I think he is clearly talking about either Huckerby or

Crouch. They were the only two we were anywhere near desperate to get apart from Rivers and Ashton but those two deals kind of appeared from nowhere when the fans basically didn't expect them.

To be honest, I am not surprised at that one comment. I mean, that is his job. Just as I know that an employment agent will try to sell a company to me which offers them a good deal, and an estate agent will try to get me interested in the houses who are offering the most commission.

The reason it is often overlooked is because, as with an employment agent, usually if the agent gets a fair wedge then the player / employee is going to get a wedge too.

Next time you only use an agency for a job, remember that he will not even mention jobs which may be fantastic but which are less rewarding for him to get you! I've always known that, as did Huckerby, and if I get a wiff that they are doing dodgy dealings, I will (and have) blown up at them.

Finally, in order to try to regulate this in employment agents, a new scheme was introduced in the Netherlands the last couple of years whereby the agent earns nothing on the contract signature, only earns a smaller than before percentage after completion of the initial contract, then earns bigger than before percentage if the employee gains a new contract (over here we never have permanent contracts to start with). If the agent does a good an honest job, he earns a s**t load more than he did before, but if he doesn't he will miss out. Of course that means I can hold the industry to ransom far less than 5 years ago :-( But as a socialist, that's fair enough!

Perhaps that should be adapted to footy. It certainly means the agents do their job and try to match employee to employer, as it is within their best interests.

Posted By: Steve in Holland, Jan 19, 18:18:59