UNLIKE PANORAMA, LORD STEVENS OF Kirkwhelpington has not promised to “rock soccer”, but he will make the game sit up and listen today when he gives the most authoritative analysis yet of the extent of malpractice and corruption in English football.

The former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police will not name and shame individuals or clubs when he releases his interim report to present and former FA Premier League chairmen, but he will make it clear that the game has left itself open to accusations of corruption through its murky transfer dealings.

Stevens will give what one well-placed source described as a “stern address” on the bad practices that Quest, one of Britain’s leading corporate security companies, has encountered in the six months of investigation. The FA, the sport’s regulatory body in England, will be criticised for its failure to police the transfer system rigorously.

Brian Barwick, the FA’s chief executive, announced an expansion of the compliance department last week to try to head off specific recommendations in the Stevens report, which is likely to make it clear that there is rule-breaking among many clubs, although corruption is suspected among only a minority.

Investigators have been struck by the amount of money going abroad and by the number of middle men, some unlicensed, taking cuts from deals. Stevens is likely to be given a further three months to continue his work, which has cost the clubs £600,000.

The investigation into 362 transfers between January 2004 and January 2006 was launched by Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, after a number of allegations of corruption were made this year. The issue of bungs made headlines in January, when Mike Newell, the Luton Town manager, said that he had been offered backhanders, quickly followed by Sven-Göran Eriksson’s remarks to an undercover reporter posing as a sheikh.

The BBC’s Panorama programme made further accusations and while Stevens is likely to avoid emotive talk or conjecture, his conclusion that the sport needs to tighten its rules should offer succour to the likes of Newell and Colin Gordon, the agent of Steve McClaren, who have found their brave allegations of wrongdoing met with scepticism.

“I hope names will be named and I can see no reason why they wouldn’t be,” Newell said recently of his hopes for the Stevens inquiry. “The inquiry might scare a few people. That is what I hope will happen.”

Glenn Roeder, the Newcastle United manager, said yesterday that Stevens’s recommendations would be welcomed within football, although a few clubs had second thoughts about the wisdom of an inquiry after initially giving it unanimous approval.

“For me, it means everything that any wrongdoing and breaking of the rules is eradicated,” Roeder said. “If this one report can achieve that, fantastic, but if it needs another and another until it is eradicated, then so be it.”

George Graham remains the only manager in England to have been found guilty of accepting a bung. He was then dismissed by Arsenal and banned for a year. Others are known to have cut deals with the Inland Revenue after investigations.

Dave Whelan, the chairman of Wigan Athletic, yesterday called for managers to be banned for life if caught taking bungs. But, as Stevens may also make clear this afternoon to chairmen, and then at a media conference, it is not easy even for a former senior policeman to unearth strong evidence. However, he has not ruled out passing files on to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the most serious of cases.

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football