The Sunderland fan who exposed one of football's most infamous scandals - and got the Black Cats promoted

For those unfamiliar with the tale, the Robins faced-off against Sunderland in the second division play-off final after a remarkable season under Ossie Ardilles. They won 1-0 at Wembley and were set to be promoted to the old first division.

But behind the scenes, a storm was brewing.

As the season drew to a close, the club were hit with a vast number of charges from the FA and Football League - dating back as far as 1985. There were 35 cases of illegal payments made to players over a four year period, while former team manager Lou Macari and chairman Brian Hillier were also banned from football and heavily fined after betting on Swindon to win an FA Cup tie - ironically, against Newcastle United.

Swindon’s case was supposed to be heard on May 4, before the play-offs, only to be postponed on legal advice. That came after Hillier, Macari and club secretary Vince Farrar were all charged by police for ‘intent to defraud Inland Revenue by making payments without deducting tax or NI’ (Farrar and Hillier were later found guilty, while Macari was cleared).

That added complication meant the case couldn’t be heard until early June - at which point Swindon were demoted two divisions, with Sunderland taking their place in the top flight.

The Robins would later see their punishment reduced to just a one-division demotion, while the Black Cats fought off challenges from Newcastle and Sheffield Wednesday - who both felt the place in the first division rightfully belonged to them - to take their spot in the top flight.

And while the story is now infamous, particularly among supporters of the clubs involved, there is a great deal of speculation as to how it eventually came to light.

The man responsible for breaking the story was Sunderland supporter and Sunday People journalist Bill Bradshaw - who has told the tale of how the story came to light in ‘24 Hour SAFC People: Season Three’, which has been published by A Love Supreme.

“I got a call at the Sunday People office in London, from somebody who I didn't know,” writes Bradshaw.

“They called me because I used to do the football stuff for the People, I was the man pulling together this Sunday transfer gossip column, which was called Hotline. It used to pull together all the tittle-tattle that all the Sunday papers did, and still do, to some degree, but in those pre-internet days it was the main source of gossip

“It was this very nice-sounding woman who rang and she just said we think you should investigate the goings-on at Swindon Town Football Club, because there's all sorts of stuff going on in the finance department, and the commercial department, that you should look at as well.”

“Well, I went out there and it became apparent that there were very concerned people in the commercial department and administration. Below the very highest levels, I'm not talking about directors, but below the very high levels they were concerned about some of the things going on.

“And the thing that they came up with first that made me want to investigate was “what would you say if we told you that the chairman and the manager bet against their own team in a big game?”

“Well, that would be astonishing. Anyway, the ball was rolling, I was interested, and I convinced my sports editor to let me run with it. And it was just me.

“A couple of meetings later it became apparent that the game we were talking about was the FA Cup fourth round game, in January 1988. Swindon, who were doing well in the Second Division at the time, were playing Newcastle, who weren't doing that well in the top division.

“So, it wasn't a cut and dried match at all. This would have been the Newcastle team of Gazza, Neil McDonald, Paul Goddard and people like that, you know.

“So, they had bet what at the time would have been a lot of money, thousands of pounds, on Newcastle to beat Swindon. Newcastle won the match five nil, which raised a few eyebrows at the time, but nobody thought much more about it other than it was a high scoring FA Cup win. Anyway, the people involved were the chairman, a fella called Brian Hillier, and the manager, Lou Macari. They'd won £5,000, so I worked on the back end of the story, but for ages

“I couldn't really get the evidence to stand it up. I believed the sources, that they'd had the cheque and banked it, but I needed proof.

“Anyway, to cut a long story short, and this was after I'd been basically lied to by the Ladbrokes PR machine, they'd tried to put me off and tell me there was nothing in it, eventually from inside the club, and I'd built up the confidence of the people inside the club that I was dealing with by this stage, I got what I needed.

“They had somebody there who had photocopied the actual winning cheque. They got it to me and that was game, set, and match.“

You can read Bradshaw’s full tale - including details of ‘brown paper bag’ payments, ambushing managers outside lifts and being owed a pint by Bob Murray - in A Love Supreme’s ‘24 Hour SAFC People: Season Three’ which is out now.

Also featuring chapters from Gary Rowell, Gordon Armstrong and Martin Smith among others, the book can be purchased now at https://www.a-love-supreme.com/product-page/24-hour-safc-people-season-three-pre-order.

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