Agents call for place on the FA Council - Supporters choke on their cornflakes

"Agents perform a valuable role. We should be acknowledged as stakeholders in the game. The AFA has more than 300 members* and I believe we should have a place on the FA council so that we can make a contribution, and other parts of the game can hear our voice directly."

That's a quote from Mel Stein, Chairman of the Association of Football Agents. He could have said something really spurious like "We bring a valuable level of investment into the game through our work with players; without it, we wouldn't see the best players in the English game, TV wouldn't be as interested and we wouldn't get the investment."

*By our calculation, if agents get one representative for their 300, then per-head, SD's and the FSF's membership should entitle supporters to around 3,000 representatives. Now all we need to do is find a room big enough.

Now, what do you think? Do you think they deserve to be represented in the governing structures of the game, or are they merely people who profit greatly for saying "My player wants a transfer/payrise/loyalty bonus"?

No doubt I've insulted a very small proportion of agents who might do rather more than that, so sorry if I have. But the serious point is that if they need to be represented in the game, don't others? Groundsmen for example? Look at their case: They perform a valuable role and their professional association (which in this case really is a professional association), the Institute of Groundsmanship, has 12168 more members than the AFA. Couldn't they bring something valuable to the Council and to the governing structures given their very direct involvement in the game?

Truth is, the case for having agents represented in the governing structures of football appears about as compelling as having the Institute of Groundsmen represented, and Mel Stein is going to have to do a better job than that to convince a cynical football going public that they do. Unless of course the FA care to adopt our proportional approach to representation. You know the number.



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Kevin Rye