Bush wrote:Alan G Bryant wrote:Amberexile wrote:It's a maybe.
We paid £19k to agents.
In that period the only transfer recorded including an agent was Amond, but it is possible that money was due to be paid to an agent during that period for transfers that happened in earlier periods. An example of this would be if we received money from a sell on clause and a portion of it was due to be paid to the agent.
That is interesting because Lee Evans was sold to Sheffield United from Wolverhampton Wanderers in January 2018 for approximately £750k. It was reported at the time that Newport County would receive 15% of that fee as a sell on clause. Oddly enough, a quick google search will show that Lee Evans is represented by Paul Nicholls at the Elite Management Agency, as is Conor Washington. It is therefore quite plausible that we negotiated staggered payments for both Washington and Evans , but I do not know if true. The irony is if, and I stress the word if, a large percentage of that £19,058 was paid to Paul Nicholls for the Washington & Evans deals, the current board are now being lambasted for the shrewdness of the previous directors who negotiated significant sell on clauses with EMA.
So the agent gets paid by us when we sold evans then paid by Sheffield United and us again when we got paid the sell on fee? Do we pay him when we get money for him appearing for Wales? when does it stop?
If all the 19k wasn't due to the Armond deal there are plenty of other ways we used this agency. Flynny's contract extension for a start, The Collins loan and god knows how much we paid them for Lamar Reynolds. Lets not forget the club and agency were making out this was a massive signing and we had beaten plenty of clubs for his signature.
In answer to your question, I have no idea of the complexities of the deal, it was Amberexile that highlighted the point, not me. All I have done is point out that both Lee Evans & Conor Washington had a sell on clause and both are affiliated to EMA. The club making manageable staggered payments to an agent for previous transfers is no more absurd than someone thinking we paid an agent nearly £20k for just one League 2 player.
If you research the same intermediary list for January 31st 2017 you will see that we were equally prudent with our agents fees, again in 6th place with a total outlay of just £10,684. According to the list, It seems we used agents to sign Jaimie Turley, Tom Meechan, Sean RIgg, Dan Butler, Mark Randall, Jazzi Barnham. Bobb, Jon Parkin, Joss Labadie, Scott Bennet and Ben Tozer. Of those 10 players, surprisingly only ONE player, Jaime Turley utilised the services of Paul Nicholls at EMA. Incidentally, the team with the lowest amount paid to agents was Hartlepool United with £0, whilst Chesterfield, Barnet, Forest Green & Grimsby have spent over £220k between them this season. It seems there are no guarantees when it comes to the world of football agents.
My personal view is that us primarily using an agent who has helped us generate nearly £1m in transfer revenue does not concern me. When I factor in that we are 13th in the league table and still 6th in the agents fees table in terms of prudence, it concerns me even less. However, you have as much right to worry about what you seemingly perceive as a conflict of interest and scrutinise decisions the directors and/or Mike Flynn make as I have to put up a rational more balanced view not driven by such cynicism. If it is such a burning issue for you to know why we are predominantly using EMA, just write to the club, or ask at next months open meeting.
