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Peter Simpson

Liverpool fans might be applauding Fifa's deregulation of the billion-dollar agents industry this week, coming as it did after Raheem Sterling refused to sign a new contract of £100,000 (HK$1.15 million) a week.
Sterling looks set to leave Anfield in the summer for one of the Reds' rivals like Arsenal, who they face today in a crunch battle for fourth, and many Liverpool fans suspect a manipulative agent was whispering in the ear of the 20-year-old.
The ascending star later went on the PR offensive to try to dispel claims he was a mercenary, insisting he was not interested in money.
Maybe, but his middlemen certainly are.
Agents have long been hate figures in football, a rakish group who negotiate crazy wage deals for players regardless of fans' sentiment.
Yet despite their rapacious reputation, most have passed exams on contract legalities, immigration rules and registration laws - and pay a bond for insurance purposes - before granted a licence by Fifa.
Agents have long been hate figures in football, a rakish group who negotiate crazy wage deals for players regardless of fans' sentiment
Yet that licensing system was scrapped by the governing body on Wednesday and the word "agent" wiped from football's vocabulary.
From now on, it is at the discretion of each national football association - the FAs - to supervise the "intermediaries", as Fifa wants us to call them.
No longer will these brokers have to pass tests to hold a Fifa licence to operate.
All they have to do is annually register with their respective FAs as persons of "impeccable character".
FAs must publish all transfer deals annually online, including the name of the intermediary who worked on a transfer deal - though this disclosure will not give details of any individual transfer deal, such as what fee was paid.
At the end of the season, the total amount a club has paid in fees to an agent will also be made public - which happens now, anyway.
There will also be a total ban on agents' fees for players under the age of 18, and a recommendation that agents' fees are capped at 3 per cent. However, the intermediaries, clubs and players are still free to agree their own fee percentage, so the standard 5 per cent to 10 per cent is still likely to be pocketed by the agents.
Fifa argues the new system will prevent money-laundering in the game and enforce a "full disclosure and publication of the remuneration and payments made to intermediaries".
Yet given the lack of pertinent details, you have to wonder if deregulation will muddle rather than simplify how we judge the agents' behaviour.
No self-respecting fan would have agents on their Christmas card list given their reputation for manipulating players and pushing wages into la-la land.
And with the game's governing body suffering its own reputational meltdown, any reforms it metes out "in the game's interest" means you can't, but help listen, if not with sympathy then with understanding and concern to the agents' gripes.
Certainly, the reform smacks of desperate buck-passing to offload responsibility for this controversial and complex business element of football.
The old system was far from perfect, but Fifa's deregulation does not instil confidence that full transparency will be guaranteed and working practices improved.
According to the executive chairman of the UK's Association of Football Agents, things will instead get worse.
Mel Stein warned against the reforms since they were mooted two years ago.
He claims deregulation will create an anarchic "wild west" that will encourage outsiders looking for a "quick buck".
I can see the bloke in the pub who knows a parent or a footballer's dad saying 'I'll represent you' and then undercutting everyone
Mel Stein, football agents chief
"I can see the bloke in the pub who knows a parent or a footballer's dad saying 'I'll represent you' and then undercutting everyone," said Stein, whose association represents 450 of the 550 licensed middlemen in the UK.
Fifa has little time for British football so it is not surprising it blithely ignored Stein's protests.
Yet he and other critics of the changes have a point. Though FAs are now charged with the control of agents, a global industry devoid of a universal licensing authority will be harder to police.
Rogue agents - "gold diggers", Stein called them - will muscle in and prey upon players - especially young footballers.
"It will be the California Gold Rush all over again," said Stein, whose AFA is busy canvassing support from English football for members to regulate themselves.
He is also taking advice from European lawyers, claiming Fifa cannot impose new working practice without consultation.
"And there has been zero consultation from Fifa with agents in the UK [over the reforms]," said Stein.
It might sound a bit rich, this griping from agents.
Fifa maintains transparency in a cutthroat market is its primary aim. We hope so. But with no licensing now in place, the reforms look half-baked.
In the murky wheeler-dealer waters of tapping up, contracts, transfers and intermediaries, is it not a case of better the sharks you know?


Fifa's decision to deregulate agents will result in chaos

Raheem Sterling's delay in signing a new Liverpool contract smacks of agent involvement. Photo: Reuters

Sepp Blatter and his Fifa colleagues have deregulated football agents. Photo: Reuters

Sport

Football

It's a case of better the sharks you know when it comes to keeping the middle-men under control


Liverpool fans might be applauding Fifa's deregulation of the billion-dollar agents industry this week, coming as it did after Raheem Sterling refused to sign a new contract of £100,000 (HK$1.15 million) a week.


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}It's a case of better the sharks you know when it comes to keeping the middle-men under control

It's a case of better the sharks you know when it comes to keeping the middle-men under control