Payments to managers for players transfers are inappropriate

Mick McGuire, the deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), feels it was inappropriate for Mike Newell to receive 10 percent of the transfer fees from the sale of players at English Luton Town when Newell was manager of the club.

McGuire said it is unacceptable in the top two divisions for managers to have clauses in their contracts that let them profit from player sales, describing such clauses as "open to abuse" and possible "conflicts of interest."

There is no suggestion that Newell, who was fired last week for gross misconduct, exploited the clause while at Luton, nor that he broke any rules by having the agreement inserted in his contract.

However, McGuire, who has negotiated contracts for a number of leading managers, including Billy Davies at English Derby County and Iain Dowie at English Coventry City, feels the clause is "not prevalent" in football and began 20 years ago as a means of supplementing low salaries.

"In the last four years I have probably dealt with 60-70 managers and coaches' contracts and I can't remember any more than one or two which had the clause in," said McGuire.

"My view is that there is no way, when they are up there in the Premiership and Championship and earning the sort of remuneration they get, that they need it. You can understand why a manager should get it in the lower levels, because they are not on the level of remuneration.

"It isn't something I put into a contract myself when I'm representing a manager because I think it can be fraught with problems. To put it in there, one has to say that it can be a conflict of interest because a manager would be looking for his team to do well and, at the same time, he knows if a player leaves, his team are going to be weakened but he's going to be better off."

McGuire does not think that a manager would sell a player just to receive a personal windfall, but he points out that in the event of a clause like Newell's, responsibility for transfers should rest elsewhere.

"It's only workable providing the transfer negotiations and the decision to buy and sell is taken out of the manager's hands because then it doesn't need to be a conflict of interest." Luton, which spoke with Kevin Blackwell about filling its manager position, defended its decision to insert the clause in Newell's contract that allowed him to receive GBP 500,000 from player sales.

"Every manager in football has incentives and bonuses as well as their basic salary," said the club's finance director, Derek Peter. "That's normal and can include a share of transfer fees." Manager Dario Gradi has benefited from a similar, but not as lucrative of an agreement at Crewe Alexandra, although John Bowler, chairman at the League One club, thinks that is justified.

"Trading in the transfer market is part and parcel of the way we do business and the man that is responsible for helping us generate that section of the market is entitled to some form of incentive in his contract of employment," said Bowler.

"This is purely and simply providing incentives relating to the profitability of the business. And my view is that within properly constructed contracts there isn't any conflict of interest."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.