Many football agents are scum

[YES Blade]

Europe is heavily regulated, in lots of areas, more so than the UK. The same applies to football agents. Anyone can set themselves up as a football agent in the UK, without any training. There are very few checks and balances, if any. Football is meant to police itself. In contrast, Europe, definitely Germany, agents require training and are regulated, not just by football but by govt too. As in all areas of business, people get away with what they can. When there are the huge sums involved, as in football, it's no surprise it's populated by spivs, bounders and cads. Personally, I call them twattingcuntingleeches. No time for them.

Agreed, don't hate the player, hate the game. It's the FA/PL/EFL that are to blame.

If there were regulations in place e.g. set fees based on transfer values then this wouldn't be an issue. But if you give people a chance they will take the piss, this goes for all industries not just football.

 

[Hodgyman]

Agreed, don't hate the player, hate the game. It's the FA/PL/EFL that are to blame.

If there were regulations in place e.g. set fees based on transfer values then this wouldn't be an issue. But if you give people a chance they will take the piss, this goes for all industries not just football.

I agree in principle but greedy agents would just up the fee to match their expectations of personal income. The way to beat that would be to let the agent have no part in setting transfer fees, just the clubs concerned

 

[Revolution]

I just wonder if the recent issues with agents can be (at least) attributable to people spouting off that we can afford more expensive players now that we have the bountiful monies from sell-on clauses of past players. I think that I predicted on a few occasions that the realisation that we had all this fortuitous income come by selling clubs and agents would push up purchase prices of players we wanted, particularly if our contributors on social media kept reminding them.

POST SCRIPT
Well done Chris for telling them we will not pay their inflated and unscrupulous demands.

No, agents are well aware of the effect of sell on clauses without having to trawl through message boards. These are sophisticated businesses. So it isn't the fans' fault.

 

[robbiez666]

It's an odd situation which is about a thousand times worse with Academy systems.

Players need an agent in order to get a good deal from a club
Players join clubs at an unhealthily young age and have no life experience
Players rely on agents or clubs to do things normal people do themselves, have help from friends/family
Players are completely reliant on agents in so many ways that they usually automatically do as they're told

It needs regulating properly, but never will be as too much money involved.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Top players now are getting deals they don't deserve. No player is worth more then the average yearly wage a week. And that should be the way legislation should step in.
The max is 30k a week. If they want more, go and earn it with their image rights and sponsorship. But 30k a week...£1.5m a year should be plenty for anyone.
If it's not, then educate themselves to learn how to invest, run another business....make that money grow. Rather than just demand more for nothing.

That's my rant over.

Agree morally that no player should be receiving the massive salaries they receive
HOWEVER that can be applied to 1000's of people.

At the end of the day in general, economics (market forces) decide what salary people deserve.

The rewards in football are so MASSIVE for clubs then it will always be tempting to pay players a massive wage in order for a club to hit the jackpot. So it can be proven that some players ARE worth over £100K a week if the purchase of that player makes a massive contribution in earning the 100 million.

One way around it which would be a better compromise.

Is to pay players a more reasonable/ lower basic wage and then have massive performance related bonuses. However that might encourage some managers to try to manipulate a situation and ask for a cut of their bonus.

Also if a minimum wage was introduced then some clubs would try to get around the rule with percs, gifts given to the player or players family members. As already stated agents can be dodgy and ruin the game but if you take away agents then some clubs would also be just as dodgy, cheat and ruin the game.

The bottom line is the more money there is in a industry then the more there are different levels of corruption.

 

[I should coco]

Its like saying all Scottish people drink Irn Bru and eat haggis

Don't forget the Buckfast and deep fried Mars bars.

 

[Grizzly blade]

Agree morally that no player should be receiving the massive salaries they receive
HOWEVER that can be applied to 1000's of people.

At the end of the day in general, economics (market forces) decide what salary people deserve.

The rewards in football are so MASSIVE for clubs then it will always be tempting to pay players a massive wage in order for a club to hit the jackpot. So it can be proven that some players ARE worth over £100K a week if the purchase of that player makes a massive contribution in earning the 100 million.

One way around it which would be a better compromise.

Is to pay players a more reasonable/ lower basic wage and then have massive performance related bonuses. However that might encourage some managers to try to manipulate a situation and ask for a cut of their bonus.

Also if a minimum wage was introduced then some clubs would try to get around the rule with percs, gifts given to the player or players family members. As already stated agents can be dodgy and ruin the game but if you take away agents then some clubs would also be just as dodgy, cheat and ruin the game.

The bottom line is the more money there is in a industry then the more there are different levels of corruption.

I know what you are saying, and agree that there are lots of other businesses or industry where the money is staggering for what they do.
Banking springs to mind.
But, the difference here is that these clubs are haemorrhaging money. There is no other industry like it, whereby a company can lose millions a year, yet the employees wages continue to rise way above what would be sensible and certainly inflation! And where the product just becomes more and more expensive for the customers whereby the average person is being priced away from the game.
Put it this way. If wages were capped worldwide, we certainly wouldn't see so many players flocking here to play when they can get the same rewards staying in their home country, near their family etc etc. Strict accounting and regulation would ensure that the gifts and so on are checked.

It wouldn't be easy, and would take a while to get right but I believe it is possible to sort it out. The problem is like you say....there will be corruption that means that there is little interest in sorting it out. Far too many greedy crooks all wanting a piece of the pie...the pie being everyone else's money. Mine, yours everybody's hard earned wages.

 

[snootyfenooty]

Some of the posts about controlling agents and capping salaries are well-meaning but naive. The only way any restraints on agents and salaries can be enforced is if it is written into the statute book, i.e. law. When such interference by a government into the running of football occurs, then FIFA will kick that country into touch and ban them from international competition. It all OK being all socialistic in these matters but in this case there would be consequences. It wouldn't work, thank fuck.

The only reason agents get away with what they do is because they are smarter than the football clubs they are dealing with. It is therefore up to the clubs to up their game and get the right advice.