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Talking Point

Agents have grown rotten with greed, double dealing, lies and cheating

Karren Brady has spoken about the world of agents in her weekly football diary in The Sun.

Karren said:

“So far every attempt to limit the cut agents take from players from fees and wages has failed. There is another bus in the distance driven by UEFA, who are asking Prem clubs what they would think of a maximum three per cent commission on both. We like it, of course – I’d like one per cent even more. Currently agents’ earnings from transfers in Europe is a staggering 30 per cent or so and while I would hate to the poor dears without two pennies to rub together, it really is time to the bus came to a halt. It is important there is representation for players when vast sums of money are at stake – but their business has grown rotten with greed, double dealing, lies and cheating.”

West Ham paid agents £4,169,134 and 9 pence between 1st October 2012 to 30th September 2013 and ranked 9th in terms of agent spend in the Premier League just behind Manchester United. In the past four years West ham have paid out £ 17,552,764 and 8 pence to football agents.

In August 2012 David Sullivan told the Daily Mail he had no concerns about the continuing close links between manager Sam Allardyce and agent Mark Curtis. Mark Curtis is the agent for Sam Allardyce, Kevin Nolan, James Tomkins, Jack Collison, Matt Jarvis and Andy Carroll. In the same interview Sullivan confirmed Willie McKay received more in agency fees than Mark Curtis in the summer of 2012. He revealed ‘Mark [Curtis] receives five per cent of the player’s wages over five years, which is a lot of money but the standard rate’.

Last year just after the January 2013 transfer window ended, David Sullivan called for the FA to look into agents’ conduct and cap fees. He said:

“I can see it spilling over into violence in the future, unless there is legislation from the FA. I had an agent threaten me and one of our players with physical violence, because he thought he was being cut out of a deal.” Sullivan claimed the financial demands by agents had got out of control adding: "We are talking millions of pounds here around a transfer and not enough deals to go around. There are too many agents and not enough transfers to feed them. Agents who would once demand £50,000 for their part in a transfer now want £500,000 to £1m to either bring a player or keep a player. It is quite outrageous and the FA should cap the amount paid to agents for their work”

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