Reading Football Club and three of their staff members – Nigel Howe, Sue Hewett and Michael Gilkes – have been charged for breaching FA regulations on working with intermediaries.
The club has been fined £200,000, while Howe has been fined £5,000 and issued an immediate six month suspension from involvement with player contract negotiations, transfer activity and a further six month suspension from all football related activity.
Gilkes and Hewett have been warned regarding their future conduct by the FA.
The club has said: “The sanctions imposed will not immediately affect Nigel’s role in leading the sale of Reading Football Club. At the present time, Nigel is still considering his position in respect of this matter and the sanctions to be imposed.”
A statement from the FA reads: “it was alleged that Reading FC and Nigel Howe, Sue Hewett and Michael Gilkes – acting on behalf of the Club – as well as Intermediary Glen Tweneboah agreed for the latter to have an interest in relation to registration right or an economic right, namely to receive payments contingent on the future transfer of a player, which was a breach of the FA’s Intermediary Regulations.”
“Reading FC. Nigel Howe, Sue Hewett and Micahel Gilkes denied breaching Intermediary Regulation E5, but admitted a charge of improper conduct.”
A statement released by Reading Football Club says: “ The charges related to a single agent negotiation in 2019.
“The Club and each staff member, as well as the agent involved, were charged separately and recently attended a secondary hearing to determine the appropriate sanctions for the offence.
“At the sanction hearing, the regulatory commission imposed an agreed sanction of a reprimand and warning as to future conduct on both Sue Hewett and Michael Gilkes.
“The Club would like to state publicly that it is extremely disappointed with the decision and with the fact that, in addition to charges against the Club, charges were brought against individual club officials who were acting to protect a valuable club asset and ultimately the best interests of Reading Football Club.
“All clubs are extremely vulnerable to losing talented players that they have spent many years nurturing and developing. It remains a challenge to navigate and negotiate such deals in the best interests of the football club and these young players.
“On this one occasion, the Club’s conduct fell short of the high standards with which we usually operate, and the Club is committed to ensuring this will not happen again.
“Nigel, Sue and Michael, have each worked for and represented Reading FC in an exemplary fashion for over twenty years. There has been no prior history of offences, nor any since. The Club will continue offering the relevant support to the individuals concerned.
“The Club views these sanctions as excessive, in particular when considered in comparison to sanctions handed down in a previous case, which involved another professional football club and multiple breaches of The FA’s Intermediary Regulations over a ten year period. In our view, in that context, the treatment handed down to Reading Football Club, for a stand-alone, one-off incident seems exceptionally harsh.”
