THE NET IS CLOSING

A howling contradiction crept into Lord Stevens' statement on Monday, when he let down a feverish press pack with his modest revelation that he needs time to inquire further into 39 of the 362 Premier League transfer deals his team have spent six months investigating.

He was happy, he said, to "sign off" 323 deals as clean under the terms of his inquiry, meaning that none of the money paid to agents as part of those deals was kicked back, or "bunged", to a manager, chairman or other official at one of the clubs involved.

Stevens promised "thorough, detailed and robust" work into the remaining 39, then went out of his way to stress he had not been given adequate co-operation so far by agents, with only 65 of 150 responding fully to his team's questionnaire. The Football Association, which licenses agents in England, is putting its authority behind Stevens, promising disciplinary action if agents do not provide full information, including access to their bank accounts, which is vital if the money trail is to be followed to its true destination.

Those two pieces of news begged an obvious question: how could Stevens pass almost 90% of transfers as clean if his team have struggled so badly for agents' co-operation? And how satisfied, therefore, do we feel with his conclusion?

No details have been released about the remaining transfers which Stevens now has two months to investigate, but some significant pointers have been given about what has given rise to concern. Stevens, on Monday, said approvingly that many informants had come forward to provide "intelligence and information" on "complex relationships within the game".

The interest of Stevens' team has been sharpened where managers have been found to commonly work with the same agents. Bearing in mind that agents are paid directly by clubs whether they act for players or the clubs as deal-makers, Stevens' team has also noted where apparently very large fees have been paid for the size of the transfer or the amount of work actually done by the agent. A Premier League spokesman told me that concern is also flagged up where an agent has been paid having only arrived late in a deal.

Stevens' team has its eye on "relationships" - on networks of agents and managers who work together often, doing big deals involving eyewatering amounts of money, often with a club overseas.

Stevens' findings this far, therefore, offer the conclusion that corruption is not routine in football - which supports the many agents and managers protesting they do things by the book - but that there is a stubborn, sizeable minority involved in complex relationships who may be "at it". The net, we are promised, is now closing on them.