February 10 – The English FA has closed its investigation into the hacking of Manchester City’s scouting database by Liverpool.
In a statement the FA said it had “carefully considered the evidence it received in this matter, including information provided by both clubs involved, and has decided not to progress the investigation.
“This is due to a number of factors including the age of the alleged concerns and the settlement agreed by the two clubs involved.”
Liverpool paid Manchester City £1 million in September 2013 to end allegations that the club’s scouts had been spying on the activity of their Manchester City counterparts.
The initial report, in the Sunday Times, named two former Man City scouts – Dave Fallows is Liverpool’s head of recruitment, and Julian Ward was loan pathways manager – as accessing the Man City database on the Scout7 system.
They gained entry to the online system using the log-in and password of a Man City scout between June 2012 and February 2013. That log-in enabled Liverpool to monitor which players Man City were tracking. Scout7 holds performance data and video on more than half a million players worldwide.
Fallow and Ward were both named in the £1 million settlement. The settlement was made without Liverpool accepting any liability.
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