FA investigating Fulham over serious allegations made by former director Craig Kline

After initially announcing that it was reviewing Kline’s claims, the Football Association confirmed on Tuesday that it is now investigating the club

Craig Kline departed Craven Cottage in November 2017 (Getty)

The FA is investigating serious claims of corruption made against Fulham by the club’s former assistant director of football, Craig Kline.

Kline resigned from Fulham last November after a string of fallouts with a number of senior figures at the club. Last month he tweeted that he had evidence of “systematic corruption” accompanied by the hashtags “fraud”, “racism”, “kickbacks” and “minors”, and after initially announcing that it was reviewing the claims, the Football Association confirmed on Tuesday that it is now investigating the club.

Both Fulham and Khan strongly deny all allegations of wrongdoing.

Kline has alleged an array of misdemeanours in Fulham’s practices with regards to scouting players, transfers and dealing with agents, which he claims amount to fraud, child exploitation and racism.

Some of his accusations also related to Khan’s proposed bid to buy Wembley Stadium, which was subsequently withdrawn, although Khan insisted his decision to pull out of the deal was not influenced by Kline’s claims.

Kline, an American data expert, was a long-time friend of Khan’s son Tony Khan, and worked with the family for many years before joining Fulham’s recruitment team, but a turbulent relationship with fellow executives led to an acrimonious exit from Craven Cottage at the end of 2017. Fulham believe he holds a grudge and lacks credibility, but Kline claims to have witnessed major malpractice during his time in west London.