Football League Agent Fees On The Rise

The Football League has followed through on its commitment to financial
transparency by revealing that its constituent clubs spent £6.21m on agents’
fees in the first six months of the season.

The figure represents an increase of close to £1.8m on the same period in the
previous season.

Despite the rise, the Football League remained optimistic that it was
addressing the issue following the introduction of new regulations for player
agents late last year.

The new rules include a ban on dual representation in terms of agents
representing both players in a transfer and the outlawing of agents passing on
transfer costs to clubs.

League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: ‘We understood the culture of paying
agents would take time to reverse. These figures underline that reality.’

Coca-Cola Championship clubs contributed 88% of the total amount spent on
agent fees with Southampton the biggest spenders, paying £842,533. Leeds topped
the table last year, when they spent £576,800 on agents.

Football League clubs took part in 2,034 transfers from 1 July to 31 December
2006, up from 1,765 for the same period last year. The clubs committed to pay
agents in 24% of these transactions.