The Agent

How agents will affect the Ronaldo transfer

2009-06-16T11:00:00Z

Money, money, money: must be funny in a rich man's world.

If the philosophical utterings of Sweden’s most famous four are to be believed, Cristiano Ronaldo must be laughing his blooming head off ahead of his impending megabucks move to Madrid.

The fans' general opinion is that this must be an agent’s field day... and on the whole they would be correct.

But many may not be clear on how exactly the whole situation will be handled and what exactly the role of the agent is.

On a deal of this magnitude the affair could well become very complicated and numerous third parties will probably have their say in how it all plays out.

One of the easiest to clear up should be the agent responsible for the handling of the player’s interests.

While Cristiano is enjoying his nights in Paris his agent Jorge Mendes will be ensuring that the financial package on the table from Madrid is not just enough money, but also that it is constructed in the correct fashion.

Ronaldo and Mendes will involve their own lawyers and accountants to make sure that the contract is constructed both to give the most financial security and to place him in the best tax position possible.

It will almost certainly include some arrangement regarding the player's commercial or image rights.

Ronaldo and Mendes clamber in a banger

Unless written into his contract at United, neither the player nor his agent will be entitled to any of the massive £80 million transfer fee.

Contrary to popular belief, the days of every player receiving 10 percent of his transfer fee are long gone.

Such 10 percent deals tend to only be included in the contracts of young players or those on (relatively) small wages.

It's actually more common in the lower leagues; unfortunately for the players, this is where transfer fees aren't that common anyway.

However, don’t feel too sorry for the Portuguese winker. He should still become one of the highest-paid players in the history of the game.

Meanwhile, his agent will earn approximately 5 percent of his playing contract... and here's another common misconception.

The agent's 5 percent is not usually paid up front, but in regular instalments over the duration of the deal.

This is done not only to make payments easier for the player (so he doesn't have to stump up in advance a slice of wages he's not yet received) but also for it to be in the agent's best interests for the player to stay.

"I've checked, Cris, and you owe me a fiver"

Basically, the more of the contract is fulfilled, the more the agent will earn.

Such fees will normally be paid by the club as part of the player’s contract, and he will be taxed accordingly.

Not so easy to clear up is whether or not any other agents will be involved in the deal.

It is possible that Madrid will have employed someone to act on their behalf in negotiating the transfer fee with Manchester United, and persuading the player and his agent to come over to Spain (I’m sure that would have proven very difficult).

However, it is in that agent's best interests for the transfer fee to be as low as possible: the greater the 'headline' figure, the less left in the pot for his share.

This agent’s fee would obviously be paid by the buying club, dependent upon if they are on a retainer or employed on a one-off basis.

On the other side, it is unlikely that Manchester United would have employed an agent to sell the FIFA World Player of the Year.

This is likely to have been handled internally by the chief executive, David Gill, and his team. And it's not as if Madrid's interest came out of left-field.

"So I get a finder's fee, right?"

However, on occasion clubs will employ agents to maximise the value of a player; such parties will normally receive a performance-related bonus dependent on what price they are able to achieve.

Whichever way the two clubs handle the situation, both will have employed their own teams of lawyers and accountants to make sure that the massive figures involved are all processed properly.

But back to the player's own agent.

One of the agent's most important roles in a deal such as this is to cut through the whole circus and ensure that, whatever happens, the player's best interests are always being represented.

Believe it or not, this is actually what we get paid for...

Read Alex Black's blogs here on FourFourTwo.com. Find out more about his clients at Football First Agency.

BLOG: Where Newcastle went wrong... and could go right

BLOG: Loyalty not the issue in Barry move

BLOG: Sweaty palms for the relegation contract killers

BLOG: Season's almost over, time for the hard work

BLOG: "My name's Alex, I'm an agent..."

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Where Newcastle went wrong – and could go right

2009-06-01T13:00:00Z

When my client Alan Smith signed for Newcastle United just under two years ago, nobody mentioned relegation.

We were sold a very different dream, and very convincingly too. We'd been promised Europe and we believed it might happen.

It didn't. Two seasons later Newcastle are relegated, in a total mess, saddled with a huge wage bill and facing serious financial questions.

The fog is on the Tyne and nobody's smiling; there's not even the cheering sight of Gazza dancing about in a dodgy shellsuit.

But despite the comparisons being made to Leeds United, it might not all be bad news for the Toon Army.

"That's another fine mess I've gotten into"

Let's go back to 2007, when Newcastle were just an underperforming top-flight team that was still hoping to be everybody's second favourite club – rather than many people's favourite joke.

They had just been bought by billionaire shopkeeper Mike Ashley and in Sam Allardyce had appointed one of the most respected managers in the league.

There was going to be an overhaul of the playing staff, the coaching staff and the medical staff. Most importantly, there was going to be a totally new mentality. This all started with gusto and the changes began.

The change wasn't popular, though. Players didn't like the work and fans weren't prepared to put up with the new style of play.

The expensive new regime was not going down well. But surely everybody would realise that a total makeover couldn't happen overnight?

Apparently not. Sam was sacked and the Messiah was installed.

No, not Shearer, Keegan. Mistake No.1. Halfway through a change implementation, do not install somebody with the exact opposite approach to carry it through.

Mistake No.2 came with the appointment – over the Messiah's head – of the “London Mafia.” A team on the slide rarely benefits from the expensive purchase of players that nobody wants or has even heard of.

"Welcome to Newcastle..."

Mistake No.3 was to show even less patience, sack everybody again and appoint a new manager – who by the way hasn't managed at that level for several years and has a heart condition.

Everybody knows that the more managers you have in a season, the worse the team's results. Now, I don't mean to sound insensitive, but could there possibly have been a club more likely to have an adverse effect on Joe Kinnear's condition?

Mistake No.4 saw yet another new manager with more new ideas when there simply wasn't time to make them work. Oh, and no management experience. Result – relegation.

What does the future hold? It's well documented that they have got a huge wage bill (without reductions for relegation) and there are huge commercial ramifications too. No wonder people make comparisons with Leeds.

But I'm going to try to argue that it isn't all bad.

The difference between the Premier League TV revenue and the parachute payments they will receive is approximately £25 million, but £10 million will be instantly shaved off the wage bill by Michael Owen and Mark Viduka running out of contract.

They can save another £2 million plus if they sack Joey Barton, and a couple of sales could mean they might just be able to cope.

If Alan Shearer can manage as well as he played, they could be up at the top of the Championship and still be able to pull in the crowds.

The fans have been starved of victories for so long that they may attend even though it's the Championship.

The board had better hope so...

So it's not inconceivable that Newcastle could bounce straight back leaner, hungrier and far better equipped to do well in the Premier League than they ever could have done had they continued to cling on to survival year after year and never cleared out the closet.

Mind you, before we get too carried away, let's not forget this is Newcastle United...

Read Alex Black's blogs here on FourFourTwo.com. Find out more about his clients at Football First Agency.

BLOG: Loyalty not the issue in Barry move

BLOG: Sweaty palms for the relegation contract killers

BLOG: Season's almost over, time for the hard work

BLOG: "My name's Alex, I'm an agent..."

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Loyalty not the issue in Barry move to Liverpool

2009-05-21T11:00:00Z

A lot of phrases are overused in football.

Managers saying “I couldn’t actually see the penalty incident from where I was sitting,” for example, or players continually saying they’ll “take each game as it comes.”

But one of the most overused, inaccurate phrases in the game is when fans say: “The problem with players today is they’ve got no loyalty.”

I’m probably biased because I’m usually the one being blamed for it, but let’s go back to the beginning – not of time but the early days of professional football.

Some people would have you believe that players back then would turn out for their local side for just enough money to keep them in Woodbines and were happy in the knowledge that the local barber would cut their hair for free.

Unfortunately for the whimsical, this has never been the case.

"Once a Blue, always a Blue"

As soon as the game started having any level of organisation, players have always looked for the best deals possible and clubs have continually tried to pinch the best players.

Many of the first professional footballers were the best Scottish players being persuaded to move to England by the lure of good jobs if they played for a new works team.

And though it may be shocking to hear, clubs these days are very liberal with the word “loyalty.”

When a club wants to retain the services of the player, they expect great loyalty from him. Yet when they want to recruit a player from elsewhere, he should be putting football first and not staying where he is through a misguided sense of loyalty.

Many playing contracts actually have loyalty bonuses in them, thus encouraging a player to stay and collect it. A number of Premier League clubs have now stopped paying the traditional signing-on fee and have replaced it with a loyalty bonus.

Could the reason for this be that if a club sells a player while he is under contract, FA regulations state that he is entitled to any signing-on fees due but not to any loyalty bonuses? Just a thought…

Bizarrely I’ve even had instances where clubs have actually tried to sell a player in order to avoid paying him a large loyalty bonus.

Last year I was involved in one of the highest profile non-transfers ever: Gareth Barry’s on-off transfer to Liverpool.

"You must never leave. NEVER"

A number of fans pilloried Gareth for wanting to leave and accused him of having a lack of loyalty (they weren’t very happy with me for my part in it either!).

But Gareth had been at Aston Villa for over 10 years. He had rejected numerous opportunities to leave and spurned chances to earn far more money away from Villa Park.

How can that be disloyal?

And how does that view fit with the fact that Aston Villa pinched him from Brighton in the first place as a 16-year-old? I can only assume that they were pleased then that he decided to advance his career rather than staying loyal to his hometown club.

The truth is that sometimes players are selfish and want to look after themselves. But it’s just as true that clubs do the same. And it’s not because they have lost their “loyalty” – they simply never really had it.

Football is no different from the rest of life. Lack of loyalty in the game is not the fault of players, clubs or, dare I say it, agents. It’s human nature. It’s never changed and it never will.

Read Alex Black's blogs here on FourFourTwo.com. Find out more about his clients at Football First Agency.

BLOG: Sweaty palms for the relegation contract killers
BLOG: Season's almost over, time for the hard work
BLOG: "My name's Alex, I'm an agent..."

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Sweaty palms for the relegation contract killers

2009-05-14T09:00:00Z

There will be a few chairmen of Premier League clubs with sweaty palms this weekend.

Don’t worry – I’m not going to turn this blog into the News of the Screws. I’m talking about the fight for survival at the bottom of the division, and more importantly the financial consequences it will have on both the clubs and the players involved.

So what are they? Well, according to Sheffield United, a cool £50 million.

That’s not just a guess; that’s the amount they sued West Ham for after a court of law agreed with them that the illegal signing of Carlos Tevez cost them their place in the league.

Bizarrely, the judge made this decision after predicting West Ham's results had Tevez not been playing in the fixtures. The 'outcome' was that they would have had fewer points, and even more interestingly, Sheffield United would have stayed up on goal difference.

Unfortunately in the real world, the Blades were very much a Championship team. Cue massive compensation claim.

Tevez scores at Old Trafford – for West Ham

So the cost of relegation is £50 million. Well, not exactly.

The Hammers argued that in order for Sheffield United to maintain Premier League status, every last penny of that income would have been spent on bonuses, new player contracts, transfer fees and general facility improvements. So the cost is somewhere between £50 million and zero.

What we can be more certain of is the implication that the threat of relegation has on the way players’ contracts are structured – and specifically, how clubs have adopted their approach to the potential impending income loss.

West Bromwich Albion have become more of a yo-yo club than most, and as such have positioned themselves well in this area.

Their aim is not to be saddled with huge wage bills should the worst happen and they find themselves in the Football League. This is achieved by having a tiered contract which pays different amounts in the two divisions.

Meanwhile, any big earners should either be on short-term or temporary (loan) deals.

It's not an approach adopted by teams such as Newcastle United, who didn't have relegation on their agenda when they were negotiating the majority of the player contracts they currently have in place.

This is one of the reasons that relegation would have a far greater impact on them as a club.

"This place will be rocking for the Peterborough game"

This is exactly the position Leeds United found themselves in upon their exit from the top flight. The players had no reductions in their contracts and the club found the massive wage bill crippling.

Indeed, Leeds were so desperate to ease this pressure that they even agreed to pay a percentage on a number of players’ contracts after they had sold them on to other clubs – the theory being that it was better to relieve at least some of the commitment than be left with the full amount.

At the time, my client Alan Smith was a favourite son of the Elland Road faithful.

Amid the chaos after Leeds lost at Bolton to confirm relegation, Alan and I were invited to a meeting with the then chairman (not Peter Ridsdale). We were informed that, along with a number of other players, Alan was on a list given to an agent to sell.

We asked why a club so heavily in debt had decided to pay an agent in order to sell a player that over half the Premier League wanted.

The chairman replied: “You have to understand something, fellas: I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing.”

For the record, we refused to co-operate with the agent.

"Sorry lads, Big Sam clicked on 'Buy It Now'..."

I’m sure the Baggies are far better positioned to cope with relegation. In fact they would probably start next season as one of the favourites for promotion.

However, the consequences for the likes of Newcastle and Middlesborough are far wider-reaching – and, as Leeds have proved, potentially long-lasting too.

Read Alex Black's blogs here on FourFourTwo.com. Find out more about his clients at Football First Agency.

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Season (almost) over, time for the work to begin

2009-05-06T13:00:00Z

The final whistle has been blown, the nets put away and the bootroom cleared.

The usually busy ground is pretty much empty now except for a skeleton staff – the full-timers who are going to run the club during the off-season.

This is the scene at every professional club up and down the country. Well, obviously not the Premier League teams, or the four teams in each division involved in the play-offs. But for 60 of the 92 clubs the season has come to an end.

Another seasons ends at Underhill

The football may have finished but the next 12 weeks could well dictate the following 40. This is when the deals are done, and hopefully the busiest time of the year for me.

I will be renegotiating contracts and also conducting traditional transfers. I also represent 10 players who are out of contract at the end of season, commonly known as 'Bosmans'. This represents around 25 percent of all my football clients.

A Bosman is not a guaranteed road to riches and the majority of players crave the security of a long-term deal.

Indeed transfer fees, especially in the lower leagues, could well soon be a thing of the past. Being available for free does not mean you have just found the lucky golden ticket in your post-match Willy Wonka chocolate bar.

However, not everybody understands this. It can become my job to not only find a player a club and negotiate his contract, but also to make him understand when it is time to sign it.

This is particularly the case when players drop out of the top division and have a false belief of what the earnings are in the lower leagues.

Some players may wish to play the waiting game in the hope that a big offer will come up nearer the season. They will be praying that clubs have missed out on the players at the top of their list and desperate to fill gaps and offer bigger deals.

This is a very risky strategy to take. Regardless of how far the manager has to go down his list of options, the budget normally remains the same, and is only changed if the chairman is convinced to do so.

Which is about as easy as persuading players that their 'lucky' hat doesn’t actually set a good tone for the directors’ box.

There will again be a number of high profile Bosmans this summer. One that immediately springs to mind is Michael Owen whose contract, a reputed £120,000 per week, comes to an end.

While many pundits have talked up an Owen move for the past two years, this was never going to happen. No one else has been prepared to pay those sorts of wages, though if they had I believe they could have got him out on a 'free' at any time.

If Michael thinks his Bosman could be a big payday for him, he might well be disappointed. Things have changed and so has he.

Owen: In for a surprise?

Hopefully he decides to be sensible and prolong his career in the Premier League. But if money does really rule his world, then don’t be surprised if we see him being lined up as the next marquee player in some other emerging league such as the MLS or even in the Far East.

Not quite such big-name Bosmans for me this summer, but I’ll be trying to sort out the futures of Darren Purse (Cardiff), Frazer Richardson (Leeds) and Ben Davies (Shrewsbury), among others, to make sure that their availability on free transfers works as best as it possibly can for them.

Read Alex Black's blogs here on FourFourTwo.com. Find out more about his clients at Football First Agency.

Last week's blog: "My name's Alex, I'm an agent..."

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"My name's Alex, I've been a football agent for 10 years..."

2009-04-29T08:00:00Z

I've never had a breakdown (or a breakthrough), and I've never had to shout "show me the money" down the telephone. I don't smoke big fat cigars either.

So I'm no Jerry Maguire and I'm certainly no Eric Hall but I am a sports agent and proud of it!

To tell you a little about myself, I’m 35 years old and married with two sons. I have a Masters degree in sports management, used to coach in community schemes at Coventry and York City and have also worked for the PFA.

But the most important fact, for the purposes of this blog, is that for 10 years I've been a licensed football agent and for the past seven years the managing director of my own business, the Football First Agency.

I've negotiated hundreds of deals in that time, worth millions of pounds. I've dealt with every type of player from naïve young lads trying to make their way in the game to experienced pros forging a path out of it.

I've dealt with England internationals at World Cups, helping them decide what to say to the press after they've just won the biggest game of their career, and I've taken calls from lower-league players telling me the doctor has just told them they’ll have to retire through injury and they don't know what to do.

I've either met or spoken to nearly every club manager at some point and I've heard their gripes about the money men at their club stopping them doing what they want.

And I've talked to the money men at those clubs and listened to them going on about about their manager's unrealistic demands. Then, most interestingly, I've tried to bring it all together to get the deal that my player wants.

Eric Hall... and a stereotype is born

I've dealt with most of the national press guys. Some have been good to my players, some haven't. Some have appreciated my assistance to them, some have criticised me for my lack of it.

By now you should be working out that I am involved in most elements of the game. But the question I am commonly asked by people at dinner parties is to explain what I actually do all day.

I'll quickly give you the four-line sophisticated dinner party response (I'll go more in depth in the future):

My job is to represent individual players in terms of negotiating their playing contract; arranging loan and permanent transfer moves; negotiating commercial deals; and handling their press and PR.

In addition, I'll help the players find the appropriate lawyers, accountants and financial advisors. In return, I receive a percentage commission of their earnings – and before you ask, it's 5 percent of their playing contract!

I'm not alone in this either. According to the FIFA website there are currently 372 licensed agents in England – and that takes no account of the lawyers and family members (who don't need the same qualification) or any of the unlicensed agents currently operating in my field.

We have a certain reputation and are not the most popular people among fans. Some of it is pretty well justified and I'm not going to try and defend some of the antics agents have got up to over the years. In fact, there are stories I'd like to tell over the next few weeks which will confirm some people's opinions – I'll just have to check them over with my lawyer first.

The purpose of this blog is to try to give you an insight into the working life of a football agent. And, although the guys at FourFourTwo.com have told me they don't want my opinions on the latest games, if I can sneak it by I might also occasionally give you my thoughts on some of the issues as they happen in football.

Read Alex Black's blogs here on FourFourTwo.com. Find out more about his clients at Football First Agency.