Shahid Khan calls claims of wrongdoing over proposed Wembley takeover ‘nonsense and bogus’
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SHAHID KHAN says claims of wrongdoing over his proposed Wembley takeover are “nonsense and bogus”.
The planned £600million sale of the national stadium to Fulham owner Khan was mired in more controversy after a sacked senior Craven Cottage employee accused his ex-club of “corruption”.
FA chiefs confirmed they are probing social media claims by Craig Kline, who was assistant director of football operations at Fulham until last year.
Kline, a university pal of Shahid’s son Tony Khan, made a series of explosive claims in which he urged the FA not to rush into the sale.
Khan, who also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, wants to pay £600m up front — with potentially a further £300m to come — to take over Wembley and make it the home of an London NFL franchise.
But Kline, who called in the police after he was sacked in November 2017, tweeted: “Dear FA Council (+ relevant police, MPs, regulators, press etc).
“I have key evidence of systemic corruption relevant to the Wembley vote which I’d like to submit. Please request this info from me.”
Kline added: “My friend Tony and I built a paper trail and tried to report and do right for years.
“We were both death threatened to not.”
But a spokesman for Shahid Khan said: “This is nothing more than the same ongoing nonsense and bogus claims made by a former employee who left the club in 2017.
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"Nothing here merits a further response.”
It is understood the FA received specific allegations from Kline in the past week and they were sufficiently concerned after a meeting with him to launch a fuller probe.
A brief FA statement read: “We have been contacted by Craig Kline who has made a series of allegations about Fulham FC.
“We are currently in the process of reviewing these allegations.”
A vote by the 127- member FA Council into the proposed Wembley deal, originally set for tomorrow, has now been scheduled for October 24.