football has signed its own death certificate today
Not sure it's today, judge.
This is what is already happening:
Revealed: The secrets of English football's child catchers
By Neil Ashton
Last updated at 11:36 PM on 11th October 2011
A chauffeur opens the door of a sleek, black limousine and a 15-year-old boy in a club tracksuit jumps out.
Two hours later he has finished training, showered and changed, and is in the back seat on the way to his parents’ home in south London.
This is the power game being played by agents in 2011, muscling in on top young talent with increasingly elaborate and daring ploys to secure their signatures.
Lurking: Agents are targeting players of younger and younger ages
Others are more cynical, standing at the training ground gates to offer impressionable academy recruits cold, hard cash or a smart watch to flash in front of his team-mates.
One leading agent today admits immoral practices are ‘rife’, a chairman compares it to ‘slavery’, a coach claims players are brainwashed to believe they are ‘the next Messi’ and one father accuses agents of being ‘shady’.
These are the kind of problems being faced by clubs up and down the country as agents employ increasingly desperate measures to make a mint from the game.
According to FIFA there are 450 agents licensed by the FA, but it is generally accepted that there are just as many working legitimately for law firms and the same again operating outside the system.
The shadowy characters working outside the rules are the scourge of football, a source of frustration to the passionate employees of clubs who spend £1million a year or more developing a diminishing talent pool.
Crystal Palace operate one of the most successful youth projects in English football, yet they face a constant battle against the predators who lurk at the end of the driveway to their Beckenham training centre.
Promises: Young players are often told by agents they could be 'the next Messi'
‘Players are vulnerable at an early age and the access to youngsters disturbs me,’ admitted Palace co-chairman Steve Parish.
‘It’s like slavery or child trafficking. I’ve had agents come into my office to tell me they are taking one of my players, who has lived in south London all his life, to Benfica because the compensation is less and the rules on agents are less stringent.
‘They put families under their spell and engineer situations to get them out of the country. These are the problems we have to face.
‘As a club we have healthy relationships with a lot of agents, but some of the things we have to deal with is incredible. At Palace we have knowledge of watches and cash being offered to players and their families and in one case we had to put a stop to a young player being driven into training by his prospective agent.’
Player trading is still big business, with £80million spent on agents’ fees across all four divisions, according to Deloitte’s annual review of football finance.
The best in the business can expect to earn between £700,000-£1m a year, creaming off commissions for moving the best talent around the top clubs in Europe.
Tim Sherwood, now assistant first-team coach at Tottenham, said: ‘Far too many agents claim they can open this door and that door, telling their players that they are going to be the next Messi. It’s frustrating for coaches because we then have to deal with and manage those expectations.
Frustrations: Tottenham coach Tim Sherwood laments the false promises of agents
‘My first agent was Eric Hall and I never once let him talk to me about my football — the best people for that are the coaches. I told my agent what I wanted and he went away to get it for me if he could and that’s the way it should be.’
The competition is fierce and the stampede to reach young talent at an all-time high. It is not uncommon for the parents of academy recruits to meet up to 20 agents, inviting them into their homes to listen to their sales pitches over endless cups of tea.
Adam Pearson, head of football operations at Hull City, said: ‘I’ve noticed over the past few years that agents’ methods are becoming increasingly extravagant.
‘Aside from the usual stories about inducements, a lot of agents employ “runners”, leg men to do their work by getting to the players through new social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
‘Some agents appear fixated on youth-team football, but our head of youth, Billy Russell, tries to shield them as much as possible.
‘We want our senior players to provide the guidance for them as they develop their careers.’
Chelsea and Manchester United are among those taking action at the top of the game, protecting their players from the menace within. They will not allow an agent into an academy fixture unless they have been invited, but some of the more unscrupulous characters adopt cunning methods to convince players they can be superstars.
Shady: The stepfather of John Bostock reveals he was lied to by agents
Last month Andy Carroll’s former agent Peter Harrison admitted he had bought young players cars as a sweetener, claiming it was a ‘business decision’.
Mick Brown, the stepfather of Tottenham midfielder John Bostock, said: ‘A lot of agents make a lot of promises that they cannot fulfil and they will say anything to try to convince you. Some of them are very shady, but we are very happy with the direction John has taken now.’
Chelsea’s respected academy director, Neil Bath, will not talk to a player’s agent until his credentials have been verified with club secretary Dave Barnard and the player’s parents.
Base Soccer’s head of recruitment Eric Walters has been playing it straight for years, ultra-professional in his dealings with clubs and honest in his evaluation of a player’s potential when he sits down with his parents.
Taking a stand: Hull City chairman Adam Pearson has also encountered many shady characters
Walters is high-end, representing Ashley Young, Bobby Zamora and Steve Sidwell, but he is often asked to assess a promising player as part of Base’s strategy.
He said: ‘When agents lie, embellish and exaggerate about one of their players it’s a surefire way to lose a client. Inducing players or offering cash to their parents often happens when an agent does not have a track record in the game — his only weapon is money.
‘That kind of practice is rife among one-man bands, but it’s not something you will encounter at an established, professional agency.
‘Part of the problem in the game is the parents of these boys read papers and watch TV believing everyone is earning £200,000 a week and that their son should be, too. Their heads can be turned. Parents will say the inducements don’t happen, but they do.’
Base, SEM, First Artist and James Grant are among the most powerful agencies in football, boasting talent rosters with some of the biggest names in the game.
They have a track record in player development, but some agents convince players they will be on the fast-track to success if they sign on the dotted line.
After that, it often ends in tears.
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