(Article also published by FT / GMM) The highly competitive and speedy games made the Premiership football an attractive investment choice for international tycoons. An owner of an English club in the top division enjoys global fame and reputation.
However, many owners of Premiership clubs have started to discover the downsides of the game. It becomes more and more obvious that club owners are the victims of greedy agents, dealers and mediators. These agents' attitude and activities have already created crises of finance and morale which many claim devastated the spirit of the game.
The agents are the only one who benefits form the current situation. Everyone else, mainly the owners, the fans and the players - is THE loser. Transfer fees have boomed exponentially in the last few years and these include shares taken by agents. Owners tried to deal with the growing influence of the agents and their tricks, but so far in vain. For instance, Arsenal vice chairman, David Dein, has declared a few years ago a war on agents when one of his strikers was "grabbed" by a Spanish club. Nevertheless, the position of some agents has just been cemented in recent years, despite the owners' attempts to cut their shares and benefits.
Many in English football cite Pini Zahavi as an example for the wrong ethics surrounding the game. Zahavi, an Israeli and a well known agent has brokered some of the biggest transfers of the last five years, including Manchester United's €43-million purchase of Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United. It is unclear what Zahavi's cuts were during the years, but it is certain to assume he was well rewarded, likely on the expense of the clubs and fans.
In addition the over – rated Rio deal, the Israeli has been involved in other problematic cases in recent years, such as secret meetings with representatives of another Premiership side, involving Arsenal defender Ashley Cole. The England international was under contract to Arsenal and forbidden from negotiating with other clubs when he and his agent held talks with a well known English side. The meetings were arranged by Zahavi, who is registered as an agent in Israel. By this, he is actually outside the jurisdiction of the English Football Association (FA). All the other participants in the illegal negotiations were disciplined. The FA asked FIFA to investigate Zahavi's role in the incident, but nothing happened so far.
To sum, the nature of English football's current malaise is clear. The agents fill their pockets while the owners of the clubs and the game itself are losing.
