Bolton manager dismisses accusations

Lord Stevens is currently conducting an inquiry into illegal payments, but Bolton manager Sam Allardyce who was the focus of a Panorama expose last month dismissed any claims of wrongdoing.

Allardyce said he had nothing to hide and will be happy to talk to Stevens and his Quest team. "Have I taken one? No. Have I ever been offered one? No. Never, not by anyone," Allardyce told The Sun. "If Quest ask whether I've been offered an illegal payment, I will answer them. That Answer will be 'No'.

"He is a man of evidence, an ex-copper, and if he saw that programme he must have been saying 'what the hell was that? A trial by media? Guilty until proven innocent?'

Allardyce has said that the Panorama programme has unfairly singled him out. "It only seems to be about me, nobody else. Yet I've done nothing wrong. That makes you angry," he continued. Panorama used so-called top-line under-cover reporters for 14 months, spending a lot of time and money, and got nothing."

Allardyce has been delighted with the support he has received since the allegations, with fans and members of the football fraternity from around the country backing the Bolton boss.

"The general public don't think anything of it," he said. "Everywhere I've been, I've had support, whether it be in Newcastle, London, Manchester, Preston or Bolton and that's the biggest comfort. "You expect backing from the people who are close to you but the amount of public opinion makes me determined to carry on and get through it.

"I've had to keep quiet for so long because of legal advice and opinion. But now it's time to say 'I'm here, I'm not hiding'. I owe that to all those who have been backing me."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.