"?Pino Pagliara, the agent who issued the claim that eight current and ex-Premier League managers took bribes from him, has admitted that his entire story was false.
Pagliara had been banned from football for five years in 2005 after match-fixing, yet the Daily Telegraph still decided to trust the unlicensed agent with his well-woven lies after an investigation that took many months of meetings and telephone conversations with him.
Pino Pagliara - agent at the centre of football corruption allegations - tells me he lied about PL bosses & bungs https://t.co/LXWU1z9X6j
He had been spinning the story to impress businessmen and get himself a lucrative contract.
"Do we want to eliminate corruption? Good. Let's start by looking for the real villains," Pagliara opined in an interview with Dan Roan of the "?BBC.
"They thought: 'Hey, it's easy to re-invent the villain. I don't know where to go from here."
Pagliara and Leeds United goes back to 2002 and Ridsdale claim over £300k Robbie Keane bung. https://t.co/6KbILSWTp1 #LUFC
Pagliara is more than happy to co-operate with the English FA.
"If they need me I'm here. I am certainly not running away. The FA have not been in touch or even the police."
Although the agent affirms that he has never offered money to managers, he does point out that his position gave him the power to wield influence.
Telegraph today says Allardyce could be charged with bringing the game into disrepute and banned from football. Good! He deserves both!
"I have never paid a manager a bung. I have obviously had some good relationships with clubs and managers who knew that, if his job ever came to an end, because of my relationship with another club he could get employment there.
"Of course I used the power that I had behind me. When I worked the patronage of Juventus that gave me this power, this privilege if you like. You can use it as a leverage - but I have never paid a manager."
The revelation comes after former England boss Sam Allardyce was sacked after being caught by a Telegraph sting operation, advising reporters posing as agents on how to bend FA rules and mocking Roy Hodgson's speech difficulties.
Pagliara emphasises how much cleaner football is actually becoming, which is important to remember at a time in which the same shadow looms over football that has been looming over athletics in recent times, to the chagrin of worldwide fans.
"It is a lot cleaner, there is no question about that. The whole industry has changed: the athlete, the football, there is more preparation to everything. I don't believe that there is that much to be changed."
Managers and coaches who have been named as part of corruption claims (Pagliara is one of three agents filmed in the sting operation) include QPR boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Southampton assistant coach Eric Black and Barnsley assistant boss Tommy Wright.
All of them have categorically denied the claims, and Pagliara claims the sting is "disgraceful" and has "ruined his life."
It is a reminder that these allegations should be observed with a critical, rather than obedient, eye.