With all the other ills of the English game to talk about, we had forgotten about corruption. With the arrest of Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, and four other men prominent in football yesterday, an inability to keep possession suddenly seemed like the least of our worries.

There had been the odd flurry of activity from the boys in blue in the past six months – raids on three football clubs in July, the arrest of Pascal Chimbonda on suspicion of fraud in September – but no inkling of something as shocking as a Barclays Premier League manager (and England candidate, in some eyes) spending the afternoon at Chichester police station helping with inquiries.

If we are honest, we had all stopped believing that the Stevens inquiry, and its high-powered offshoots led by the City of London Police, would lead anywhere. In a sport where there is always another match, another story, another scandal about to unfold, allegations of financial impropriety had slipped down the list.

The 55 charges thrown at Luton Town, their former chairman and six agents by the FA recently made for a dramatic headline and demonstrated that the governing body’s compliance unit has not thrown in the towel but nothing at Kenilworth Road appears to amount to the sort of serious crookedness that many suspect has gone undetected for years.

It remains to be seen what charges, if any, will result from yesterday’s arrests but it seems clear that the continuing investigations has its roots in the Quest inquiry led by Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington.

The transfer of Amdy Faye from Portsmouth to Newcastle United in 2005 had long been flagged up as one causing concern to Quest. Those two clubs (along with Rangers) were raided in July, when police took away documents and computers.

The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner declined to sign off 17 transfers in his final report but, while that seemed an inconclusive summary, it was confirmed then that he had been in contact with his old friends in the police force.

Indeed it was the revelation that information about malpractice had been passed to “the appropriate authorities” that should have stopped anyone from proclaiming that the final report, presented in 2006, was a complete whitewash.

Stevens might not have been able to present a head on a stake in the form of a bung-taking manager – someone to join George Graham in his lonely hall of shame – but the trail was still alive. And when someone knocked on the door, they would be wearing a uniform rather than just coming from the FA or Premier League.

The fact that detectives from the economic crime unit of the City of London Police are investigating allegations of corruption will surely be welcomed within football by those with nothing to worry about – and should be putting the fear of God into those that do.

But it also raises the issue of whether the football authorities are equipped properly to regulate the game. Quest raised the need for an independent clearing house for transfers, although it appears that the FA’s underresourced compliance unit is determined not to hand over that responsibility.

Few believe that the FA has the resources or teeth to do the job properly, and that knowledge can only have encouraged bad practice down the years. It is a very different story dealing with the police.

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