The Guardian:
Paul Stretford, the agent who counts Wayne Rooney among his clients, faces losing his licence after being charged by the Football Association with bringing the game into disrepute after allegedly breaching their rules and Fifa regulations.
Stretford last night vowed to fight all four charges which relate to how he acquired the right to represent Rooney, whose subsequent £27m move from Everton to Manchester United towards the end of 2002 earned the Formation Group £1.5m.
In issuing the charges the FA cited evidence which emerged during a blackmail case heard at Warrington crown court in October. Stretford resigned as a director of Formation, the holding company for Proactive, some three days after prosecution counsel alleged new documents showed he made false statements to the court which prompted the collapse of that trial, in which he was the chief prosecution witness.
Following disclosure of two documents subpoenaed from Formation the prosecution felt unable to rely on Stretford as a credible witness. It was claimed they revealed that he had been acting on Rooney's behalf as early as September 2002 when the player still had three months to run on his contract with his original agent Peter McIntosh.
Stretford, a former vacuum cleaner salesman who set up Proactive in 1987, had initially complained to police in 2003 that he was being blackmailed by three men - John Hyland, an associate of McIntosh, and the brothers Christopher and Anthony Bacon - into sharing any revenues he made by representing Rooney.
The agent's persistent claims during the trial that he had not poached Rooney from McIntosh were apparently in conflict with the documents, and all three defendants were formally acquitted. Cheshire Police investigated the collapse of the trial but decided against taking further action.
The disputed evidence from the trial surrounding Stretford's testimony prompted the FA to charge him yesterday on a variety of counts. He is alleged to have breached FA and Fifa rules by failing to protect the interests of his client and by enticing Rooney away from McIntosh's company, X8. In addition he is accused of failing to lodge three representation contracts with the FA, while, by issuing misleading witness statements to the police and Warrington crown court, "his conduct was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute".
Rooney:
"I have already informed the FA as to how I came to be represented by Paul Stretford and [his company] Proactive Sports Management.
"I am surprised that the FA have charged Paul Stretford and Proactive as I have already written to them explaining my decision to appoint Paul Stretford and Proactive. I was happy then and I still am."