ERIC Black will today spend his 53rd birthday wondering if he has a future at Southampton Football Club.

The assistant coach was captured on video at a New Forest hotel talking to an undercover reporter purporting to be a representative of a Far East firm looking to invest in English football.

The meeting was arranged by Scott McGarvey, the football agent who also teed-up Sam Allardyce’s, pictured, now ill-fated meeting with Daily Telegraph undercover reporters which cost him his job as England manager.

Mr McGarvey is a good friend of Mr Black’s from their Scotland days in Scotland together.

The video appeared to show Mr Black and Mr McGarvey discussing managers and coaches in the lower leagues and how they could possibly be persuaded to identify players who could be signed up on management contracts.

FA rules state that intermediaries “must not give, offer or seek to offer, any consideration of any kind” to a club official “in return for any benefit, service, favour or any kind of preferential treatment”.

A spokesman for Mr Black told the Telegraph: “[Mr Black] does not recall Mr McGarvey making suggestions that football officials should be paid during transfer negotiations – this was not the purpose of the meeting so far as our client understood it. Any suggestion that he was complicit in such discussions is false.”

Saints have asked the Daily Telegraph to provide them with all the video and written evidence they have from their reporter’s meeting with Mr Black and Mr McGarvey.

Until the newspaper does that, Saints are unlikely to make a decision on whether to sack, or back, the man who only joined them as Claude Puel’s assistant in the summer.

In the same vein, QPR have said they are “unable to proceed” with an internal investigation into the conduct of manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink until the Telegraph fully discloses its evidence.

The Telegraph alleges Hasselbaink requested a fee of £55,000 to work for a fake Far Eastern firm seeking to sell players to the club, with the former striker immediately denying any wrongdoing.

“We urge The Telegraph to provide full disclosure of all its information relating to the allegations, including video footage and a full transcript of the discussions that took place,” a QPR statement said.

“The club believes this information should not be provided selectively, but unedited and unconditionally, in order for the club to view the full context and the sequence of what was said by all parties to include in its investigation.”

It is believed Saints require the same information regarding Mr Black’s meeting at Lime Wood Hotel on September 2.

The FA also asked for all the Telegraph’s information, but the newspaper says it has not passed on the huge amount of evidence it has obtained to the clubs and football authorities as the police asked to see it first.

A spokesperson for the newspaper said its “intention” was still to release “the relevant transcripts” of its investigation, once the police have reviewed the material.

The City of London Police have confirmed that detectives have spoken to the newspaper’s reporters and the FA to determine if any criminal offences have been committed.

The Telegraph’s revelations about Mr Black came a day after Saints chairman Ralph Krueger gave some strong views on the paper’s ‘corruption in football’ exposes.

Mr Krueger is currently on a month’s sabbatical from Saints, and has been working at an ice hockey tournament in Canada.

Interviewed on Wednesday in Toronto, he said of the Telegraph’s first few days of exposes: “Our whole board is shocked and upset by it.

“We’ve been a club that’s been driving, wanting to get control of the evolving agent world around us, and we believe we’re going to have ears now.

“Southampton is built on a completely honest and open culture and on values.

“The reason I took the job was the unbelievable value structure and foundation of our owner, Katharina Liebherr.

“That’s why I embraced this, was to be able to lead and be the de facto owner of an organisation where it was driven by culture.

“So we’re extremely upset by this. We see it as a shocking evolution – I wouldn’t say we’re so naïve to believe that this didn’t exist, but we did think it wasn’t part of our English football culture.

“We’re going to use this, for sure, as a club, to fight for change and to fight for more regulation.

“We are all for regulation, and we are one of the most disciplined clubs in English football in terms of the way we deal with agents and youth academy players.

“Staying within the rules is something we really ... everything we do is based on that.

“We will react, for sure. It’s going to become a major thing for me when I get back. Absolutely top of the agenda.”

Asked for his thoughts following Mr Black’s naming by the Telegraph, Mr Krueger yesterday said: “In regards to the situation with Eric, it’s a personal issue for him.

“It has nothing directly to do with us as a club.

“I don’t have enough information to make [a] judgement on it.

“All I know is that Southampton Football Club is going to do everything possible to participate with The FA in finding ways to improve regulation as a result.

“That’s all I can tell you.”

Mr Black was in Israel with Saints for their Europa League tie with Hapoel Be’er Sheva when news broke of his involvement in the Telegraph exposes.

After Saints trained in Israel yesterday, he was due to return to England last night.

Mr Black will be in Leicester tomorrow when Saints visit the reigning Premier League champions.

Eric Black profile

Eric Black has always been seen as a safe pair of hands to guide clubs through turbulent waters as the board decide on their next captain at the helm.

Black is the latest individual to be named in the Daily Telegraph’s investigation into alleged illicit behaviour within the English game.

The newspaper alleges that Black offered advice to an undercover reporter posing as a businesswoman on how to bribe officials at other clubs for information on players. He denies the allegations.

The Scot was appointed as assistant to Claude Puel at Southampton for the start of the new domestic season, having overseen Aston Villa’s final few matches in the Premier League at the end of last season following the departure of Remi Garde.

When Birmingham needed a caretaker following Steve Bruce’s departure for Wigan in November 2007 Black was the obvious choice, just as he would be for Sunderland a few years later, then again at Blackburn and Rotherham before a return to the top flight at Villa under Garde.

Black, who turns 53 tomorrow, was given his break at Aberdeen by Sir Alex Ferguson when still a teenager, the Lanarkshire-born forward repaying his manager’s faith with the opening goal in the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup triumph over Real Madrid in Gothenburg.

After leaving Pittodrie in 1986, Black moved to French club Metz, where he would spend five seasons before the Scotland international was forced into an early retirement by a back problem.

A transition into coaching seemed a natural progression, with Black taking up a role at Celtic before leaving after the departure of John Barnes in February 2000.

Black stepped into the managerial hotseat at Motherwell and then Coventry, where he would soon become accustomed to the precariousness of the job when he was sacked after just 20 games. He won nine games and drew two more before being replaced by Peter Reid.

Following his exit from the Sky Blues, Black returned to a backroom support role, eventually following Bruce to Sunderland, before spells at Ewood Park under Steve Kean, a stint with Wigan and then Rotherham, where he again stepped in as caretaker when Steve Evans left.

Black found himself thrust into the spotlight earlier this year as he presided over the closing seven matches of Villa’s top-flight campaign, and was technically the man in charge when the midlands club were officially relegated on on April 16.

Yet despite suffering six defeats and only collecting one point, the Scottish coach never ducked his media commitments or highlighted the shortcomings on and off the pitch he had been left with.

A fluent French speaker, Black provided a link for Puel as the former Monaco, Lille, Lyon and Nice manager settled into the English game at St Mary’s, with the Saints now starting to produce consistent results in both the Premier League and Europe.

Southampton executive director of football Les Reed said at the time: “Eric Black has an excellent pedigree as a coach and vast experience domestically and internationally.”

IN PROFILE - THOSE NAMED IN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH SAM ALLARDYCE The former Bolton, West Ham and Sunderland manager left his role as England boss after footage emerged of him negotiating a £400,000 deal to give speeches to Asian investors in Hong Kong and Singapore. He also suggested there were ways “to get around” the Football Association’s “ridiculous” transfer rules and made rude remarks about his immediate predecessor Roy Hodgson and the FA. The 61-year-old described it as “a silly thing to do”, but said “entrapment has won on this occasion”.

ERIC BLACK The Southampton assistant manager, who enjoyed a distinguished playing career with Aberdeen, is alleged to have discussed with undercover reporters how managers and coaches in the lower leagues might be persuaded to identify players who could be signed up on management contracts. He denies the allegations. Southampton are seeking the Telegraph’s full file of evidence on Black before initiating an investigation.

MASSIMO CELLINO The controversial Leeds owner, an eccentric Italian businessman, appeared to explain to representatives of a fictitious Far East firm that they could become club shareholders in order to receive a portion of players’ sell-on fees. Leeds called the allegations a “non-story”. The club added: “This is plainly not a suggestion as to how to circumvent the rules (on third party ownership) but rather an accurate, albeit concise, explanation of how to operate within the confines of the rules.”

JIMMY FLOYD HASSELBAINK QPR manager Hasselbaink is alleged to have requested a fee of £55,000 to work for a fake Far East firm seeking to sell players to the club. QPR said the 44-year-old would be subjected to a “thorough internal investigation” but added: “We have every confidence in our manager and the robust systems and processes the club has in place.” The former Leeds and Chelsea striker denies wrongdoing. The west London club said on Friday they were “unable to proceed” with their investigation until they had been sent all the Telegraph’s evidence related to the Dutchman.

SCOTT McGARVEY The football agent was present at the meetings involving Allardyce, Black and Hasselbaink. Allardyce said he was helping a friend of 30 years, believed to be McGarvey, who is claimed to have helped negotiate the alleged deals. A spokesman for McGarvey said he would “vigorously defend his reputation” and that he denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

PINO PAGLIARA Unlicensed Italian football agent Pagliari was one of those secretly filmed and apparently arranged the meeting with Cellino. It was reported that Pagliara claimed a former top-flight boss had “more back-handers than Wimbledon”, while he also allegedly made claims about Belgian clubs which could be used to circumvent English transfer regulations. He was previously banned from the sport for match-fixing, the Telegraph said.

TOMMY WRIGHT The 50-year-old Scot was sacked as Barnsley assistant head coach after being accused of taking a £5,000 payment from undercover reporters posing as agents. Wright was initially suspended by Barnsley before being sacked following a meeting with chief executive Linton Brown. Wright denies wrongdoing.