Graham Bean was the Football Association sleazebuster who later helped some of the biggest names in football avoid the pitfalls of a disciplinary system he felt was often unfit for purpose.
Sir Alex Ferguson, Rafa Benitez, David Moyes, Gary Neville and Duncan Ferguson were just a handful of the stars who employed Bean’s Football Factors agency to defend them against charges levelled against them by the English game’s governing body. The former South Yorkshire Police detective won more than he lost.
Ferguson, in particular, had reasons to be grateful that Bean’s knowledge of the myriad of disciplinary rules and regulations was unsurpassed thanks to his four-year stint as the FA’s first-ever compliance officer. Bean said: “Sir Alex was my first big client after I set up Football Factors.
“He asked me to meet him at United’s Carrington training ground after he had been charged by the FA for criticising referee Neale Barry. What made the meeting ironic was when I got the call of Fergie, I was in Istanbul cheering Liverpool in that never-to-be-forgotten Champions League final against AC Milan.
“One of the first things he did was make a joke about me being a Liverpool fan - you couldn’t ever pull the wool over his eyes! But he made it clear that when it came to fighting the FA charge, he trusted me 100 per cent.
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“We didn’t win the case. But that was a technicality. I had driven a coach and horses through the FA’s case and Sir Alex was given nothing more than a warning about his future conduct.
“I remember him telling me over and over that (Jose) Mourinho would be going mad because he’d served a touchline ban for virtually the same thing. He absolutely loved that. I was given a 12-month consultancy contact with United worth over £50,000 - but Sir Alex made sure I was kept busy, alright.”
Bean quit his job in the police to join the FA in 1999 after they had been alerted to his investigative mind and nose for trouble during his work with the Football Supporters’ Association. But he quickly became disillusioned with the way football was being run - and realised there was a market to help those who found themselves suffering at the hands of the system.
Bean has published a book about his adventures in the game - ‘Bean There…Done That’ - and some of his tales are jaw-dropping. Like the time former Leeds owner Massimo Cellino appointed him chief executive - and then ordered him to make an illegal £250,000 payment to an agent.
“Leeds was a madhouse under Cellino,” said Bean. “He eventually appeared before the FA after the payment to the agent was revealed - and was fined £100,000 and suspended from football for 12 months. I am just glad their fans have now got the club they deserve.”
- Bean there...Done that' by Graham Bean is published by Empire Publications
