FA end Spygate investigation after Liverpool made payment to Man City

The Football Association have confirmed they have ended an investigation into allegations Liverpool hacked Manchester City's scouting database.

Back in 2013, Mirror Sport exclusively revealed City's online scouting network had been hacked by a rival Premier League club who accessed their database of player targets.

Despite being password protected, City believed their Scout 7 system was illegally accessed.

The Times claimed last September that Liverpool made a £1million payment to City in a confidential settlement over the data breach.

The FA have confirmed a settlement between the clubs over the scandal but opted not to proceed with their investigation having received information from both clubs.

An FA spokesperson said: "The FA has carefully considered the evidence it received in this matter, including information provided by both clubs involved, and has decided not to progress the investigation. "This is due to a number of factors including the age of the alleged concerns and the settlement agreed by the two clubs involved.

"As per standard protocol, should The FA receive further information or evidence, the decision not to progress the investigation may be reviewed."

Speaking about the incident back in September, Pep Guardiola claimed there are "no secrets" in football anymore.

Guardiola said: “Today there are no secrets anymore. Look what happened in the big governments in the states and Russia and everywhere everyone knows it.

“No secrets anymore. You want to keep a secret? Don’t tell a friend, on devices or mobile phones, today anything can happen. On Thursday, new Premier League chief executive Richard Masters addressed the issue and confirmed they had not started any investigation in the matter, leaving it to the FA.

He added: "As a regulator, we always intervene if we feel it's necessary. It's really hard to provide a running commentary on the regulatory side of the business."