It is the story of a football manager gambling nearly £1million and a long, complex police investigation that led to two former players appearing in court accused of blackmail.
It sounds like a plot that would seem too far-fetched for a television drama about football blurring the lines with alleged criminality.
But this was the actual scene played out in court on Friday as a blackmail case against two ex-pros was dropped after the manager in question — a self-confessed gambling addict — made it clear he did not wish it to continue.
Alan Rogers (right, above), formerly of Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, had been charged with one count of blackmail and another of perverting the course of justice.
Steven Jennings (left, above), a former Everton trainee who spent most of his career at Tranmere Rovers, had faced the same charges and another of blackmail.
The two defendants denied the offences and will not have to stand trial in front of a jury after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided it was not in the public interest to continue with a case that had already involved years of detective work.
A court order has been made for reporting restrictions to prevent the disclosure of anything that could lead to the manager’s identification.
The manager, it was said, wanted to drop his complaint and the judge had said previously the manager’s submissions caused him “concern about his (the manager’s) welfare”.
The Athletic was the only media outlet in court as an extraordinary picture emerged of an alleged extortion plot and a potential trial that the manager had been trying to halt for the best part of a year.
Rogers is now planning to sue the manager in question and says he will be “throwing the book at him” for damages.
The details of the case included:
- The manager in question gambled £879,000 ($1million) across two years, with losses of £270,000.
- A judge had to intervene after the manager offered match tickets to the detective leading the investigation.
- The manager had up to eight betting accounts and his gambling, ranging from £5 to £400, included a “handful” of bets related to football. It is prohibited in football for anybody to bet on their own sport.
Rogers, 45, began his career at Tranmere before Forest paid £2million to make the former Liverpool trainee a Premier League player in 1997. A tough-tackling left-back, Rogers earned the nickname “Tank” because of his playing style. He won three caps for England Under-21s and, after three years with Leicester, returned to Forest for a second spell. He also played for Wigan Athletic, Hull City, Bradford City and Accrington Stanley, retiring as a footballer in 2007, and has coached at Burnley and Tranmere.
Jennings, 37, had three different spells at Tranmere, for whom he made more than 200 appearances, and also played for Motherwell, Coventry City, Port Vale and various non-League clubs.
The judge recorded not-guilty verdicts against both men.
“I’ve no idea how I’ve been dragged into this, that’s the God’s honest truth,” Rogers told The Athletic after the hearing. “I’ve got to be careful what I say because I’m going to be throwing the book at him (the manager). I’ve never met this fella, never spoken to him, never been in his company, never been in contact, and somehow I’ve been dragged into his gambling addiction.
“I’m going to sue him now. This has cost me £85,000 to £100,000 in legal fees for something I’ve had absolutely zero knowledge of. I knew it was going to be thrown out of court.
“I’m putting a £100,000 deposit on file with my barrister and I want every single penny back that I’ve lost. I’ll be suing him and I will throw every spare penny that I’ve got towards hitting him from every single angle. I will also be challenging his anonymity because I have been named in public when I have done absolutely nothing. It’s actually comical, but these last few years have been a nightmare.”
The court had previously been told that the manager accepted he had a gambling problem and had “excluded himself from mainstream gamblers”.
At an earlier hearing, it was also revealed that the manager had signed a statement in January to say he did not want to continue with the case. He followed that up in August by stating that he was still opposed to the case going ahead and wanted to get on with his life. The judge, having read the manager’s submissions, said they “cause me concern about his welfare… he wants to put this firmly behind him”.
Rogers and Jennings were initially due to go on trial but the case was held up on several occasions while the prosecution, via the police, arranged to hold face-to-face talks with the manager to determine his position.
In a remarkable development, the judge ordered that the detective in charge of the investigation should not hold those conversations. This followed the discovery of text messages showing the manager inviting the detective and his son to watch one of his team’s matches.
Timothy Cray, representing Rogers, argued at the time that the detective should not be involved because of the discovery of these texts — and the judge agreed, despite an objection from the prosecution barrister, John Hallissey.
Hallissey said the detective had spent a long time cultivating a “relationship of trust” with the complainant, understood the case and had not asked for, or used, the match tickets.
In June, it was discovered that the manager had another betting account that had not previously been disclosed.
The manager had re-iterated that he “wants to get on with his life” and that left the prosecution to decide whether to discontinue the case or make him attend court against his wishes.
Amid a series of delays and apparent miscommunications, the CPS had been criticised for its handling of a case that, according to the initial judge, had a “long, difficult history”.
Judge Shaun Smith, who took over the case earlier this year, was even more critical. “It seems people are tiptoeing around this case,” he said. “This is falling into an absolute pit as far as the prosecution is concerned.”
Additional reporting: Tim Spiers and Philip Buckingham
(Top photos: Getty Images)