Ex-league boss calls for agents' fees probe

English football’s powerbrokers have been urged to join forces and take the pressure off Manchester United by launching their own inquiry into the sums of money paid to agents.

Amid speculation that the Old Trafford feud between manager Alex Ferguson and major shareholder John Magnier is about to take a decisive twist, former Football League chairman and influential city figure Keith Harris wants the Football Association and Premier League to step in to halt the vast sums of cash haemorrhaging out of the game.

Most of the 99 questions posed by Magnier and business partner JP McManus of the United board last week concern payments made to agents in relation to 15 recent transfers and exactly why the club are employing outsiders to help complete the deals.

United responded by launching a thorough internal review of their business practices and revealing they paid £750,000 (€1.1m) in agents fees as part of Louis Saha’s £12.825m (€18.7m) move from Fulham last month.

Like many observers, Harris – a Red Devils shareholder and lifelong fan who advised the club during Sky’s ill-fated takeover bid in 1999 – cannot understand why such a huge figure was necessary given Saha’s public desire to join the club. But he does not believe it should be down to United to sort the matter out on their own.

“None of us can understand why United needed to write out a cheque of that size,” Harris told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme.

“Agents have now become an entrenched part of the game but if you talk to any club chairman, they have been a blight on the industry for years.

“I can’t understand why the percentages agents are paid to effect player transfers are so high. I can’t understand why when agents are there to represent players it is the clubs who are paying them and I would also like to know where the money goes when it goes into agents’ pockets.

“Each club faces massive competitive pressure and it is human nature that if a player becomes available they feel will help achieve their aims they will go for him.

“But at a time when the game needs more money investing in it, we are faced with the prospect of more money leaving it.

“There are a whole host of questions that need to be answered and I would like to see the FA or the Premiership to sponsor an inquiry to try and unearth exactly how much money is leaking out of the game.”

Harris believes Magnier and McManus, having purchased a 25.5% stake in the club, have every right to put their questions to the United board, although as yet they have not received what they deem to be a satisfactory answer.

Both Ferguson and the vast majority of United fans believe the correspondence is nothing more than a further attempt to pressurise the Scot into giving way in his legal dispute with Magnier over the stud rights to record-breaking stallion Rock of Gibraltar.

The home support offered wholehearted backing to Ferguson during yesterday’s 3-2 win over Southampton at Old Trafford and have distributed leaflets to fans encouraging them to make contact with Magnier’s stud base at Coolmore to express their displeasure at his current stance.

However, Ferguson’s emotional outburst on Friday in which he revealed his son Jason had been forced to call in the police amid allegations that his mail was being stolen and people were hiding in his garden, might have been the signal that his defiant stance on the Rock of Gibraltar issue was wavering.

United chief executive David Gill publicly admitted for the first time that the dispute was having a negative effect on the club, contrary to Ferguson’s belief when he first issued the writ against Magnier.

While Gill has complete confidence in Ferguson’s ability to bring more trophies to Old Trafford, his statement that ‘a speedy resolution to the case would be in the best interests of all concerned’ has been interpreted as a signal that pressure is being applied to the Scot to reach a compromise with Magnier.

Reports that Ferguson has flown to Dublin today to discuss the issue with his lawyers has only fuelled rumours that a deal may be on the horizon.

And, according to Harris, if the matter is settled, Ferguson will not have to spend too much time worrying about Magnier attempting to take over the entire club for he does not believe an outright bid is on the horizon.

“My personal suspicion is that they do not want to take over the whole of Manchester United as a business,” he said.

“With a 30% premium on the share price for a takeover, it would cost something like £800m (€1.2bn).

“It would depend on how wealthy the person is who would buy it but if someone is investing in it to make a return, they would have to take a very long-term position.”