Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

WITH NEW debtors seemingly popping out of the woodwork, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has requested a forensic audit of the Reggae Boyz' 2006 tour of England.

The audit will be conducted by international firm Deloitte & Touche.

"We have a number of pending lawsuits emanating from amounts other than those already mentioned with the British Football Association and, in an attempt to properly clarify everything, the board has requested the audit immediately," JFF president Captain Horace Burrell told The Gleaner yesterday.

"Apart from being an embarrass-ment to the JFF on the inter-national circuit, it is even more worrying with so many of our players plying their trade in the United Kingdom.

"We don't want to impugn anyone's integrity, that is not the business of this administration, but it is our business to get to the bottom and the truth of the whole matter," he said.

Ticket sales

Earlier this month, the JFF continued negotiations with the English FA with the aim of writing off a £153,431 (J$21.4 million) debt owed for tickets sold to the previous administration for the England versus Jamaica friendly at Old Trafford in June 2006.

On a visit to the island six weeks ago, Simon Johnson, director of corporate affairs for the FA confirmed that more than 9,000 tickets were sold by the previous JFF administration, but the money was never paid over to the FA.

In addition to that, local football's governing body has found itself before the courts for an amount owed to English promotions company NVA Management.

NVA was match organisers for the Reggae Boyz for the Jamaica-England friendly.

Amount disputed

During the tour, an English tabloid, The Sun, reported the federation had been unable to pay a £36,000 bill for lodgings at the Sopwell House Hotel ahead of the game.

According to the paper, that bill was settled by the NVA manager Chris Nathaniel with a credit card.

The report was, however, later denounced as "rubbish" by then head of the JFF, Crenston Boxhill, and also denied by Nathaniel and Sopwell House, who disputed the amount.

Debt claims have also surfaced from English law firm FDB International for £500 and an unnamed donor, who produced a receipt for £5,000 in February of this year. According to the federation, that amount is nowhere to be found on the administration's record books.

The ill-fated tour of the UK saw the Reggae Boyz go down 4-1 to Ghana, before being thrashed 6-0 by England.

There was also a two-year ban imposed on striker Marlon King after a late morning row with team management.