Why aren't more footballer like Gary Neville?

And I have something specific in mind, not his particular virtues as a player and professional. Rather, why don't they have a similar disdainful attitude towards agents who don't appear to offer anything like a service commensurate with the lavish rewards?

"If you've got that kind of money, the percentage players give to their agents, then give it to your mum and dad instead," he says, while maintaining that any player should be capable of conducting his own salary negotiations. "It's easy to find out what your comparables are earning," he says. "How hard can it be to write that down on a bit of paper, stick it in front of a guy and say, 'This is what I want?' Agents just cause so much disharmony in football."

It amazes me to see the amounts of money paid to agents. Where I, and apparently Neville, differ from the conventional view on this is that I don't see the agents as parasites on the clubs so much as the player. As far as I can see, if a club is prepared to pay £20m to his old club for a player, £4m to his agent and, say £20m in wages over four years, then that player's contract is worth precisely £44m to the new club. The value of the loss of that player to the old club is still £20m. The fact that the transfer fee, agent's fee and players salary are all accounted for separately doesn't change that. If the agent were to slash his fee in half, the player could expect to receive an amount approximately equivalent in increased wages. I can understand why clubs pay agents - it is often the only way to acquire or retain a player - what I don't understand is what's in it for the players.

Comments

[Dennis]

Well, not every player is Gary Neville. For him the wage might be the most important part. But for a lot of players other things might be equally important, pension schemes, good schooling for the children, a job for the wife, housing, etc.

If you're a defender in the Swedish league, playing in GIF Sundsvall or whatever, approaching 30 and wants to end your career abroad you have to rely on an agent to take care of the negotiating part as well as advertise the player to clubs outside of Sweden. Our friend in Sundsvall won't play for Man Utd or other clubs that can afford to have scouts travelling abroad to check out players and pay the players good monet (plus he's probably to old as well). He have to settle for Port Fail or Dundee United instead, and that makes a lot of difference.

[Frank McGahon]

Actually, Dennis, I'd say that the wage isn't the most important thing for Neville - he gives the impression that he'd play for United for nothing!

Seriously, though: I don't see how an agent would even be useful in relation to the things you mention. I don't imagine the likes of Pino Zahavi go around researching school league tables and interior design job vacancies. I doubt whether any football club has a pension scheme and the services of an accountant or pensions/investments advisor could be bought for a tiny fraction of the fee paid to agents.

As for the type of player you mention - the "honest journeyman" in the parlance - he isnt typically the principal source of exhorbitant agents' fees. These guys really clean up in the high profile cases. I'm thinking of Saha to United, for example. United wanted him, he wanted to go, the difficult negotiations were between the two clubs as to the precise transfer fee and Saha's agent had nothing to do with that aspect of the transfer. Yet he was paid £750,000.

[Richard]

If a (top) footballer wishes to justify having an agent, he need only look at Kieron Dyer.

If brains were chocolate, Dyer couldn't fill a smartie, his England selection is mystifying and the notches on his bedpost can be measured in multiples of his goalscoring record, and he's always injured. In short, an expensive useless little waster.

But his agent's good.

With a subtlety beyond Dyer himself, his agent has earned him THREE improved contracts by playing the Newcastle Board like a flute. No revolutionary techniques were employed: Just the tried and tested schtick of releasing stories to the tabloids of faked interest from a 'big club' (Newcastle IS a big club, we just don't win anything), then some quotes from 'friends of the player' about how much he'd love to stay, but he's flattered to hear of the interest, blah, blah, blah. Next moment a new 5 year contract and pay rise is on the table. Simple, but I'll say it again: Beyond the limited intellect/subtlety of Dyer himself. Louis Boa-Morte played the same trick at Fulham a few weeks ago, only using Newcastle as the false 'big club'.

GAH! (picture what I'm like when we HAVEN'T just knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup)