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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said it is time to "clear up" the issue of third party ownership (TPO) in football.

The Frenchman said he had fought against TPO for a "long, long time", which was banned in England by the FA in 2008 but remains allowed in some European countries.

Wenger made the comments in the wake of accusations being leveled at England manager Sam Allardyce of "advising" businessmen how to circumvent the rule.

Allardyce now reportedly finds himself under investigation by the FA.

"Third party ownership should not be allowed. I fight against it for a long, long time", Wenger said.

"The clubs should all possess 100% of their players but I cannot tell you anything about this story because I don't know anything about it".

The chief executive of Merlin Entertainments has said the company had "let people down with devastating consequences" after last year's Smiler rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers.

In a statement outside Stafford Crown Court, where the company was fined £5 million for health and safety failings, Nick Varney said: "From the beginning the company has accepted full responsibility for the terrible accident at Alton Towers and has made sincere and heartfelt apologies to those who were injured.

"In accepting responsibility and liability very early on we have tried to make the healing and compensation process as trouble free as possible for all of those involved.

"We have strived to fulfil our promise to support them in every way and I promise that this support will continue as long as they need it.

"We were always aware that we would end up here today facing a substantial penalty, as has been delivered by the court today. (But) the far greater punishment for all of us is knowing that on this occasion we let people down with devastating consequences.

"It is something we will never forget and it is something we are utterly determined will never be repeated."

The £5m fine handed to Alton Towers operator Merlin over last year's Smiler rollercoaster crash is believed to be a record for the industry, a solicitor acting on behalf of eight of the victims has said.

Paul Paxton said the end of the two-day sentencing hearing marks the "closure" of a "long and painful chapter" for the victims, two of whom required leg amputations.

Despite the fine, for what the judge described as an "easily avoidable accident", Mr Paxton added that "money alone will never replace limbs nor heal the psychological scars".

Speaking outside Stafford Crown Court, he said: "It's worth remembering that this hearing is the first time that my clients have heard the full extent of the criticisms against Merlin.

"To be candid, they have been shocked and disappointed by the catalogue of errors. The list goes on and on: a catastrophic failure to assess risk, inadequate training, inadequate supervision, inadequate management, failure to communicate (and a) failure to put in place safe systems of work."

Sam Allardyce is being "investigated" by the FA over allegations he used his role to negotiate a £400,000 deal, ITV News understands.

The England boss, who has only been in charge of one match since his appointment in July, is also being probed over claims he offered "advice" about how to get around rules on player transfers.

Allardyce, 61, was filmed by The Telegraph allegedly negotiating a consultancy deal with undercover reporters purporting to represent a Far East firm.

He told the "businessmen" how to bypass the "ridiculous" transfer rules, established in 2008 by the Football Association, prohibiting third parties from owning players, it is claimed.

Alton Towers operator Merlin let their customers "badly down" when several passengers were seriously injured in last year's Smiler rollercoaster crash, the Health and Safety Executive has said.

Speaking outside Stafford Crown Court, where the company was fined £5 million for health and safety failings, Neil Craig, HSE's Head of Operations for the Midlands, said: "When people visit theme parks, they should be able to enjoy themselves safely.

"On 2nd June last year, Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd failed to protect their customers. They let them badly down. It is right that they've been held to account for those failings in a criminal court.

"This avoidable incident happened because Merlin failed to put in place systems that would allow their engineers to work safely on the ride whilst it was running. This made it all too easy for a whole series of unchecked mistakes, not just the single push of a button, to result in tragedy.

"Since the incident, Merlin have made improvements to the ride and to their safety protocols - and the lessons learned have been shared with the industry."

The Smiler rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers was a "catastrophic failure" of health and safety and could have been "easily avoided" by a suitable written system to deal with ride faults and a proper risk assessment, Judge Michael Chambers QC has told Stafford Crown Court.

Concluding the two-day sentencing hearing, he said the injured "endured great pain and distress" while waiting for medical help, with the first 999 call not made until 17 minutes after the crash. It took up to five hours for them to be freed from the wreckage.

"Human error was not the cause as was suggested by the defendant in an early press release," he added.

"The defendant now accepts the prosecution case that the underlying fault was an absence of a structured and considered system not that of individuals' efforts, doing their best within a flawed system.

"Members of the public have been exposed to serious risk of one train colliding with another with a computer control system was reset, having been overridden to address a fault."