Intermediaries are not popular in any market: just think estate agents. Their strength derives from their possession of information and their control of access to desired assets. Agents are particularly unpopular in football as they are seen as sucking money out of the game to their benefit and that of highly paid players. However, the problem is often seen as primarily one for the Premier League where the big money transfers are made.
Intermediaries are not popular in any market: just think estate agents. Their strength derives from their possession of information and their control of access to desired assets. Agents are particularly unpopular in football as they are seen as sucking money out of the game to their benefit and that of highly paid players. However, the problem is often seen as primarily one for the Premier League where the big money transfers are made.
Figures released by the Football League show that agents trousered £12.7m in fees there last season. The biggest payers were, not surprisingly, Championship clubs with promotion aspirations: Middlesbrough (£1.46m); Newcastle (£1.073m); and West Bromwich Albion (£950,000). Blackpool paid just £40,000 which perhaps explains why the environment in the Premier League has been such a shock this season.
In League 1, one-third of the money spent was accounted for by two clubs: Southampton and Norwich. And in League 2 Notts County, then with big ambitions and apparently the money to fund them, accounted for 67 per cent of the total spend. But Dagenham and Redbridge managed to get promoted without paying out a penny.