ON THE day that the Football Association showed its eagerness to act decisively to rid the game of corruption, The Times can reveal that the FA Premier League chairmen were divided over whether to release the names of the eight clubs that remain under scrutiny in the bungs investigation led by Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington.

Charles Collymore, the agent and catalyst for the recent round of inquiries, was charged by the FA with offering Enoch Showunmi, the forward, to Millwall while he was still under contract at Luton Town. He was reported by Mike Newell, the Luton manager, whose comments on illegal payments prompted the Stevens inquiry.

The FA denied that the timing of the charge was linked to the bungs inquiry and claimed that it is still investigating the other agents named by Newell.

Collymore, who is abroad, has until October 17 to respond to the charges, which include breaching regulations by not having a formal contract with Showunmi or not having lodged it with the FA. The charge is unrelated to his comment in the BBC’s Panorama programme in which he said “Sam likes a deal”, a statement that put Sam Allardyce, the Bolton Wanderers manager, under the spotlight. Allardyce has denied any wrongdoing.

“There is a lot I want to say but have been told not to. But I will do so in due course,” Collymore said yesterday. “I want to clear my name.”

The identities of the clubs still under scrutiny by Stevens and his team remain secret, but there was disagreement between Premier League chairmen on Monday about whether those still being probed should remain anonymous.

Some chairmen expressed their concern about being tarnished by suspicions, innuendos and allegations during the meeting with Stevens before his interim report was made public. They believed that there was a case for naming the eight clubs and 39 deals that will continue to be investigated, so that blameless clubs would be known to the public.

The group were persuaded that it would be better to wait until all the evidence was known, but they made it clear that the clubs and individuals involved in any suspicious deals must be named at the end of the two-month extension granted to Stevens and his Quest team, no matter what.

Around half of the 39 transfers still under scrutiny — 362 that took place between January 2004 and January 2006 were investigated — are said to be domestic. Stevens is confident of uncovering corruption, but it could be harder for him to pinpoint skulduggery in deals with foreign clubs.

The FA is eager to show its robustness and take advantage of the climate on bungs to push through new regulations on agents at its board meeting next month. It wants to outlaw dual representation, whereby an agent acts for a club and a player in the same deal, and to tighten up its rules over what people who act for players must reveal about themselves.

At present, only agents need to register information with the FA, but in future family members, lawyers and accountants acting on their behalf will also need to do so. The FA also wants overseas agents to come under its regulations when they are conducting deals in this country.

The FA yesterday suspended the agent’s licence of Saif Rubie for allegedly failing to provide information on his company and warned Ian Elliott about his future conduct after he admitted a charge of failing to lodge with the FA his representation contract with Grant Leadbitter, the Sunderland midfield player. Elliott was cleared of two other charges, which included trying to entice Leadbitter “from other parties”.

The FA is close to completing its inquiry into Ian Holloway’s allegation that he was offered £30,000 as an incentive to sign Gino Padula from Jerez while he was manager of Queens Park Rangers.

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