Good News

I begrudge every single penny the club spends on agents.

supposedly a good thing, and im glad were saving money,,, but the 3 teams that got promotion were West Ham, Southampton and Reading... West Ham spend over 4m... Reading over 1m and Southampton over 800,000... Sometimes the only way to get anywhere is spend

It's good news that it has come down. £234K is still about 700 season tickets worth of income though, so I'd like to see it fall further still.

What about West Ham spending £4.3M just on agents, that really is shocking! That must be roughly our entire season ticket income.

It's shocking how much emphasis a transfer has is down to a greedy agent, they really are bad news for football! good to see we've trimmed down what we've spent on them though

I'm pretty sure that a couple of seasons ago Blackpool refused to spend any money on agents...and this didn't stop them from getting promoted.

And this is why we cannot attract players, we WILL NOT SPEND THE CASH CLEGG IS A DISGRACE AND TURNING ARE CLUB INTO A LAUGHING STOCK.

So 19 clubs spent more on agents than us , you reap what you sow , M.E. we need to compete for players if you want promotion and your money back. Spending money does not guarentee success , West Ham were lucky to get up last year but the other promoted items also invested more than us. Invest , get up the league , get bigger gates hopefully get promoted its an easy model with the right personnel or is it ?

Agent's fee an 'investment? more like a backhander in my book!
If an agent really does contribute usefully to the process then he or she is probably worthy of a fixed fee that relates to the time spent on the completing the deal as opposed to a percentage of the transfer fee. In most cases I reckon that (i.e. time spent) would be worth a maximum of £5000.

Agents are ruining the game, they are making the players way too greedy. A cap on wages at all divisions would be very welcome imo. A very sensible cap at that by the way. Ten grand a week is plenty for any player in the championship.

Agent fees are generally proportional to fees/wages.
West Ham have players on PL wages and had PL money to spend last season.
Plus Big Sam has a very dodgy history when it comes to transfer dealings!!

They took a massive gamble on spending big bucks on new players, luckily for them it paid off.

Agents are an important part of the game, not every footballer is an Alan Lee when it comes to understanding money and contracts and with sharks like ME at the other end a good agent is a must.

Still, while we continue to buy from clubs in distress or from the dole queue, this shouldn't be a big issue. Nor will we get near the play-offs

Still nearly quarter of a million too much.
We should refuse to have anything to do with agents : there are so many footballers on the dole now that there'd be no problem signing players by dealing with them face to face.

There is a definite need for agents in the game, the way agents are starting to demand astronomical fees is not needed. However, let's make a calculated assessment on why agents are needed, and demanding high fees.

Agents are needed to safe guard both the player they represent, and the Association that the player is registered with (FA/SFA etc etc). The agent acts on behalf of the player in a similar way that a solicitor would during a conveyance or inheritance. I certainly wouldn't want to attempt the sale of my house for example, so why would a footballer attempt to negotiate a contract (especially if they have no idea about what it is they are signing). By that, we have to remember that a footballer is not just signing to say I agree to that amount per week, and that amount of annual rise based upon appearances and bonuses. They are signing to say 'I will not ride a motorbike' or 'I will not go on extreme sport holidays' or 'I will eat this and/or that' etc etc.

Of course, I do not know what other clauses and restrictions there are, but I imagine the fine print around such clauses is a legal nightmare, which I or one would not be comfortable approaching.

As for the astronomical fees that have been seen (RVP and 4Mil). I imagine a lot of that is based upon the agent 'convincing' their client to agree to certain clauses and restrictions within a contract. "I will get him to agree to this and that etc etc, but it will cost you £X". The bigger the club, the bigger the player, the more money involved in the fee/wages, the likelihood of even more restrictions that club want to impose on their player. Safeguarding their investment!

It is a massive game of chess, and one that has spiralled out of control, but to suggest there is no need for agents would potentially harm the sport we love even more, opposed to repairing the damage that has already been done.

Mark, Wet Spam spend over £4m on agents fees but they've gained promotion and will certainly make more than an extra £4m for being in The Premier League so it's worked out well for them, £4m and promotion or £200k and stay here, I know which one I'd prefer.

Daley, I don't like agents either, their greed has ruined the game as a 'good' agent probably makes more than the average player, however, I doubt there are many, if any players out there who would know how to work out their own deals so agents are a necessary evil.

Agents do have a part to play in the game, safeguarding players and arangeing deals
BUT
Never understood why the club pays them and not the player when they are sorting out new contracts and uping wages, plus they prob get a 10% cut off the players wages

Pretty easy to tell someone to spend millions of their money when its not your own. And frankly I dont blame Evans for being careful this time around, considering he's invested like 30 million over the last 3 or 4 years with no reward. So you cant say he hasnt invested into the club, thats a load of old balls. Some on here just sound so ungrateful, and without evans taking over we would be in the exact same position as Portsmouth are in now, or worse. Stop be short sighted and wake up! Rant over.

Well said Lukeybluey, we al want success but at what price, you an't compare us with West Ham, who had PL money for that season. It's going to get increasingly hard for us, but I believe the club is going in the right direction with it's commitment to youth.....it's just gonna take time.