Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger calls for tighter rules on transfers



The 57-year-old Canadian told ESPN that this week's reports in the Daily Telegraph alleging a culture of illicit payments between agents and managers had "shocked" and "upset" the Saints board

But Krueger said the Premier League club's recent success has been built on "honest and open" values and he now hoped that the rest of football would follow suit

" We've been a club that's been driving, wanting to get control of the evolving agent world around us and we believe we're going to have ears now," said Krueger, a former ice hockey player who went on to coach Switzerland and the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers

"We're going to use this, for sure, as a club, to fight for change and to fight for more regulation

"We are all for regulation, and we are one of the most disciplined clubs in English football in terms of the way we deal with agents and youth academy players."

Krueger is currently on a month's sabbatical while he coaches Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey in Canada but said pushing for changes to the transfer system would be "a bsolutely top of the agenda" when he returns to England next week

The Telegraph's undercover investigation has already forced Sam Allardyce to step down as England manager following indiscreet remarks he made about the Football Association's transfer rules and his predecessor Roy Hodgson

And there are now wide calls for an independent inquiry into the allegations that 10 unnamed managers who have worked in England's top two divisions have taken bribes, as well as further claims of conflicts of interest and corruption against Leeds owner Massimo Cellino, QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Barnsley assistant manager Tommy Wright

All those who have been named by the newspaper so far have denied any wrongdoing

Source : PA

Source: PA