Agent welcomes FA transfer audit

Top agent Athole Still has welcomed the Football Association’s decision to carry out an audit of the latest round of transfer deals in England.

The FA have appointed Quest, the firm of investigators which carried out a probe into transfer irregularities between January 2004 and 2006, to look at a selection of the moves completed during the recent January window, and then again this summer.

Still, whose high-profile clients include former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, said the initiative would be a positive one if it helped to clean up the game and give scrupulous agents a better name.

He said: “My reaction is, fine. If, this time, they dig up something illegal, then I will be delighted.

“Anything that keeps the game clean and improves the, in many respects, totally unjustified opinion of agents all being money-grabbers and dishonest and so on, is absolutely fine.”

Quest, who successfully tendered for the project, will look at a sample of transfers in an effort to assess how the FA’s new agents regulations are working.

FA director of governance Jonathan Hall said: “We are very pleased to have engaged Quest given their excellent credentials and experience.

“However, this transfer audit is a very different undertaking to their previous inquiry carried out for the Premier League.

“It will focus specifically on reviewing the FA’s processes in respect of the new Agents Regulations, assessing compliance with FA Rules and identifying any areas of poor practice within the industry.”

Quest carried out a major probe into the transfer market, led by former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Stevens, amid allegations of widespread irregularities. Lord Stevens identified 17 deals for further investigation.

FA chiefs insist there is no significance to the appointment of the same firm.

The announcement came as the governing body also launched a “whistleblower” telephone hotline to enable anyone to report their suspicions over transfers and football finance generally.

A statement said: “Both these new measures form part of the FA’s enhanced regulatory capacity, including extra resource in the Financial Regulation department, upgraded database systems, an information hotline and tailor-made guidance notes based around the new Football Agents Regulations.”