i ve spoken to the parents of seven under 16 footballers who all told me that colossal had made approaches offering their services. i ve also been leaked this email detailing the minutes of a colossal meeting that took place at this south london restaurant in 2017. the email includes a list of players the agency wanted to sign six of whom were 11; or younger at the time, and aidy ward is cc d in. i ve also been shown whatsapp messages from 2019 that show that the agency still had under age players on its books. and last year a complaint was lodged with the fa, alleging aidy ward had paid £15,000 to the mum of an under age player. the fa are still investigating the case, but i ve a source who says he s got the inside track. and is willing to meet.
that was extraordinary. we knew that aidy ward was being investigated for alledgedly approaching an under age player, but we didn t know the detail. and i have just seen text messages from representatives of colossal to the family and then the alleged bank transfer on money from colossal to the family of a player who was under age. i ve been given evidence, which i ve agreed not to show on screen. testimony to the fa from a former colossal employee about how aidy ward signed an underage player. first he took the boy and his mum to this italian restaurant in london. here, he made a video call to his most famous client, raheem sterling. a minority shareholder
in the agency. aidy ward passed the phone to the boy, a move guaranteed to impress any 15 year old. later there were gifts from aidy ward first football boots, then cash to the boy s family. a total of £15,000. before the final payment was made, the boy s mother signed an agreement, even though the player was under age. raheem sterling dropped aidy ward as his agent last year. his lawyers told panorama that as an england international he feels a responsibility to speak to aspiring players and has done so a couple of times at mr ward s request. however, he doesn t speak to them about agents or financial issues and he supports fa rules designed to protect young players. we wrote to aidy ward with a detailed list of questions. he says he can t comment
did it affect your mental health? i was in my room 21w, didn t want to leave, i didn t want to do anything. like i was really not in a good place. foday was released by fulham in march 2018. he blames aidy ward for pushing him into a move he was never happy with. i didn t want to go there in the first place. i didn t feel like i ever really settled in. i would be on my phone to my friend on the way to training, crying, saying how much i didn t want to go. it was very painful. foday is currently without a club and training with a non league team. aidy ward s career as a football agent has gone from strength to strength. but the evidence is mounting, that his agency colossal targets underage players.
he liked nice things. every time i saw him it was a different watch. and then he d joke about, ah, when you make da da da da, i ll get you one of these. looking back at it now, there is alarm bells. if it was outside of football, would you speak to a 12 year old on the street when you saw them without their parent? foday says his mum him signed him up with aidy ward. and that aidy ward began talking to him about moves to other clubs. what did they say? just that how many teams wanted me to go to them and why i should, like, why i should go. that s like when my head started getting to. into my head a bit. birmingham was in the championship. now foday was being introduced to premier league clubs. went to man city the first meeting. went to like chelsea for the day. went to west ham for the week.