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Echo News Southend United more than double their spending on agents

Sorry i think most agents are a blight on the game.

Whilst I understand what you’re saying , and to an extent agree , they also probably help a lot of young ( in some cases not overly well educated ) men not get totally ripped off by clubs getting them to sign a contract that they don’t fully understand.
 
does this include payments to agents when the players had their contracts cancelled? seems very strange
 
Whilst I understand what you’re saying , and to an extent agree , they also probably help a lot of young ( in some cases not overly well educated ) men not get totally ripped off by clubs getting them to sign a contract that they don’t fully understand.

Perhaps the contracts for players needs to be more clearer? If anyone starts work they get an offer of employment with all of their particulars (wage, hours etc) laid out for them. We don't get agents in the real world of jobs to sign a contract.

I'd love to see a footballers contract just to see exactly what it is that an agent is advising them. If I was a footballer I think i'd skip the agent and deal directly with the club. Club saves money, and i'l dare say the player saves money as well
 
The general consensus was that we don't like paying agents, and fair play to Ron on that. Likely all that's changed here is an acceptance we're going to have to do more of this if we want to compete for players - if we don't the players will go elsewhere.
There needs to be some regulation regarding agents - nothing wrong with players having them, or you'll end up with thick footballers being ripped off by businessmen like Ron - but there should be more rules regarding what they are allowed to take as part of any deal.
 
Perhaps the contracts for players needs to be more clearer? If anyone starts work they get an offer of employment with all of their particulars (wage, hours etc) laid out for them. We don't get agents in the real world of jobs to sign a contract.

I'd love to see a footballers contract just to see exactly what it is that an agent is advising them. If I was a footballer I think i'd skip the agent and deal directly with the club. Club saves money, and i'l dare say the player saves money as well

Damon Searle's agent was his wife. Saved money all round.
 
The general consensus was that we don't like paying agents, and fair play to Ron on that. Likely all that's changed here is an acceptance we're going to have to do more of this if we want to compete for players - if we don't the players will go elsewhere.
There needs to be some regulation regarding agents - nothing wrong with players having them, or you'll end up with thick footballers being ripped off by businessmen like Ron - but there should be more rules regarding what they are allowed to take as part of any deal.

My biggest issue is why do the clubs have to pay for agents? surely that should come from the players themselves, after all I doubt the players pay for the clubs lawyers during transfer dealings so why should the club pay for the players representatives?
 
Perhaps the contracts for players needs to be more clearer? If anyone starts work they get an offer of employment with all of their particulars (wage, hours etc) laid out for them. We don't get agents in the real world of jobs to sign a contract.

I'd love to see a footballers contract just to see exactly what it is that an agent is advising them. If I was a footballer I think i'd skip the agent and deal directly with the club. Club saves money, and i'l dare say the player saves money as well
It's not just the contract though, often people ask why a mediocre player has punched above their weight for so long and the answer is usually 'he has a good agent'. A good agent will convince clubs to give their player a look and emphasise the strengths the player has and why the team needs him. Some players would be good at talking themselves up but if it was left to the players a lot of them would struggle to get any clubs outside of non-league to send a scout to take a look at them unless they were the top scorer of their league. There's also negotiations, you said most people in the real world don't have agents but a lot of people in the real world could probably negotiate a bigger salary than they are on if they knew how to negotiate well, obviously for most people the price of hiring a negotiator would be more than the payrise so there's no point doing it but when the player could earn £1.5k a week without an agent or £2k with an agent then even once the agent has taken his piece of the pie the player is still going to have profited from it. .

As for why clubs pay the fees rather than the players I believe it's because of tax. Someone better with finances might be able to explain it better but when agent's fees are paid it's viewed as a taxable benefit (so the player pays tax on it rather than the club), if the player paid the agent instead then the agent would still want the same amount of money so he'd negotiate a higher player's salary so he still earns as much as he would have under the current system. If the player pays the agent directly out of his pocket more money goes to the taxman than if the club does it (I don't fully understand why this is the case), which means the agent would demand a higher player salary to cover this additional tax, which would cost the club more money than if they paid the agent directly.
 
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it is often over looked that footballers are on strict PAYE ...

Obviously HMRC can easily enforce this via the FA and the clubs etc .. so footballers often pay more tax than the chairman and associated business people.

Thanks you to Stan Collymore for informing me about this ..
 
I should have been a football agent. Living with myself would be tough, but I'd cope for the money they get doing next to bugger all.
 
My biggest issue is why do the clubs have to pay for agents? surely that should come from the players themselves, after all I doubt the players pay for the clubs lawyers during transfer dealings so why should the club pay for the players representatives?

Depends on the deal. If we ask an agent to find us a particular type of player (which must happen some times) then we should pay the agent. However, if an agent is working on behalf of a player (i.e. we approach a player who says, "speak to my agent"), then it should be for the player to pay the agent.

I believe that is the sticking point: from what I've read, most clubs agree to pay the agent on behalf of the player, which in my view is wholly wrong. I believe RM refuses to do so, which may explain why negotiations take longer for us.
 
I understand the need for somebody to negotiate on the players behalf and provide representation and also understand that independent agents are necessary at the top where things are more complex, with image rights and merchandise profit share etc. At football league level I've never understood why the PFA haven't set up a dept for player representation with a base % fee to cover the running of the dept with a small profit to help with the PFA Charity. I'd imagine all parties would be better off. I may be missing something key to the job agents do? but nothing is coming to mind as to why this solution wouldn't work.
 
Might this be the moment to remind from 2007?

"Newcastle United has terminated Kevin Bond's contract. There is no further comment from the club."

"The Panorama programme broadcast a telephone conversation between Bond, then at Portsmouth, and a representative of a fictitious agency in which it is alleged he discussed the possibility of receiving payments.

"Bond has strenuously denied the accusation, and through his solicitor David Price, last week signalled his intention to sue the BBC".

Just re-posting is all...
 
One also has to ask why agents in the first place?

Does it have something to do with unscrupulous clubs taking advantage of young(ish) inexperienced in-the-ways-of-the-world footballers?

How many can say at age 20 they understand every nuance in a contract?

One might also say a trusted agent can shunt the target into the club, if his advice is sage and honest.

I knew a new CEO of a Championship club who swore he would have nothing to do with agents - and then found he couldn't sign a single player.

Apparently, in 17 signings only one came after a direct approach to the club.

'Whether you like it or not, you deal with agents - or you don't deal at all.
'It's the way of the football world'.
 
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I think we’ve got a couple of agents on here, haven’t we?

I won’t say who, because I don’t want to drag them into the firing line, but if they feel comfortable enough, I think it might be good to get their perspective on this.
 
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