Luton manager says bungs aplenty

Mike Newell

"The thing that annoys me is that agents get paid for bringing a player to a club. If you go and buy a house you don't have to pay the estate agent, the sellers do that. But for some reason in football, clubs are expected to pay the player's agent to buy him or even to renegotiate a contract. I find it baffling and I don't understand why all the big clubs just let them get away with it. There are clear problems in football but nothing gets done. Why has it taken so long for people to realise what's been going on? And why aren't the Premier League doing anything? What it needs is for someone in the Premier League to stand up and shout about it. But what you find is that a lot of people involved with the agents and doing the deals are getting back-handers. You're not telling me that the only person guilty of taking a bung in the last decade is George Graham? I don't believe it. Have I been offered the chance to take money? Yes, of course I have. And I wouldn't even entertain the idea, not at all. Never. I wouldn't say it is a rarity, either. If I was interested, it would be a regular occurrence, because all I have to say is, 'what's in it for me?' Would I know which agents to ring? Well, they ring you. I'm passionate about this, because I've seen the money they are making at our level and I can only imagine the money they've made at the Premier League level. It is galling. If somebody high up makes a stand and says, 'no, we're not paying you to renegotiate a contract, take it or leave it', and believes that they are in the right, then it can happen. I hope the people who are dragging their feet, the Football League and Premier League, will get on top of it."