SOCCER: The agent at the centre of allegations that Manchester United acted improperly in the transfer of the goalkeeper Tim Howard has claimed the story had been leaked in order to discredit Alex Ferguson and his son, Jason.

Gaetano Marotta, a Swiss-based agent, negotiated Howard's £2.4 million transfer from New York Metrostars to Old Trafford last summer. According to documents obtained by the Sunday Times, Marotta paid £143,000, the bulk of his commission, to Mike Morris, an associate of Jason Ferguson, himself an agent.

Marotta maintains Morris is a business associate and that nothing improper can be inferred from the payment.

The English FA has said it will examine the allegations, but United are unlikely to face charges of improper conduct.

"The way I interpret this is that it is not a story about me or about Tim Howard, but it is from people who want to get at the Ferguson family," Marotta said.

"These are false and grave accusations but there is no justification for me to make. These are not accusations about me or about Tim Howard. Let the Football Association's inquest run its course and you will see. I have a partner in Mike Morris and that's it. People are wrongly mixing things up. I am Tim Howard's agent in Europe, all along I was working with SportsNet. Jason Ferguson is a client of mine. That is all."

Howard's agent in the US, however, disputed Marotta's claim to represent the goalkeeper.

"I am Tim Howard's exclusive worldwide representative," said Dan Segal of SportsNet in Maryland, whose clients include every significant American player from wunderkind Freddy Adu to the 1994 World Cup veteran Alexi Lalas.

Angry at the way his client's debut season at Old Trafford has been sullied by negative headlines, Segal clarified his professional relationship with Jason Ferguson's Elite agency.

"I had never dealt with Elite up to the point of the Howard transfer, nor during the Howard transfer. But since then we have had discussions about opportunities in business and potential deals. However, nothing has come of those to date."

United have denied reports that the plc board would meet Alex Ferguson to express its unease about his continued dealings with his son.

Jason Ferguson is representing his father in contract negotiations with the club, and has worked on behalf of United and players in around £50 million of transfer deals. This potential conflict of interest has in the past led the board to remind Ferguson that United's dealing must be seen to be above reproach.

Despite United's denials, quotes attributed to United directors indicate there is some disquiet within Old Trafford on the issue of transfers.

The material obtained by the Sunday Times included an invoice from Marotta, a document that would have had limited circulation within the club, and there has been speculation that the leak could have come from within Old Trafford.

Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's comeback from knee surgery has been delayed. Ferguson had pencilled the striker in for a reserve-team outing tomorrow. But the 30-year-old has instead been given a week off.

Trevor Brooking has defended himself against allegations he is unfit to be England's general manager, but the extent of the opposition to his appointment became clear last night when it emerged Alex Ferguson, Alan Curbishley, David Pleat and other influential figures supported Sam Allardyce's complaints against one of English football's most distinguished servants.

Questions about Brooking's coaching qualifications - or more specifically, lack of them - were raised in a newspaper column penned by Allardyce yesterday, and Bolton's manager is not alone in being "outraged" and "flabbergasted."

His colleagues on the League Managers' Association (LMA) committee include Ferguson, Curbishley, Pleat, Dave Bassett and its chairman, Howard Wilkinson, and at the last meeting the organisation felt so deeply about Brooking's appointment that a strongly worded letter was sent to Mark Palios, chief executive of the English FA.

As one of the most popular figures in the game, Brooking is a hard person to pick a fight with, but the LMA's decision was believed to be unanimous, backed by the chief executive, John Barnwell, and other committee members Frank Clark, Brian Flynn, Lawrie Sanchez and Steve Parkin.

In essence, their argument is that Brooking does not hold the necessary qualifications to be in charge of implementing FIFA and UEFA's recommendations on coaching, or fulfil his other job criteria of raising standards in areas such as grassroots football, youth development, dietary habits and physiotherapy.

"I've seen what Sam has written and he's entitled to his opinion, but I have to point out it isn't part of my brief to coach the coaches," said Brooking. "It's not a technical appointment. We have people like Les Reed who are fully qualified to carry out that part of the job. It's the way you run any company - different people perform different roles."