By Andrew Warshaw
October 6 – The boss of one of Italy’s major top-flight clubs has issued a scathing attack on the role of agents in the wake of the English newspaper sting that saw Sam Allardyce lose the national manager’s job after just 67 days and which quoted agents boasting about how many managers had been paid off in transfer deals.
Flamboyant Napoli owner Aurelio de Laurentiis told the Leaders in Sport summit that agents were a “cancer” on the game and insisted players did not need them.
Laurentiis, 67, who is also a movie producer, did not hold back when asked about agents, saying image rights were often the reason why so many deals fall through.
“You know, that’s a cancer of our domain,” he said. “Not every agent. But I don’t understand why you need an agent. In Hollywood, the actor pays [the agent] himself. I don’t pay the agent. In soccer, why must I pay?” he said.
“The agents became like a tax and sometimes they want to be paid up front. You make a contract for five years and they want to be paid in two and three years. Why? Because when they finally receive all the money, they go shopping around.”
However, Mel Stein, outgoing chairman of the UK-based Association of Football Agents, believes the same could be said of some club owners and chairmen.
“The fact of the matter is that there are some bad people, but you can’t call them a cancer,” he said. “The fact is we are an easy target because we have no voice in the industry.”
Stein wants a self-regulating body of agents to help weed out the bad apples. “We feel bruised and unloved,” he said. “Why won’t they let us regulate ourselves? We’d rather people were inside the tent than out because inside you can improve your reputation by kicking people out.”
Stein also suggested the English FA did not carry out sufficient due diligence before appointing Allardyce, who is under investigation for his comments about trying to get round third party ownership, filmed by the Daily Telegraph.
“I’m not suggesting in any shape, form or size that we should be involved in appointing an England manager,” said Stein. “ (But) if anybody had spoken to any of us about their last appointment (Allardyce), we would’ve said ‘You know what, he’s not Mother Teresa’.”
Allardyce got the job 10 years ago after denying certain allegations made in a BBC television documentary and while there is no suggestion he breached any rules, Stein said football agents could have offered more background about his character.
“I’m not saying he’s guilty of anything but if you were looking for somebody who was going to not cause you any problem, probably Allardyce was not your man,” said Stein. “He may well have been the best manager – that’s a decision to make.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1715345488labto1715345488ofdlr1715345488owedi1715345488sni@w1715345488ahsra1715345488w.wer1715345488dna1715345488