[spireitematt]

Football agents control the game and they try and get the best deal for their clients and for themselves.

[spireitematt]

Paul Cook is 33/1 for the Sheffield United job. I wonder if he will change his mind.

[bluepooch]

That's even extreme by Cookies standards.It would be the biggest laugh i've had in ages if it happened.

[spireitematt]

That's even extreme by Cookies standards.It would be the biggest laugh i've had in ages if it happened.

I reckon a few Spireites will be chuckling at Pompey if it happens.

[bluepooch]

Looks like Phil Parky Parkinson for the Sheff U job.That'll be as popular as Dean Saunders
Also Paul Clement for the Derby job.

[spireitematt]

Yeah Paul Clement's name was mentioned the other day for Derby. Steve McClaren I reckon will go to West Ham and Big Sam to Newcastle again. Sheffield United job I reckon will go to someone who has got a team promoted out of L1 before I think Phil Parkinson got Colchester out of L1. I think Nigel Adkins, Mark Warburton's and Darren Ferguson's name will be up there as well.

[Devongone]

They all sound like good guesses Matt. As both Derby and Sheff Utd might have been possible for Cookie .... and Wednesday only finished mid-table .... you get the impression his waste-of-10% agent got the best deal for himself and set his daft client's career back a few years. In a normal industry trying only to repeat what you've already achieved would get you marked as lacking both vision and ambition. And football may also have enough sense for that -Paul Cook typecast as a lower-division manager.

Football managers can't expect to be treated as professionals if they can't manage their own careers and negotiations. Agents only control things if you let them. Sterling and Berahino are represented by the same agent - the only two players he has - and what do they have in common? They've both found ways to piss off their own fans with clubs where they should be approaching hero-status. Contrast Ibe, doesn't have an agent, asks his mum and dad for help!

An actor needs an agent. A successful singer needs one. But a manager? Of anything? Grow up and stop throwing your family's money away on pretending you're a celebrity Mr Cook.

[spireitematt]

I don't understand why lower league footballers or managers have agents. To be honest I don't know why any footballer has an agent, I know if I was a footballer I wouldn't want an agent I would rather deal with things myself instead of someone speaking on my behalf who is more interested in what they can get out of it and not there client.

[Devongone]

Totally agree Matt. If you can't come to terms with your own terms, how can you ever hope to control your own players and contracts? You're saying you need a Chris Turner .... and in effect you're saying, "I don't know how to do my job."

[St Charles Owl]

While some players have more input over what they want their agent to negotiate on their behalf I very much doubt there is a player in English football who is well enough versed with the law to be able to negotiate his own contract and make sure it is written correctly once the details have been agreed!! Agents started as essentially lawyers to protect the player's interest when a contract was written and then signed and I still think they are needed for this. Problems arise when individual players think a mate can do the negotiations for them and thats when you see situations like Sterlings or Berahino's. In reality you rarely hear anything from most of the professional agents, they don't need the publicity as they work off word of mouth to get new clients, but once clubs started going against handshake deals and started to involve lawyers on their side, the players needed to follow suit.