Fifa planted ‘the law of the jungle’ trees they now wish to bulldoze with new regulations for agents
FIFA describe the current power of football agents as “the law of the jungle” with “conflicts of interests rife and exorbitant ‘commissions’ being earned left and right”.
Bearing in mind football agents earned £470million in fees in 2019 — four times more than in 2015 — it’s not hard to see how they have come to this conclusion.
The irony is that it was Fifa who planted the trees that they now wish to bulldoze to the ground, with what look like suitable new regulations for agents.
This includes caps on fees, more transparency, a licensing system, avoiding conflicts of interest and maintaining high professional standards, all of which should benefit everyone involved in the game.
But hold on there…
The rewards of being an agent are so remunerative that others are emerging from the darkness wanting a piece of the action — and I wonder if any kind of reforms will hold them back.
Alleged drugs chieftain Daniel Kinahan is expanding his sporting management operation MTK Global from boxing into football.
Kinahan’s record persuaded Irish police in the High Court to name the 43-year-old as a drugs lord and crime boss in his native Dublin.
“I’ve no criminal record anywhere in the world,” he pleads. But then neither does Vladimir Putin.
World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury vouched what a nice chap Kinahan is — and no doubt he is very good to his mother.
But that is a long, long way from a recommendation that he should glide unchallenged into football.
The British Boxing Board of Control don’t like his alleged links with crime but say they can do nothing about it.
They don’t explain why not — after all, they are the governing body for boxing. And what’s the point of having ‘Control’ in your title if you have none?
So, of all the reforms proposed by Fifa, “maintaining high professional standards” will be the most difficult to translate into an actual regulation. But it is perhaps the most important.
Representing football players and their careers should only be done by people who protect the integrity of football, prevent abuses and who genuinely have their players’ best interests at heart.
And as administrators of the game, we need to ensure Fifa award licenses to agents who can and will do this.
I understand and respect the fact players need to get as much from a short career as they possibly can.
They are professionals who hold all the hopes and fortunes of our football clubs in their hands, and they deserve every penny they get.
So I do worry about the influence and characters of the people who want to get the closest to them.
If this Irishman’s plans do not put a rocket up the underpants of Fifa-dom, it should.
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And where are the PFA in all this? Are they not concerned about having characters like this representing the players? Are they not lobbying to prevent such types getting licenses to represent their union members?
On the subject of the PFA, it’s hard to understand what role they play in football any more.
They represent some of the most influential people on the planet (step forward Marcus Rashford) and their union members are keeping the whole country from going off their rockers during lockdown by continuing to play football.
The PFA should have prestige, power, influence and a mandate for good. They should be driving the discussion on diversity and inclusion in the country by using the power of football to drive positive social change. Their values should represent the high ones set by the players themselves.
They should be leading on every issue that affects the players, from education, financial planning, social media abuse, dementia, mental health and . . . who can and should represent them.
When, oh when, is their reform going to happen?