£5,653,160

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The amount our club spent on agents fees in the year to February
£5,653,160
that is absolutely fcuking outrageous.
Only Norwich in the championship spent more.
These bloodsuckers need to be booted out of the game.
Premier league teams paid player’s agents a total of £272,220,223 last year.
Legislation to take these leeches out of the game is long overdue - or more clubs need to take a leaf out of Paul Scally’s book (who’d believe that dick turned out to be a good example) and just refuse to deal with them.
 
It might be understandable if we've signed a few pricey players in that time, but we've been fairly quiet on the transfer front. The loans of Roro and CCV, Wilshere (free agent) and Pearson.

I guess the coaching and managerial shufflings had an input.
 
In a lot of ways I'll be glad if we don't go back up. We'd only piss the money away anyway and will eventually be back in League One with the same tiny stadium.

Obviously I want to see the team doing well and all that but there's a lot of reasons to make you think what's the point.
 
Ludicrous attempt at an argument.
If you are given no choice - you have to play by their game.
Either that or exit the transfer market.

If you are given no choice its because the player has decided they want to be represented in negotiations. Would you refuse to buy a house if the seller had chosen to be represented by a professional agent?

Advice in any industry needs to be paid for. That said I'd certainly have a look at stopping the practice of acting for both sides of a deal - that doesn't sound right to me.

https://www.danielgeey.com/post/but-who-actually-pays-football-agents/
 
It might be understandable if we've signed a few pricey players in that time, but we've been fairly quiet on the transfer front. The loans of Roro and CCV, Wilshere (free agent) and Pearson.

I guess the coaching and managerial shufflings had an input.

I assume any contract renewals attract agents fees otherwise agents would always be pushing for players to leave?

like most things need a balance to stop clubs ripping off players. Expect post covid things may calm down a bit except at real elite level
 
The amount our club spent on agents fees in the year to February
£5,653,160
that is absolutely fcuking outrageous.
Only Norwich in the championship spent more.
These bloodsuckers need to be booted out of the game.
Premier league teams paid player’s agents a total of £272,220,223 last year.
Legislation to take these leeches out of the game is long overdue - or more clubs need to take a leaf out of Paul Scally’s book (who’d believe that dick turned out to be a good example) and just refuse to deal with them.

How would you boot them out of the game?

Players choose to be represented by an agent, so you work with the agent or you don't buy the player
 
Some interesting thoughts by Gillingham’s owner in this article. No matter what you think of Gillingham, he has a point.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...gents-a-penny-football?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Yeah, his point being that he preferred the 'good old days' when he could negotiate with players or their dads rather than professionals. Funny that.

Reminds me of Tom Finney, not that I saw him but you only have to listen to what his fellow professionals said about him to know how good he was...

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...y-preston-obituary?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

League debut at 24 because he was fighting in the war. A brilliant player who's talents were recognised by Palermo, who made an offer that would have made him rich. The Preston chairman turned it down as they'd have seen a drop in gate receipts. He didn't pay Finney more, didn't have to because he held all the power (and his registration) so Finney stayed at Preston and got the bus to games with the fans. Apparently we're all supposed to become dewy eyed about these good old days when world class talent was paid less than they were worth and club chairmen were the ones getting rich off their talents.

Excuse me if I don't shed any tears when club chairmen try to talk about the glory days when they had it all their own way and the people with the actual talent were screwed over time and again.
 
Agents are used in all professional sports.
I know two who use them, a golfer and a jockey.
Agents supply sponsorship deals, book hotels, flights and so much more and are on hand 24/7.
Of course they get a percentage as they have staff to pay.
They are part of modern day sport.
 
In a lot of ways I'll be glad if we don't go back up. We'd only piss the money away anyway and will eventually be back in League One with the same tiny stadium.

Obviously I want to see the team doing well and all that but there's a lot of reasons to make you think what's the point.
Well we’re all different. Better to have loved and lost and all that for me.
 
I am presuming that their wages are a percentage of their clients transfer fee - we should just buy players who cost under a fiver - then they wouldn't make these ludicrous amounts of money
 
I understand the need for agents to advise players but perhaps it should be moved to a model where they get paid for the work they actually do not a bonanza based on a percentage they get of the transfer fee.

Their hourly rate must be astronomical.
 
Yeah, his point being that he preferred the 'good old days' when he could negotiate with players or their dads rather than professionals. Funny that.

Reminds me of Tom Finney, not that I saw him but you only have to listen to what his fellow professionals said about him to know how good he was...

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...y-preston-obituary?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

League debut at 24 because he was fighting in the war. A brilliant player who's talents were recognised by Palermo, who made an offer that would have made him rich. The Preston chairman turned it down as they'd have seen a drop in gate receipts. He didn't pay Finney more, didn't have to because he held all the power (and his registration) so Finney stayed at Preston and got the bus to games with the fans. Apparently we're all supposed to become dewy eyed about these good old days when world class talent was paid less than they were worth and club chairmen were the ones getting rich off their talents.

Excuse me if I don't shed any tears when club chairmen try to talk about the glory days when they had it all their own way and the people with the actual talent were screwed over time and again.

Ibrahimovic touches on it in his book, how club directors/owners would screw over players during transfer deals.
 
£5.6m+ is a helluva lot of money, but if a fair chunk of it was paid to the agents of the players that we offloaded to other clubs for significant transfer fees it could represent good value for money.

SDD's example of Tom Finney is a really good one. Tom was one of the greatest players ever produced by this country, but he turned up to training on a push trike that had a large box at the back that contained plumbing tools and materials. After training he used to pedal off round Preston working as a plumber to supplement his income from football, and he carried on with this trade after his playing days were over. It was a pure disgrace that his club chairman was able to prevent him from moving to Italy and earn a salary from the game commensurate with his ability.
 
Generally if a player is signing for a new club, not having requested a transfer, I thought he got a percentage of the transfer fee. If this is the case then make the player pay his agent's share, after all the agent is working for the player not the club. For instance I once bought some shares (1983) through an agency, I had to pay the agency fees not the company who's shares I bought. Made a fair profit though when I sold them. Never bought any since.
 
We must preserve our EFL structure and find better ways to finance professional football across the board. Far too many leeches live off the game and exploit the cash that is often just loans being pushed around.
I would be happy for ALL clubs to clear their debts before they could splash out borrowed money on players and agents. The whole economic platform needs serious revision but we are so far in that there can never be a start point for any sort or reset without crippling some clubs(including I would suspect ours?)
The FFP rules are not fit for purpose as we have seen in recent times although it was a good idea to try and level the playing fields..
 
SDD's example of Tom Finney is a really good one.

Nat Lofthouse

"Bolton born and bred, Lofthouse was signed by Bolton Wanderers as a 14 year old apprentice in 1939. He made his debut in wartime football and in 1943 he became a Bevin boy, one of 48,000 men who were sent to work in the coal mines rather than the armed services in World War II. A typical Saturday for Lofthouse involved getting up at 3.30am, catching the 4.30am tram to work, and working down the pit for 8 hours before the team bus took him to the match."

https://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/halloffame/nat-lofthouse/

Tell that to kids today...
 

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