Ex Player Ex-Player Thread

ZeroTheHero said:
Can someone explain to me what these 'family fees' are, please?
Click to expand...
A senior member of staff at a top Premier League club told The Athletic that it has become a growing problem in the game and that the boundaries are now totally blurred when it comes to the part that some parents are playing in their son’s career.

At times their role is official. “There’s a lot of agency work that is done by the family now,” explains another Championship manager. “Sometimes it can be the father, or the brother, or the cousin that is leading the conversation and not necessarily the player knowing the full facts.”

And then there are times when that parental role is unofficial. It is understood that one Premier League player’s parents were demanding a six-figure sum last summer on the basis that… they are the striker’s parents. With several clubs fighting over the player’s signature at the time, managers became exasperated by the whole process.
 
Thx. The first part of that sound like family members trying to get on the gravy train (not a problem if they do a good job and their footballing relative knows what they are up to, I suppose) - the 'unofficial' bit sounds as dodgy as hell!​
 
MarkG said:
from The Athletic, discussing reasons a player might sign for one club or another.
" More money doesn’t always mean the player getting richer. Lee Johnson, the former Bristol City manager, talked last season about “family fees” becoming part of the ever-increasing list of payments that are made in transfers these days. "

I wonder who he might be thinking of?
Click to expand...
Presumably the amount he pays his dad for wangling him a way into management in the first place??
 
ZeroTheHero said:
Thx. The first part of that sound like family members trying to get on the gravy train (not a problem if they do a good job and their footballing relative knows what they are up to, I suppose) - the 'unofficial' bit sounds as dodgy as hell!​
Click to expand...
Agents have been signing up parents / relatives as consultants for years. The agency will put them on a nice cushty retainer, maybe an expense account if the player is really important, and give them the feeling of being important or knowledgable. When actually, they just want them to shut up and stay out the way. Ties the player to the agency a little more firmly too as their dad / brother / cousin or whoever has an income, but is also a handy loophole when it comes to illegal payments to parents. Especially when hot prospects are being moved in their mid-teens. You can’t buy the parents a new car or a house like the good old days, but if one of them is technically their agent / an employee of the agency... well, you can pay them what you like.
 
Seem to recall it was O’Dowda Snr who was either representing Callum at the time or was heavily involved in his move to Ashton Gate a couple of seasons ago.

Hope the poor lamb had been able to get over his occasional/inconvenient bout of the sniffles ?
 
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