”
“What Matt tells me is that it did go to the next phase and the governing bodies… well, I can’t say that they haven’t done anything because I don’t know that process, but it does seem that nothing’s happened.”
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