FA up compliance unit numbers

The Football Association are to "significantly strengthen" the size of their compliance department to deal with all the allegations of corruption in football.

The compliance unit, which is currently made up of six staff, have been overwhelmed by the number of referrals in the wake of recent claims about bungs and illegal approaches for players.

The announcement comes three days before former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Stevens delivers his interim report to Premier League chairman on his investigation into 362 transfers that took place between January 2004 and January 2006.

The FA have been investigating bung allegations since Luton manager Mike Newell went public with claims earlier this year, and he was followed by BBC's Panorama programme, with Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston and England manager Steve McClaren's agent Colin Gordon also making damning allegations about the state of the game.

The increase in the size of the compliance unit was agreed at a meeting of the FA board on Thursday.

FA chief executive Brian Barwick said: "We have made it our priority to strengthen the compliance department so we can tackle the issue of corruption head on.

"We are committed to thoroughly investigating any wrongdoing in the game. The department is doing an excellent job and by bringing in additional resources we will be able to build on that work."

Meanwhile, Lord Stevens will make a number of recommendations to the 20 Premiership chairmen about how to tighten up the regulations to ensure that irregular transfer payments do not happen.

Stevens will also reveal that more than 10% of the 362 transfers need further investigation, most because they involved foreign clubs and often intricate payments, and will ask the chairmen if they want more detailed information on those.

He is expected to tell chairmen that his security firm Quest will need several more months to complete their investigations.