An investigation by the Al Jazeera broadcaster to be released Monday found that middlemen were prepared to enable a fictitious criminal investor to buy a storied English football club. The investigation found that, with the help of a fixer, Derby County FC was prepared to go through with a £99 million ($137 million) sale to a fictitious Chinese buyer, despite a ban on serious criminals purchasing a club. Under the English Football League’s owners and directors’ test, anyone with an unspent conviction that carried a custodial sentence of more than 12 months is barred from acquiring a club. “Posing as representatives of a Chinese criminal with convictions for bribery and money laundering, undercover reporters from (Al Jazeera’s) investigative unit (reached) the brink of striking a deal to buy Derby County, twice English league champions and one of England’s oldest football clubs,” Al Jazeera said in a statement. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta