Luton chairman admits making illegal payments.

The former Luton Town chairman Bill Tomlins has admitted making illegal payments to middle men whilst his manager Mike Newall was claiming that corruption was rife in football.

In a long article in today's Daily Mail written by Bob Graham, Tomlins says he made '13 separate illegal payments to seven named agents, amounting to more than £150,000, and disguised with cheques signed from an account outside the main club finances but not declared to the football authorities.'

Luton could face sanctions from the FA over the illegal payments by Tomkins who has agreed a £650,000 golden handshake for leaving the club before he was pushed.

The paper says that 'Tomlins, a former second-hand car dealer, was interviewed in Luton’s boardroom by two investigators from the FA’s Financial Regulation Department in March and his taped confession runs to 37 pages.'

He tried to justify the payments by saying Newell had made it impossible for the club to deal with agents because of constant rows over their commissions for signing players from other clubs or renegotiating existing contracts with players.

Tomlins claimed one agent became so frightened of Newell that he rang the chairman and told him: "Bill, forget it, for 15 grand I ain’t ******* gonna have that — you know, I don’t need it."

Recalling one row, Tomlins told the FA: "He [Newell] said to one agent, when I was in the room: 'You’re a ******* parasite, I’m coming round your house, finding out where you live and I’m gonna rip your ******* head off'."

Tomlins described his former manager as "a bloody maniac". He added: "You know, that man is evil. He was a nasty boy around the club — a bully."

He told how Newell had bitterly argued against selling one of his top players, Kevin Nicholls, to Leeds United for £700,000 in July last year, shouting: "I ******* run the football side. This is my ******* job not yours."

The article goes on to list all the payments admitted by Tomkins and then revealed that the payments came from a bank account, controlled by Jayten Ltd, which Newall would not know about.

Tomkins then revealed how agents work.

"The way the agents work is talk about the deal, get the deal done, then they hit you about the fee."

Luton declared the details of official transactions and legitamate payments to agents but as the example shows other payments were made.

In one of the unauthorised deals — to Imageview for the Edwards signing in 2005 — Luton officially declared a £51,000 payment to the agent.

But what was not declared were four other payments totalling a further £45,000 that were paid out by Tomlins, using Jayten accounts.

They were never declared to the football authorities — or to the main board of directors at the club.

When Mitchell queried an invoice with Tomlins he was told: "Silly sods — they’ve sent it to the wrong company. I’ll deal with it."

Also in the article Cherry Newbery, the Luton club secretary, has spoken of what was going on. She compiled a 'private dossier of dodgy deals' and contacted the FA with her evidence.

The Daily Mail says that their revelations will 'vindicate Newell' who is due back at the FA inquiry into football bungs. They say that Newall was dismissed after asking 'uncomfortable questions' of the board.

And the FA said that once they had 'all the necessary information we will decide what further action to take.'

Hereford United manager Graham Turner may have some sympathy with Mike Newall. Turner is known not to like agents and their role in football.

"A lot of agents are despised in football," Turner once said.

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