Agents feeling the squeeze as league clubs cut payments

Clubs outside the Premier League have cut their payments to agents by 28 per cent.

Football League figures for player transactions in the last six months of 2008 show £5.7m paid to middlemen, compared to £7.9m for the second half of 2007.

Crystal Palace were London's biggest spenders, paying out £248,140 - a significant increase on the £35,000 they spent in the same period in 2007.

But the capital's other Championship clubs curbed their spending, with Charlton paying £231,000, Queens Park Rangers £40,290 and Watford £84,994.

Millwall, Barnet and Dagenham paid nothing to agents while Leyton Orient committed £7,000 and Brentford £3,000.

League chairman Lord Mawhinney, who has been campaigning for clubs to be more careful with their cash, said: "Given the severe economic recession, it is encouraging to see these figure declining.

"Part of this decrease is likely to be a consequence of the new agents' regulations introduced by the FA.

"These prohibit clubs from making one-off payments to players which they then use to pay their agent's fees. The upshot is that, in some cases, agents' fees will have been absorbed into player salaries instead."