Aston Villa Agent Fees 2012/2013
A staggering total of £96.7m, for a period which covered the January and summer transfer windows, was paid out in agent fees to football’s infamous middle men, during 2013. The amount represented an increase of almost £20m from the amount English football’s 20 top-flight clubs paid out to football agents last year. Almost £100 million in the pockets of the equivalent of footballing estate agents, confirms the ‘sport’ component of football is increasingly a mere byproduct. It’s not even being cynical anymore to suggest football is simply about the business, but what can be read into the amount of a club’s agent fee spend?
Aston Villa agent fees spend over the past five years
2013 – £3,358,628
2012 – £2,730,539
2011 – £3,163,320
2010 – £2,279,536
2009 – £1,708,374
Over the past five years Aston Villa’s agent spend has represented that of a mid-table team. The club have been around 10th in terms of such a spend over the last five years, so is it fair to say they can only be expected to finish around the same place in the league table? Liverpool and Spurs on the other hand are constantly in the top four of agent fee spenders as they try to break into the Champions League places. For Villa, it’s alright saving a few quid, if you can then make up for it on the pitch with successful management, team spirit and other qualities.
The team that have been the closest to Villa’s spend during this period has been Everton, with their agent fee spend of £3,225,159 in 2013, again being the closet figure to Villa’s own. Everton for the past decade have been a team Villa would class themselves in the same ball bracket as – a club with pedigree and history, that flirt around the European places and are able to challenge the Sky Four on their day.
Whether the ethos of ‘you get what you pay for’ applies to agent fees, is questionable, but one thing for sure, overall, Villa are under performing when you compare them to Everton in recent years.
We already compared Villa’s current plight with Southampton in respect of their recent similar ‘young and hungry’ transfer policy , yet despite buying in more expensive (better quality?) young players, the Saints continue their trend of low agent payouts. Last year their agent fee outlay was just £646,106, the lowest of all Premier League teams, and this year they are the fourth lowest payers of agent fees.
Villa’s nearest neighbours West Brom almost doubled in 2013 their spend last year of £1,341,301, but they remain modest spenders and lower than Villa.
In an ideal world, there wouldn’t be half the money there is lining football agent’s pockets, but for now, such spend does perhaps give a little insight into a club’s ambition.
Premier League spending on agents Oct 2012-Sep 2013
1. Chelsea £13,721,721
2. Manchester City £11,179,817
3. Tottenham £9,787,676
4. Liverpool £9,400,973
5. Newcastle £7,294,018
6. Arsenal £5,485,961
7. Sunderland £4,640,227
8. Manchester United £4,317,690
9. West Ham £4,169,134
10. Fulham £3,790,115
11. Aston Villa £3,358,628
12. Everton £3,225,159
13, Stoke £3,191,808
14. Norwich £2,308,987
15. Cardiff £2,225,582
16. West Brom £2,211,054
17. Southampton £2,184,412
18. Hull £1,825,718
19. Swansea £1,484,878
20. Crystal Palace £869,531
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