Agents

[Hillbilly]

It's extraordinary that we even know the names of agents - Mendes, Barnett, Joorabchian etc. The incentives in the system are all aligned to reward their parasitic behaviour. Agitate for a contract upgrade, they get a cut. Agitate for a transfer, they get a cut. Not to mention their clients are young men who have led pretty sheltered lives so there is plenty of scope for exploitation.

I'm sure there are plenty who provide a straightforward service but at the top end in particular they seem like absolute scum.

[FatSam]

Agreed. I'm trying to remember at what point Grealish signed-up with his current agent, as with hindsight, there seems to have been an inevitability about which way this process was heading.

[Percy McCarthy]

Agreed. I'm trying to remember at what point Grealish signed-up with his current agent, as with hindsight, there seems to have been an inevitability about which way this process was heading.

His dad was his agent for a bit but admitted he was getting out of his depth as he got into the first team. Not sure if Jack went straight from him to the current scummer.

[Sexual Ealing]

In the 90s a lot of Irish players (O'Leary and Keane off the top of my head) just used a Dublin-based solicitor to sort out the contractual stuff. I like that approach.

[Towser]

Bring back 007

[Rodders]

Has anyone else pointed out that our former No 10's agent is Jonathan Barnett, the ethically dubious fellow whose licence was revoked by the FA for 9 months over being the "prime mover" in the Ashley Cole To Chelsea Tapping Up Affair?

It would hardly be a stretch of the imagination to conceive of a situation where the 10%, the whole 10% and nothing but the 10% is the agent's primary motivation rather than a holistic view of what is best for his client's career.

I used to work in recruitment at quite a high level. It's a wanker's game.

[frank black]

They’re really just doing their jobs. Getting the best deal for the player and for themselves. We were essentially put in a position where we had to put the £100 mil clause in to get Grealish to stay. I don’t blame agents at all, the club should have negotiated better last summer. If a player wants to stay, they’d instruct their agent accordingly

[Dave]

They’re really just doing their jobs. Getting the best deal for the player and for themselves. We were essentially put in a position where we had to put the £100 mil clause in to get Grealish to stay. I don’t blame agents at all, the club should have negotiated better last summer. If a player wants to stay, they’d instruct their agent accordingly

Yup. Footballers are in it to make money. How much an agent earns is in direct correlation to how much the player earns. I imagine 99% of players are completely comfortable with how the system works.

The first century of professional football gave the clubs complete control over players, this has just levelled the playing field a bit.

[ChicagoLion]

They’re really just doing their jobs. Getting the best deal for the player and for themselves. We were essentially put in a position where we had to put the £100 mil clause in to get Grealish to stay. I don’t blame agents at all, the club should have negotiated better last summer. If a player wants to stay, they’d instruct their agent accordingly

But most of them are scumbags.

[Clive W]

They’re really just doing their jobs. Getting the best deal for the player and for themselves. We were essentially put in a position where we had to put the £100 mil clause in to get Grealish to stay. I don’t blame agents at all, the club should have negotiated better last summer. If a player wants to stay, they’d instruct their agent accordingly

I’m not sure the owners could have negotiated anything better Frank

If they wanted to keep him and he/his agent insisted on a release clause then £100m was probably the highest that would be accepted.

In view of the Kane/£150m, in hindsight, it probably was too low. But as I say - in hindsight and I doubt whether a year ago anyone would have expected a bid of £100m to come in.

The owners probably reckoned that if the clause was triggered, then £100m for a player with his dubious injury record would be a good result

[frank black]

My wife’s brother in law is mates with an agent (representing some decent prem players). He fell into the role purely by chance. He was playing golf with a player (qpr I think) and was chatting about clubs. The player mentioned a team he’d love to play for. So he told the player he knew someone there and he gave them a call and the move happened.

He now plays a lot more golf.

[frank black]

They’re really just doing their jobs. Getting the best deal for the player and for themselves. We were essentially put in a position where we had to put the £100 mil clause in to get Grealish to stay. I don’t blame agents at all, the club should have negotiated better last summer. If a player wants to stay, they’d instruct their agent accordingly

I’m not sure the owners could have negotiated anything better Frank

If they wanted to keep him and he/his agent insisted on a release clause then £100m was probably the highest that would be accepted.

In view of the Kane/£150m, in hindsight, it probably was too low. But as I say - in hindsight and I doubt whether a year ago anyone would have expected a bid of £100m to come in.

The owners probably reckoned that if the clause was triggered, then £100m for a player with his dubious injury record would be a good result

Who knows what was discussed. Perhaps they could have paid him a higher salary and removed or improved the clause. Personally I’d have preferred it if we’d not had it. I was very confident he’d be a 100 mil plus player

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Agents-Parasitical stains on the professional sport of football.

[PeterWithe]

Jack was in a strong position in the contract negotiations, he was one of the best players in the world and we'd stayed up by the skin of our teeth.

The best players in the world dont usually play for teams in that position so he had the whip hand. I think we did well to get it set at £100m, if its true

[Jon Crofts]

Has anyone else pointed out that our former No 10's agent is Jonathan Barnett, the ethically dubious fellow whose licence was revoked by the FA for 9 months over being the "prime mover" in the Ashley Cole To Chelsea Tapping Up Affair?

It would hardly be a stretch of the imagination to conceive of a situation where the 10%, the whole 10% and nothing but the 10% is the agent's primary motivation rather than a holistic view of what is best for his client's career.

I used to work in recruitment at quite a high level. It's a wanker's game.

Isn't it just, the modern day Estate Agents, the very definition of oxygen thieves.