Early last week it was announced that Premier League clubs paid agents the astronomical sum of almost £71 million over the last 12 months.
Manchester City topped the list, paying advisors a mind-boggling £12.87 million over the year, and Spurs boss Harry Redknapp described the figures as ‘incredible’.
PFA Chief Executive Gordon Taylor is pleased that details of agents’ fees have been made public and said last week that, whilst the figures are staggering, it is down to clubs to display better control of their finances.
“If even a percentage of what is paid to agents was to go back into the game, lower division clubs experiencing financial difficulties could be helped – and we wouldn’t have situations, like at Crystal Palace and Watford, where players’ wages are being paid late,” said Gordon, who believes the move towards ‘greater transparency’ in transfer dealings can only help.
Givemefootball’s Mark Shail discussed the issue exclusively with former Blackburn striker Simon Garner – who a few years ago was voted Rovers’ greatest ever player ahead of Alan Shearer, who Blackburn ultimately sold to Newcastle for a then record £15m. Wonder what the agent got for that?
Simon agrees with Gordon Taylor that money should be pumped into lower league and grassroots football – and not into agents’ pockets.
Q: Were you surprised to read those figures last week?
A: I was very surprised. I think it was a lot more than people expected but it’s the nature of the game today. If he clubs are willing to pay the agents that kind of money to get a player then so be it. I read somewhere that one agent was paid £900,000 for a single deal, which is ridiculous.
Q: Do you think it's having a negative effect on the game?
A: I do because you have to ask where does all this money go? It doesn’t go into grass-roots football and it’s not put back into the game. I just think it’s one of those things that has evolved since the invasion of so many foreign players into English football.
Q: How has the role of the agent changed since you were a player?
A: Well, I didn’t even have one until towards the end of my career at Blackburn. In fact I wasn’t even aware of them until the late 1980s. Frank Stapleton recommended someone to me and I used him but before then I would sit down and negotiate a contract on my own with a representative from the club. That’s the way things were done.
Q: What would your advice be to young players?
A: Go to the PFA. Simple as that. They will charge you less money and also have the players’ interests at heart. More often than not agents only earn money if their player moves to another club so they are often touting them about to other teams – and that can be unsettling for the player.
In my day, if you signed a contract you were happy with it. Nowadays a contract doesn’t seem to mean much – if a player wants to move he does.
