McClaren opts out of the agent issue

England's head coach Steve McClaren has refused to say whether he will be retaining his agent, Colin Gordon, who has been accused of unethical behaviour by Middlesbrough and has also been strongly criticised by the newly formed Football Agents' Association. Last week Gordon declared that "a majority" of English agents are corrupt - which he was immediately forced to dilute to "a minority".

Middlesbrough's chairman Steve Gibson then alleged that when McClaren was the club's manager, Gordon was "perpetually on the telephone trying to move McClaren to Leeds". Gibson told McClaren that his agent's behaviour was "an absolute disgrace" and that he was banned from the club. Now West Bromwich Albion have said that Gordon has offered them the Middlesbrough and England coach Steve Round.

McClaren, however embarrassed he may be, declined to discuss the issue or the wider aspect of corruption, which the Football Association and the Premier League are investigating. "I'd like to make it clear that the views expressed by Colin were his own individual opinions," he said. "I was not aware of him making the comments until I read them in the newspaper. They are Colin's personal views and I'd like to reiterate that they are not mine. I don't intend to make any further comment on the subject, I don't want to get involved or enter into the debate and I'm not going to answer any questions on the matter."

Later he reluctantly added: "Whatever's going on in the game at the moment, it's not that the FA are not doing anything about it. The FA are dealing with everything that's been said and it's not my job to comment." New staff will have to be recruited to the Association's Compliance Department to deal with the increasing number of allegations and complaints about illegal payments. The problem is that few of those coming forward can supply any hard proof.

A total of 27 clubs will be represented at a meeting tomorrow to hear details of Lord Stevens' report into any irregularities in 362 deals covering the five transfer windows from January 2004 to 2006 inclusive. Lord Stevens has privately briefed the Premier League's chief executive Richard Scudamore. The principal recommendations will be put before the clubs tomorrow and are expected to be made public later in the afternoon.

But it is understood that anything from 60 to 100 of the deals looked at by Lord Stevens' corporate security company, Quest, need further investigation, which could take another three months.