The power of agents
With the recent revelations from Luton manager, Mike Newell, about agents playing both clubs and offering 'bungs' as sweeteners in transfer deals, the role of players agents have been brought into question again.
Do they really have that much power over players and clubs? An agent is meant to have the best interests of the player at heart, but are they just in it for themselves and not care about the players future.
Let me provide a recent example for you, one of Villa's young starlets Wayne Henderson has been on loan for the first part of this season at Brighton and Hove Albion, and it now seems a permenant deal is imminent with the Seagulls. A fee has been agreed between Villa and Brighton, as has the personal terms for the young irishman. However, the stumbling block appears to be the agents fee, and the agent is holding out for a cash sum that the south coast club just can't afford. (Information curtosy of ICBirmingham)
As much as I think Henderson is a good prospect for the future, it would surely be better for him in the long run to play first team football in the lower leagues to continue his development.
Is this a isolated case, I doubt it and if it turns out that Henderson's deal falls through, it may be good for the reserves to have 2 good keepers at their disposal, but Henderson's career will continue to be held back.
If it isn't an isolated case, think what other talent in top clubs are being held back. We could be losing out on potential world cup winners of the future.
A bit melodramatic perhaps, but it is a possibility.
Do they really have that much power over players and clubs? An agent is meant to have the best interests of the player at heart, but are they just in it for themselves and not care about the players future.
Let me provide a recent example for you, one of Villa's young starlets Wayne Henderson has been on loan for the first part of this season at Brighton and Hove Albion, and it now seems a permenant deal is imminent with the Seagulls. A fee has been agreed between Villa and Brighton, as has the personal terms for the young irishman. However, the stumbling block appears to be the agents fee, and the agent is holding out for a cash sum that the south coast club just can't afford. (Information curtosy of ICBirmingham)
As much as I think Henderson is a good prospect for the future, it would surely be better for him in the long run to play first team football in the lower leagues to continue his development.
Is this a isolated case, I doubt it and if it turns out that Henderson's deal falls through, it may be good for the reserves to have 2 good keepers at their disposal, but Henderson's career will continue to be held back.
If it isn't an isolated case, think what other talent in top clubs are being held back. We could be losing out on potential world cup winners of the future.
A bit melodramatic perhaps, but it is a possibility.
posted by Pete @ 1:58 pm
2 Comments:
At 11:08 pm,
Anonymous said…
On the one hand, an agent's motivation is in line with their clients' (the players) best interests - to negotiate the best deal, to grow the player's reputation and progress them up the divisions - thereby earning them both increased amounts.
However, there are also areas of conflict. While a player may be happy at an existing club, an agent naturally prefers movement to get the signing-on fees.
In these instances, the player has to have independent advice, know their own mind and make sure they make decisions that are right for them.
The other side of this is the clubs themselves. If they didn't keep paying up to agent demands, agents would stop making them. However, all clubs have to do it else the agents will simply isolate the few who don't play ball.
I have a lot of sympathy for Mike Newell. It's highly unlikely that the FA will do much and he'll have made himself unpopular with the clubs, managers and agents involved. He still did the right thing though.
At 2:22 pm,
Pete said…
Yeah, honesty is always the best policy. I've not heard anything further about bunggate, so it looks like its been swept under the carpet.
I understand that agents have to look out for themselves, as they are trying to earn money for themselves. It's just that the actions of Henderson's agent confused me.
Surely the agent in question would want to keep Wayne Henderson as a client, but if I was Henderson and an agent tried to block my career because they weren't getting enought money out of it, I would have said cheerio and got new representation.
With that particular deal, i think Brighton caved eventually and paid the requested fee to the agent, so henderson moved to Brighton. Good for the young keeper, keeps a bad trend for football tho.
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