The Football Industry Encourages Bad Agents

The industry often advocates bad agents unknowingly by making the environment of doing business tricky. Let's take typical recruitment agency work for example, a fee for helping a company secure a new employee is agreed at the beginning before work commences. That recruitment agent will submit candidates they've sourced for the job, if one of those candidates gets the job (barring any rebates) that recruitment agent is paid - simple.

In football however, despite the fact it shares similar characteristics to that of recruitment apart from it may be more complex at times, it can be a battle even to agree a fee from the start. Some clubs may even try to agree an agents fee once the player's terms are agreed and then play you around on that fee or dispute it all together. Some may even agree to that fee up front, do the deal and then not pay at all. I'm afraid to say this is just a few examples of what is pretty much common practice in the industry.

A significant issue in football as it stands, let's say at least in the UK, is found in how people working in the industry find it hard to distinguish between the emotional elements of football management and the reality that it is a business where agents are in-fact a key element of revenue generation and player sourcing for clubs. As a result, business is happening, sometimes very big business, but it's far from the professionalism you'd find in other industries.

In this industry, the best way to agree a fee or get paid is simply to have a top player. A top player that everyone wants and then the agent would just tell clubs if you don't agree a great fee from the start and pay a significant portion of it up-front as an agents fee when the deal is done then simply that agent will refuse to negotiate and agree player terms with the club.

If you have a less in-demand player then clubs often want you to fight for your fee; thus we often see agents contacting other clubs trying to create a dutch auction for the player until one club agrees to pay a basic fee. Sometimes for an out-of-contract or a youth player who is even less desirable to the eyes of most, some clubs will just try not to pay an agents fee at all, despite the fact you may have helped that club source a player that does increase player asset value at the club or has distinct potential. There are even clubs that will refuse to take a standard % from a players salary to pay the agent as a matter of accountancy on request of a player - because they don't want to pay an agents fee in principal.

So if you revert back to the recruitment agency concept - do you see those agents not agree a fee or not be paid simply because they're bringing in a £12,000 per year low demand employee rather than a £200,000 per year executive? The answer is no. Likewise, the variety of manipulations of players agent' transactions, including the debate of whether the player or club should pay and what that truly means, is murky, not needed and unhealthy as an insider and looks even worse from the outside.

What I am trying to show in the above primarily is how there is a broad sense that there is no standard way of operating as an agent and each deal with each club can be very different. Where this encourages bad agents is the ones who, regardless of the player' level or demand, are prepared to do anything they can to force agreed terms and payment through any means necessary because they feel it may be the only way they get paid for their work. That's where you see agents offering players to as many clubs as possible or touting them in the press or agents who are keen to manipulate players to hide them from all offers and only disclose offers to them if suitable agents fees are agreed or manipulate families or even step into the realm of corruption all in order to secure their living. It's exactly what the industry says it doesn't want but here it is making agents feel they have to fight all the time.

The industry has allowed itself to manifest poor professionalism and low standards in business in various transactions. As a result, good professionals will harbour away from an industry where you don't know if you'll be able to structure a fee as you'd expect or even be paid from one client or club to the next. Then in turn, the ones who will thrive will be those who enjoy the dark arts and are prepared to needlessly fight for deals and as a result tarnish the name of agents, which could be good one in the right circumstances, and ultimately football.

To reduce the role of 'bad agents' that are corrupting the game in more ways than just morally, the FA and other footballing bodies need to take a firmer role first by giving more acceptance and acknowledgement to the role of agency work and begin to define transactions that safeguard agents and I can guarantee you all out there, cynic of agents or not, that you will begin to see those who are good professionals strive and the image of agents improve. Until that point and agents have to remain in a consistent dog fight to agree fees or even get paid once agreed, the bad agents will continue to operate and the industry will continue to unknowingly encourage it.

Sometimes not being allowed to do the right thing

Hi all,

Just a quick update of my musings of the industry at the moment. Rather than discuss the transfer window I'll give you a little insight into an occurrence recently as we tried to sign to represent a young talented international representative player.

As you will know if you follow or are involved with us, Simply Sport has a code of conduct where we try to as much as we can to inform any club before we make an approach for an 18 or under youth player player at their club. As like any industry, some clubs/companies you have closer relationships with than others, even if we have relationships with most.

However, 5 months ago we rang up one particular club to ask if we may approach a player and whilst it rarely is a question that gets Academy Manager's singing and dancing he appreciated our call and affirmed. However, as of late that same Academy Manager has informed the parents that he has never spoken to us on this subject - and this has upset the parents. Is it merely bad memory, specifically chosen memory or politics? You can decide for yourselves.

Ultimately, I am sure with a conversation with the Academy Manager later today, I can try to get this resolved, but this isn't the first time this occurrence has happened and it really concerns the parents rightly of any young player - albeit I must state it is is a very rare occurrence. Obviously if this occurrence happens it is typically with clubs we have a less close relationship than with others, but it goes to show that even if you try to do the right thing by clubs sometimes, they may appreciate it externally but internally it will be dealt with a different manner. It's disappointing but it won't change the way we are trying to operate at Simply Sport but you if you're reading it as an outsider you can understand how so many unscrupulous agents would happily try never to let the club know they are approaching the player until they turn up for professional contract negotiations because their fearful of how academies may deal with that approach internally and perhaps that club may even gear that player and his family towards 'preferred agents' who may only serve the interests of the club.

Simply Sport will continue to do things the right way - even if it hurts sometimes. And it does hurt.