Agents – ‘Show me the Money’

As you all probably know, I used to be an agent so this subject is extremely close to my heart! I know it’s a topic that divides the whole of the football community but my personal opinion, regardless of what anyone thinks, is agents are a big part of the modern game. No matter what the authorities try to do to control the numbers or oversee them, because of insecure players, they will always remain. Now even though the perceived opinion of agents are ‘they are leeches on the game of football’. There are some genuinely good, sensible and reliable agents, who actually help footballers and people in my position. The problem is there aren’t enough of this type of agent. One thing I can’t get over is why I didn’t earn a million when I was one!? I’m intelligent, charismatic, an excellent negotiator and when it comes to certain things, not short of confidence. So what was missing??? I have recently discovered this……. A lack of boundaries!

I regularly wake up to missed calls and texts, so bare in mind I go to sleep at midnight ish and wake at 6.30am ish (on a good day), that tells you the sort of hours people are calling me. There is no part of an agent’s consciousness that says ‘its 11.30pm maybe I shouldn’t call now, I will get more of his attention tomorrow morning’.

Seriously though, I’ve seen it all! From an ‘agent’ taking 10% of a youth team player’s £65 a week salary, to an ‘agent’ making life changing decisions for a premier league player! It all boils down (in my opinion) to a lack of confidence on the player’s behalf. If every player were happy within themselves, self assured and knowledgable, there would be a lesser need for agents. But because this will never happen and 35yr old players (not all) will STILL be taking their washing to their mums, football won’t change!

I remember the day I took my FA Agents license exam. Ironically I sat it at Meadow Lane (cant remember which room though). I was so nervous. I had revised not very well and expected to fail if I was honest. But when I turned up and looked around the room, the sight immediately encouraged me! There was no one in the room that LOOKED like they were more intelligent than me or dressed better than me, so I sat down amongst the wideboys, quietly got on and finished earlier than anyone. I started to go over my answers (as you do when you finish first) but then decided to stop messing about and leave them. I got up and walked out! 2 weeks later I received a letter saying I had passed 1^st time!

I was an Agent!!!

Or so I thought! The silly thing is, that people believe passing that exam automatically means you are going to earn big money and live like Ari Gold! They couldn’t be further from the truth. It took me 18 months to earn my 1^st penny and I still worked a second job in that time. There is no quick fix and SOOO many people are willing to stab you in the back for as little as a £1. My advice is, if you want to earn the big bucks…. Go to University, Study, become a Lawyer! Some people will say this is rubbish and if you work hard you will succeed. NOBODY works harder than me and I don’t think I did but…. that’s football!

Please Leave Your Name After The Tone!

So , as my first blog entry went down pretty well I’ve decided to keep going (when time allows).

Regardless of what people say or think, I found that When you get into professional football your phone rings ALOT!!

Most people would be happy with that, and just enjoy being wanted, as would I if the person on the other end of the phone wasn’t trying to convince me that –

1. Their player (who hasn’t kicked a ball in a competitive game for 2 years), was the next big thing!!

2. The standard of football in Uzbekistan is comparable to that of the premier league.

Or…..

3. Ronaldo’s little brother’s teacher’s cousin’s son is creating a lot of interest at the age of 3!

The list goes on…..

I don’t know about other people in my position but for me the most difficult part of my job is the constant administration of my phone. As I write this I look at my phones cellular usage figures, which read 102 days and 6 hours. I think that is my total usage, so that means its carried over from my last 4 phones (max 4years) but still that tells me that, since I’ve been in football I have spent over 102 WHOLE DAYS OF MY LIFE on the phone!!! And I’m guessing 100 of them could’ve been compressed into 50 if I was less polite!!

THAT is ridiculous!

Most of the calls I get are from agents or other types of representative, each call I take seriously regardless of the content (unlike most Chief Scouts) but 85% lead to nothing, however, I do remember one interesting phone call though.

It was 1.30am and I was fast asleep, when my mobile rang! My girlfriend answered it and said it was ‘mr X’ (can’t say his name but it was an ex premier League manager who was working in the championship at the time). I immediately thought it was one of my friends out on the town and trying to wind me up. So I grabbed the phone and said ‘are you taking the p….. It’s 1.30am!!!’

To my astonishment it ACTUALLY was ‘mr X’. After he had introduced himself the line went quiet….. Until ‘mr X’ calmly said ‘Matt you are a c…….’ And hung up!!

Now at the time I was an agent and I had just helped a young boy realise his dream. When I spotted him he was playing conference football and we had just completed his £750k move to the championship! So it was safe to say that they boy seemed happy. Mr X was the manager of another championship team who had wanted to sign him. Mr x had offered me 20% more money if I had ‘persuaded’ the young boy to go to his club to which I declined and he signed for the club he felt more comfortable at!

Obviously this had been playing on mr x’s mind and after he had a few drinks he decided to let me know what he thought of me!! Which looking back on it now is quite funny as the player dumped me to sign with a ‘bigger’ agency after he signed for his new club!!! Ha ha ha ……. That’s football.