Town spent £90,000 on agents' fees in the second six months of 2004. The Football League now makes public all payments made by clubs to agents.

The updated report published today covers the period July 1st to December 31st 2004 and makes interesting reading with over £5 million committed to agents during this period, compared with £1.4 million during the previous six months.

Championship clubs accounted for the majority of the payments, with a total of £4.4 million seeping out of the game. Leeds United made the largest payments of £1.5 million as they restructured their playing staff following relegation.

Ipswich engaged in 14 transactions (four new registrations or transfers, five updated contracts, two cancelled contracts, and three loan transactions) at a cost of £90,000, which compares with payments totalling £37,125 during the previous six months (seven new registrations or transfers, two updated contracts, and two loan transactions).

The average payment transaction for Ipswich was £6,428 (£3,375 prior six months). The average payment per transaction in the Championship was £9,341.

Only one club in the Championship did not make any payments to agents and that was Crewe who are often held up as a model of a well-run club with stability in management, lack of debts and an excellent youth policy.

Sir Brian Mawhinney, chairman of the Football League, commented: "This report covers a period during which the transfer market is traditionally busy as clubs, including those whose divisional status has changed, shape their squads for the new season. Therefore these figures were always likely to be higher than for the previous six months and I would expect that pattern to continue."

"Nevertheless too much money is leaving football through payments to agents. This report strengthens the argument for those who believe that football needs an effective regulatory framework to ensure a level playing field for clubs when negotiating with agents.

"Deals using agents need to be more transparent, not least so that supporters can understand when agents are genuinely helping clubs to behave with financial responsibility. We are working with the FA to try to achieve that goal."

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