Elephantstrunk

Bungs are straightforward kickbacks and it would be better if they were called bribes. Football managers have large amounts of other people’s money at their disposal and can use that to trade off their own benefits against their employer’s.

But what about who pays the agent? See the Independent for example. The Ashley Cole affair turned on exactly this. When Arsenal refused to foot the bill for the agent Jonathan Barnett’s fee, the agent told Cole that they had dropped the offer by the corresponding amount and the rest is history.

Why don’t football clubs want to be the ones paying the agents? Having the agents working for them would surely be to their advantage. It is how most people buy financial services. What does that say?