Gareth Barry, the Premier League’s record appearance holder, has been warned by the English Football Association after it found he breached regulations when providing “substantial funds” used to invest in Swindon Town.
Barry and his former agent Michael Standing were charged by the FA in November 2021 after it was alleged the pair had broken intermediary rules when providing financial backing of the League Two club between 2013 and 2019.
FA regulations prohibit agents and players from owning clubs due to the potential conflict of interests and an independent commission found that Standing, via money loaned by Barry, had contravened rules when helping to fund Swindon in partnership with the club’s former chairman Lee Power. The commission heard Barry had been earning £100,000 a week at Manchester City and £70,000 a week once transferring to Everton in 2013.
Standing, once a team-mate of Barry’s at Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa, was given a six-month ban from all football activity this week, though its backdated form means the suspension had already been served.
Barry received a warning over his future conduct. The commission accepted the former England international had not “acted deceitfully or dishonestly” when giving Standing money used to fund the running of Swindon Town and that his “motivation was generosity towards a friend.”
Charges against Power, who denied any wrong-doing, were found not proven but Swindon Town, who admitted a rules breach, were fined £25,000, with half of that sum suspended for two years. First Touch Pro Management (FTPM), the agency who Standing used to serve as a director, was also fined £40,000.
The ruling marks an end to a protracted case that has included a separate hearing at the High Court to prompt a full FA investigation.
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It has long been established that, in 2013, Standing agreed a deal with Power that would see him purchase 50 per cent of the club’s shares for £300,000 and also provide a further £500,000 for working capital. Barry, then of Manchester City, agreed to loan money to Standing “for the purposes of investing in, and funding, Swindon Town”.
An agreement was struck that would see Power legally hold 100 per cent of shares in Swindon but 50 per cent of those would be held in a trust for Standing, whose role would be kept confidential.
Power alleged in 2020 that the agreement had, in fact, been with Barry to take on a silent partner role but that was always denied by Standing and his high-profile client. Barry, like Standing, was then prohibited from owning any shares in a football club due to being an active player.
A series of payments were made to Power’s company, Power Bloodstock, across a six-year period, with Barry’s company, Lindene, said to have invested £1.3million on top of an initial outlay of £450,000. Contributions from FTPM and Standing took the total funding provided to £6.27million between 2013 and 2019.
It was only when Power sold 15 per cent of his shares in 2019 to current owner Clem Morfuni, an Australian businessman, that Standing began legal action to claw back his investment through the High Court. It was said that Standing was owed £3.7million of the £6million loaned.
The FA’s own investigation brought wide-ranging charges upon Standing, Barry and Power in 2021 and a two-day hearing held last month found multiple breaches in the case.
Barry had denied the two charges levelled against him but it was found he was in breach of Rule E4 on the Working of Intermediaries Regulations after it was accepted that the decorated midfielder could have theoretically exerted materially influence through his loans to Standing and FTPM.
The commission concluded that “it is more likely than not that GB (Barry) lent money – albeit large sums of money – to his long-standing friend, MS (Standing), as an act of generosity and on particular terms but without GB thereby acquiring any interest in the affairs” of Swindon.
“Our conclusion is that it was not a clandestine arrangement to disguise the true interest of GB as a beneficial owner of STFC (Swindon.)… We think these were genuine loans,” it said.
Barry made 653 appearances in the Premier League during time spent with Villa, Manchester City, Everton and West Bromwich Albion and won 53 England caps. He announced his retirement in August 2020.
(Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
