Tottenham Hotspur have seen their dream start to the 2023/24 season derailed in the last few weeks with their back-to-back losses to Chelsea and Wolves in the Premier League. Now to make things worse, the club is facing some serious allegations of breaking the English Football Association’s rules in the past, surrounding ex-player and club hero Jermain Defoe.
Tottenham Hotspur Facing Allegations For Breaking Transfer Rules With Jermain Defoe
What Are Spurs Being Accused Of?
The Times’ Matt Lawton claims that the FA is getting ready to review a potential case of a serious breach of football agent rules when it comes to the transfer that involved Jermain Defoe moving to Spurs from Portsmouth back in 2008 for a fee of around £7.5 million. The Lilywhites allegedly used the help of an unlicensed agent, their former player Mitchell Thomas, to play a key role in getting the deal over the line.
Thomas was named on a list of agents without an official license in 2008, but Tottenham avoided any issues back then. While the FA took no disciplinary action against the North London heavyweights at that time, they are willing to re-open the case now and could potentially decide to take action against them 15 years later. Spurs are yet to comment on these allegations against them.
Could Spurs Face Any Punishment For Breaching Rules?
Lawton claims that breaching the FA’s agent rules can result in major sanctions and that Luton Town were docked 10 points in the same year for a similar offence. It is also claimed that “clubs can be hit with a transfer ban”, receive a points deduction or even be relegated depending on how bad the breach turns out to be.
While the FA might be preparing to restart their investigation into this case, there is still no confirmation if they will be dealing a heavy sanction to Spurs all these years after it happened. Jermain Defoe, who scored 140 goals in 361 career appearances for the Lilywhites, is now retired from the beautiful game. But with Everton recently being struck with a 10-point deduction for breaching transfer rules, it remains to be seen if Tottenham are punished for something they did so many years ago.
More must-reads: