Mike Newell - hero or imbecile

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

Intertesting stuff from Mike Newell today about agents, bungs and bribes...

...so is he a hero for re-revealing the dark underbelly of football...or is he a fool for making sure he''ll never sign another player...

[Dame to Blame 95]

He is only stating what we all  ready know.

[a1canary 0]

All power to him i say. It may be no surprise what he''s saying but if someone doesn''t make a stand against it then it''ll just be allowed to go on and on and make the game more and more corrupt.

We need more people like him.

[Branston Pickle 3,632]

You''d have to be daft not to think it goes on, particularly in this day and age with all the money swishing around in the game, and Agents taking a big portion of the cash, it would not be too hard for some of it to find its way back to the Managers to ''smooth things through''.

But you would equally hope that it didn''t happen too much (or at all, even) at our club - but who knows, you do wonder....some of our signings pre Worthy in the early 00s were so poor that it wouldn''t be a great surprise to find that a bung was taken to bring them here, as they certainly didn''t show us any obvious footballing reasons for us to have signed them!!!

[Pyro Pete 1,886]

The things is, Mike Newell hasn''t actually said anything specific about

any individual agent, player or manager. So just what is it he is

saying?

I seem to recall Gary Lineker''s article in the Telegraph describing

Harry Kewell''s transfer to Liverpool, and how he felt it tarnished the

game of football. Lineker ended up in court being sued by Kewell for

libel.  So much for standing up for your principles. In football money rules, not ethics.

We know the FA makes a fat pile of cash out of the game, and they

aren''t going to want to rock the boat by getting tough on the agents,

players or managers who bring that money in. So if Newell wishes to blow the lid off the murky

world of player transfer dealings, then by all means do so. I just hope he

has the evidence to back it up. But Newell shouldn''t make grand

generalisations if he is not willing to go the whole way.

[chocolate nutter 0]

Hero to me agents are sucking the game dry talking their clients into moves so they can get a slice of the transfer and lets face it they are as bent as they come(if you pay me£xxxxx i will make sure my client picks your club),but i don''t think they will be going any where soon.

[Tumbleweed 106]

Agree with a1. It needs to be stamped out. The Harry Kewell affair brought it home to me when the agent wanted him to go to Liverpool because they were prepared to pay £2m of the £5m transfer value to the agent. Its money taken out of the game when we have lower and non league clubs struggling to survive and to whom some of this money would make a big difference.

[0peteddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

City safe in the knowledge it cannot be involved, Luton have decent individuals which Worthy wouldn''t touch with a bargepole.  And Mumby is just too incompetent to organize bungs.

[ob1 0]

On Lineker; it''s one thing being sued, it''s another when you win! Lineker won and everything he said was validated and justified - yes - it does go to show what happens when you stand up for you principals. Good on the man.

On Newell; we haven''t heard anything because, funnily enough we arn''t the FA - he has agreed to tell the FA who those people are, and like Lineker I now have the utmost respect for the man! He isn''t going to throw mud at individuals - maybe he doesn''t want to get sued! :) He doesn''t seem to be that stupid and he is going to the correct authorities, who hopefully will turn these .... people over. Good on the man.

On Pyro; I think you are dead wrong mate, sorry! :)

[shropshire canary 0]

Look at this weeks Greeno situation - ask yourself what role the agent has really played in this, and for what? Until Robert moves his agent will never have maximised HIS earnings out of that client.

[3pmkickoff 0]

Good on him, I can''t get my head around why clubs have to pay agents when they''re working on behalf of a player. I''m even more astounded when I see we''ve spent nearly 500k in the last six months on them

[Old Boy 0]

Hero - like chocolate nutter I think agents and club officials who do this are sucking the game dry. This type of thing harms clubs - the wrong players are signed, at inflated transfer fees and wages - and it needs to be stamped out. It''ll get worse too, with the influx of wealthy foreigners bringing cash into the game.

Newell''s a brave, brave man, and I wish him the best.

[Pyro Pete 1,886]

[quote user="ob1"]

On Lineker; it''s one thing being sued, it''s

another when you win! Lineker won and everything he said was validated

and justified - yes -

[/quote]

Wrong. Lineker did not win the libel case against him. The above is your personal opinion, nothing more.

As it was, the court couldn''t decide either way. To avoid a

retrial of the libel case, Lineker and Kewell settled out of court.

Linekers lawyers claimed they weren''t forced to pay Kewell''s legal

costs. But the settlement wasn''t made public, so we don''t know.

Personally, I think

Lineker and The Sunday Telegraph were right to critcise Kewell''s

transfer. It brought the whole game into disrepute. My point was that

with so little regulation of agents, the FA simply allows these types

of transfers. While this legal case showed how hard it is to even stand up

and describe the obvious.

I hope Newell''s evidence to the FA does lead to tighter controls over the way agents

conduct their business. But I just can''t see it somehow. There may be

an example made of one or two individuals. That is, if Newell can prove

anything he has said. After that, I think the FA and professional

football will go back to normal. Complete with dodgy transfer dealings.

[John Boubepo 0]

Hero without a doubt! it''s about time somebody took a stand, I have total respect for the guy.

[Bird Table 0]

Good on him I say. Agents are all scum.

[gazzathegreat 0]

Hero, without a doubt.

If only we could assume that he will get the support from fellow managers that he deserves.  I doubt he will - but good on him for making a stand and trying to get the whole issue debated and ultimately maybe something positive done about it.

Wonder what our own manager''s views are on this one? 

[Alex Harvey-Jones 0]

I respect him for saying that but I''m worried he will be left red faced due to him admitting he has no concrete written evidence to support his allegations. Agents are devious and hold a lot of power and I feel his comments could end up causing him a lot of grief!