News Alerts
Headlines
Mawhinney urges Football Association to follow his lead
England - 25 September, 2006
Adjust font size:
As the Football League introduced regulations on players' agents, it urged the Football Association to follow suit.
League chairman Lord Mawhinney lavished praise upon his "good governance agenda", which has seen the end of "dual payments" to agents in transfers, and featured the introduction of a mechanism to balance clubs' revenue with expenditure.
Some of the league's practices are now being studied by European sports ministers, as part of moves to improve football's regulation across the EU.
"There is a lot of goodwill and people working quite hard to clean up its perception," Mawhinney said.
The former Conservative party chairman said he was not on an anti-agent crusade, but when he had come into the game three years ago, there was a "major problem."
In addition to publishing details of payments involving each club, the league outlawed "dual representation", where an agent acted for more than one person in a transfer deal. It also prohibited agents from demanding a payment from a club who have signed a player, insisting the player himself should pay the agent.
Mawhinney said the league had tightened the registration process, requiring an agent to present a signed agreement that he has authority to do business on behalf of a player.
"It is for other people to decide how to run their leagues," Mawhinney said. "I hope the FA amend their regulations. I am keen to do it because I think the fans appreciate it. There would not be football clubs without the fans - they are too often kept in the dark, although people like to take their money."
He said the league's stance had won the support of some agents. A group of agents will meet next month to decide whether there are further steps that can be taken.
That is happening in the wake of Panorama's investigative piece on bungs ? illegal payments ? for agents. Mawhinney said Panorama had not made comfortable viewing for the game.
"It created an image that I do not like and an image that was unfair to most people in football," he said.
"It is true of society, not just restricted to football. It reflects human nature. The challenge is to improve standards of openness and transparency. That is what we want to do."
League chairman Lord Mawhinney lavished praise upon his "good governance agenda", which has seen the end of "dual payments" to agents in transfers, and featured the introduction of a mechanism to balance clubs' revenue with expenditure.
Some of the league's practices are now being studied by European sports ministers, as part of moves to improve football's regulation across the EU.
"There is a lot of goodwill and people working quite hard to clean up its perception," Mawhinney said.
The former Conservative party chairman said he was not on an anti-agent crusade, but when he had come into the game three years ago, there was a "major problem."
In addition to publishing details of payments involving each club, the league outlawed "dual representation", where an agent acted for more than one person in a transfer deal. It also prohibited agents from demanding a payment from a club who have signed a player, insisting the player himself should pay the agent.
Mawhinney said the league had tightened the registration process, requiring an agent to present a signed agreement that he has authority to do business on behalf of a player.
"It is for other people to decide how to run their leagues," Mawhinney said. "I hope the FA amend their regulations. I am keen to do it because I think the fans appreciate it. There would not be football clubs without the fans - they are too often kept in the dark, although people like to take their money."
He said the league's stance had won the support of some agents. A group of agents will meet next month to decide whether there are further steps that can be taken.
That is happening in the wake of Panorama's investigative piece on bungs ? illegal payments ? for agents. Mawhinney said Panorama had not made comfortable viewing for the game.
"It created an image that I do not like and an image that was unfair to most people in football," he said.
"It is true of society, not just restricted to football. It reflects human nature. The challenge is to improve standards of openness and transparency. That is what we want to do."
Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 -
All rights reserved.
© Copyright message
The copying, republication, redistribution or web posting (including by framing or similar means) of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of euFootball.BIZ
-
Finance
Television
Sponsorship
Marketing
Technology
Competitions
Clubs
Stadia-Facilities
Legal
Administration
Events