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Newcastle fire coach after bribery claims
Newcastle fired assistant coach Kevin Bond on Tuesday, six days after he was implicated in an investigation into bribery in English soccer.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 10:37 am IST
Read Time: 2 min
Newcastle, England:
Newcastle fired assistant coach Kevin Bond on Tuesday, six days after he was implicated in an investigation into bribery in English soccer.
Newcastle had put Bond on paid leave since the screening of a BBC investigation last Wednesday. The bribery allegations stem from when Bond was assistant to Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth.
"Newcastle United has terminated Kevin Bond's contract," the club said in statement. "There is no further comment from the club."
Bond said he would pursue legal action against Newcastle, saying he was "extremely disappointed" that the club had acted before the Football Association had investigated the allegations.
The BBC's Panorama program broadcast a telephone conversation between Bond and a representative of a fictitious agency, during which it's alleged he discussed the possibility of receiving payments.
"My lawyers will shortly be going to court to compel the BBC to release full transcripts of the recordings," Bond said in a statement.
"Rather than waiting for this and the outcome of any FA investigation, NUFC (Newcastle) have made their decision solely on the basis of a few sentences carefully selected and edited by Panorama."
Bond, who joined Newcastle as an assistant to manager Glenn Roeder in July, also said last week he would sue the BBC for libel.
Bolton manager Sam Allardyce was also named in the program as a manager who benefited from illegal payments from soccer agents. He denies the allegations.
English soccer officials opened an inquiry into the claims after the program was screened. Former London police chief John Stevens is also expected to review the BBC evidence for his inquiry into soccer corruption, which is scheduled to report its finding on October 2. (AP)
Topics mentioned in this article
Football
Newcastle United
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