Greedy Football Agents

Manchester United and England International Gary Neville has gone on the attack against what he called “greedy agents” who are making millions out of the game and has called for his fellow players to back him. I don’t have a problem with that but it does put a wry grin on my face, I mean it’s not as if he hasn’t made a little bit of money out of the game is it?

Nelville isn’t the type of guy to keep his opinions to himself, on or off the pitch and you’d have thought he’d have learnt over the years when to keep quiet but I think this is worth saying. Shame nobody else has done it before quite frankly. Neville was aked if he knew of any good agents, to which he responded, “I don’t know many.” And then continued, “I’d like to see the removal of agents from the game and make the players not so reliant on them.” Don’t hold back Gary, say it like it is.

Gary has only ever played for one club, Man Utd (shame there isn’t a bit more loyalty in football like that) and has also been managed by one person, his father. Quick quiz question: Do you know Gar’s dad’s name? No? Well, all I can say his Gary’s grandparents had a sense of humour because his dad is called Nelville. No, not just his surname, it’s his christian name too! Gary’s dad is Mr. Nelville Neville. Class! But I digress.

Gary is the PFA Players Rep at United and is highly critical of the agents of themselves make millions brokering the deals and transfers. Gary continued, “This has always been a concern for me. Our guy can go into a deal and expect to be giving hundreds of thousands or even millions to the agent and that money is going out of the game.” I definitely agree with that last bit. Ok, football is a wealthy game but wouldn’t that money that currently goes into the agents’ pockets be better utilised and invested in the grass roots of the game in inner city and depressed areas?

A lot of players who enter the game are obviously very young and probably a little niave and can be totally blown away by the amount of money they can potentially earn and I’m sure they can be easily swayed by a worldly wise agent. Nelville also stated, “A lot of players think they need them [agents] but it’s not the case. They need good advice from a solicitor or accountant, but they don’t need people taking hundreds of thousands off them.” Surely clubs, particularly the big ones like United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal etc. have in-house solictors and accountants that could maybe provide a bit of advice to the younger player. Though I suppose there might be a slight conflict of interest there.

An agent called Mel Stein replied, “We need a bit of a charm offensive [slight understatement] to educate the public about what we have to do. I hear what Gary Nelville says about the PFA abut they are a trade union, generally ex-professional footballers. If you were buying a house would you want a bricklayer to do the conveyancing?” There’s todays winner of The Glib Comment Award!

Well, I’m behind Gary Nelville on this one. From a personal point of view, he can be a little too outspoken and provocative for me at times but he’s “hit the nail on the head” with this and I hope others get behind him. A change to the power of agents is well overdue.

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Many thanks
Rik