Gary Neville Questions Players Reliance On Agents

In a rant that could have easily come from the lips of his spiritual guide Sir Alex Ferguson himself, Manchester United legend Gary Neville has blasted what he perceives as many Premier league players over-reliance on agents.

The buccaneering right back, whose father Neville Neville (No, I didn’t make it up, that really IS his name) has overseen Gary and his brother Phil’s affairs throughout their careers, slammed the influence of agents within the modern game stating;

“Soccer Players think they need agents – but it’s not the case

“Players need good advice and good accountants, but they don’t need people taking hundreds of thousands of pounds off them.

“A guy can go into a deal and expect to be giving hundreds of thousands or, these days, even millions, to an agent. That money is going out of the game.”

The United star believes that all players should allow the Professional Footballers Association to offer advice during contract negotiations and during transfer dealings instead. A position that the PFA Chief Executive, Graham Taylor echoed in his criticism of agents when asked about Neville’s statements;

“I worry they trawl their nets too wide sometimes for youngsters in the hope they can pick one up and then (they) don’t give enough care.

“Of the 600 youngsters who enter the game at 16, five out of six will be out of it by the time they are 21, so I’ll be interested to see how many agents help young players get through university or job re-training or look after their operations.

“Gary Neville always speaks his mind. He speaks as he finds and he is entitled to his opinion

“It’s one of the reasons why the PFA have always been keen to make clear to our members that we’ve the best experience in the world and we’re happy to help them all with contracts and negotiations. That’s what we’re about – but having said that, there are a number of players who have agents we work with on different issues.”

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger disagreed with Neville’s view, stating

“I have worked with agents my whole career and I don’t share that opinion. I am confident that once Gary Neville is a manager he will change his mind.”

The United man is a forthright speaker on many soccer issues and is well known for his honest opinions in all matters and he seems unafraid to court negative publicity to express what he feels is the truth. Whether or not Gary Neville speaks the truth is open to debate. Agent’s have made a lot of soccer players very, very wealthy, far richer than they would have been in the past. In doing so,  agents have made themselves very wealthy too. It’s a symbiotic relationship, the more a player earns, the more an agent does, so they benefit each other and while many may have sympathy with Gary Neville’s ideals and opinions, it seems agents are here to stay for a good while yet.