Former Carlisle United defender Ian Dalziel has become embroiled in the row engulfing the Professional Footballers’ Association.

The ex-Blues left-back became a financial adviser after his playing days.

And he has been named in reports that suggest former players are planning legal action against the PFA after losing money in investment schemes.

They have claimed that Dalziel was only a trainee adviser when he worked for the PFA’s financial arm and dispensed advice on such schemes.

The Daily Mail say a former player, who has not been named, contacted them to express his alarm at that fact.

They then contacted Dalziel who said he had tried to recover the money players lost in a scheme called GOLD 12 Property Plus LP.

“I thought I was a full-on IFA [Independent Financial Adviser],” said the former left-back, who played for United from 1988-92.

“I sat down and rang every player I could get hold of when the scheme went bust, and [tried] to get their money back through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.”

Chief executive Gordon Taylor is also facing criticism for the PFA’s approach to funding research into dementia.

Former top-flight striker Chris Sutton spoke out regarding his 74-year-old father Mike, who played 60 games for Carlisle from 1970-2 and has had dementia for eight years.

Sutton junior says Taylor has “sat on his hands” for 16 years and “failed the people his organisation is meant to serve”.

Taylor this week agreed to a QC-led independent review of the PFA under pressure from chairman Ben Purkiss.

More than 300 current and former players are understood to have endorsed a letter calling on Taylor to step down.

United’s PFA rep, Danny Grainger, is said to be monitoring the situation on the club’s behalf.