The Telegraph’s undercover investigation into Sam Allardyce “was justified in the public interest” according to an official report.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation was responding to 25 complaints lodged about the story. It ruled in favour of the Telegraph in 22 of those, but has ordered the paper to publish a correction on 3 points of accuracy.
Allardyce, the former Blackburn, Bolton and Everton manager had just been appointed to the England job, when the Telegraph ran the investigation.
He told the undercover reporters that he knew how to get around player transfer regulations.
The story led to his resignation, just 67 days into the job.
In his complaint to IPSO, Allardyce argued that the reporting breached Clause 1 (accuracy) and Clause 10 (clandestine devices and subterfuge) in the Editors’ Code of Practice in 15 articles.
He said that the level of subterfuge employed by the newspaper had been “unjustified” and that the findings had been published in an “inaccurate and misleading way.”
In the 27 page report IPSO found that the level of subterfuge employed “was proportionate to the public interest identified.” It stated that the material required could not have been obtained by open means.
The committee also found that apart from 3 “significant inaccuracies” that the coverage of the investigation was not in breach of Clause 1 (accuracy).
The Telegraph has been ordered to publish a correction to the inaccuracies, including one that Allardyce had suggested a method by which a third party could benefit from “sell on fees” which was incorrect. The other wrongful assertion was that Allardyce had entered negotiations “to provide insights and guidance over how [the undercover reporter] could get around regulations banning third party ownership of players. These were in breach of Clause 1.
