A soccer agent claims he once gave former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson a $39,000 Rolex in return for fixing a match
- Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been accused of getting a $39,000 Rolex watch for fixing a match, a court in England heard on Thursday.
- Soccer agent Giuseppe Pagliara, who is on trial for bribery in London, originally made the claim in 2016 during a meeting with an undercover journalist working for The Daily Telegraph, according to The Times.
- Queens Council Brian O'Neill at Southwark crown court also said Pagliara accused Ferguson of "having taken money as part of transfer deals."
- Pagliara denies two counts of paying and facilitating a bribe.
- Ferguson and Manchester United did not immediately reply to Business Insider's requests for comment on Friday.
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A soccer agent claims he once gave former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson a $39,000 Rolex watch in return for fixing a Champions League match against Juventus.
Giuseppe "Pino" Pagliara, a soccer agent who is on trial for bribery at Southwark crown court, initially made the claim in 2016 during a recorded meeting with an undercover Daily Telegraph reporter at a Manchester restaurant, a court in England heard on Thursday.
Pagliara, 64, also told journalist Claire Newell, who was using a pseudonym at the time, that Ferguson took money from transfer deals and split money with agents, according to The Times.
Queens Council for the prosecution, Brian O'Neill, said: "Towards the end of the meeting Pagliara launched into a diatribe about Sir Alex Ferguson, accusing him of having conspired with Pagliara to fix the result of a match against Juventus, with whom Pagliara was associated at the time, in the Champions League, for which Pagliara thanked him with a gold, thirty-grand Rolex watch.
"Pagliara went on to accuse Sir Alex Ferguson of having taken money as part of transfer deals, saying that he would only work with agents that used to share money with him."
The undercover investigation in which Pagliara was being probed was the same one that saw former England manager Sam Allardyce passing advice to reporters on how to "get around" FA rules regarding third-party ownership.
Allardyce was secretly recorded by Telegraph reporters in 2016 negotiating a $518,000 deal to share such information, and as a result stepped down from his role as England boss after just one game.
He was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the FA and the City of London Police, according to The Guardian.
Pagliara denies two counts of paying and facilitating a bribe.
Ferguson and Manchester United did not immediately reply to Business Insider's requests for comment on Friday.
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