Kewell case reveals game's rotten core

Leeds, in the throes of a horrendous financial crisis, paid Mandic's company Max Sport £2m. Mandic claimed only 30 per cent, or £600,000, was from the actual work he did on the deal and 70 per cent was for other work in Australia. Sources at Leeds say they have no knowledge of this work in Australia.

Liverpool paid £1m to Mandic's brother Nick's company SCI as the intermediary bringing Kewell to the club, even though the player had always wanted to join them because they were his boyhood dream team. Again Leeds knew nothing about this extra payment.

Bernie and Nick broke FIFA rules by representing the player and both clubs in the deal.

A letter from Bernie's company Max Sport to Liverpool suggested he wanted to be paid several million pounds more. Liverpool were told that Manchester United had a £10m budget to buy Kewell which was twice what the Merseysiders were prepared to bid. Max Sport proposed that if Mandic delivered Kewell for £5m, Liverpool should pay him 50 per cent of the difference between that fee and the price United were prepared to pay. Max Sport also wanted a success fee on top of that cut as well. Liverpool declined the suggestion.

When the letter was put to Kewell in the witness box he replied that he had "no need to know that". Again and again Kewell pleaded ignorance of the finer details of his move.

"I didn't need to know all the ins and outs, just what involved me," he said. His astonishing disinterest may break no rules, but FIFA and the Football Association must be alarmed at the other facts raised in this case. Standard Sport has learned that FIFA have opened an investigation into Bernie Mandic and his role in the deal, but football's authorities have shown themselves time and again unwilling to deal with the problem of agents.

With the controversy of the Ashley Cole 'tapping-up' case still fresh in the memory, there is a growing sense that agents are out of control.

Even if there is a will to tackle the issue head on, the game's rulers are floundering because of a massive split among senior figures over how best to police them.

In an alarming new development, Standard Sport has also discovered that the FA will not, as expected, introduce new rules on agents this summer because the Premier League are blocking a crucial regulation on conflict of interest - even though it is in FIFA guidelines and has the backing of both the Football League and the FA.

Unless the deadlock on the rule - which would stop an unregistered intermediary such as Mandic acting for two parties in a deal - is broken it will be impossible for the FA to introduce legislation which can be implemented across the game.

The Football League and the FA both agree there should be a ban on agents representing more than one party and have already put together a draft of rules.

But the Premier League, worried that the regulation will make clubs less competitive in the international marketplace for players, continues to oppose it. Football League chairman Sir Brian Mawhinney is so frustrated by the deadlock that he says clubs outside of the Premiership are ready to introduce their own crackdown on agents if the FA chiefs continue to drag their feet.

Mawhinney told Standard Sport: "It is the overwhelming view of Football League clubs that we want to put in place a regulatory regime that applies to agents. They are a significant element of the world of football these days and appear to be becoming even more important so we need regulation.

"Our clubs gave me a mandate to say to the FA that if new regulations were going to be delayed then we wanted delegated powers to produce our own regulations. The clubs feel very strongly about this." This is not a toothless threat. The Football League led the way over regulations about clubs only being run by "fit and proper persons" and with a decision to publish the amount of money paid to agents in fees by their clubs each season - more than £5m in the second half of last year.

While officials are collating the same information from Premiership clubs, the Premier League have refused to go public with it.

FA officials admitted today that any new rules on agents will not be in place before the next transfer window in January, saying the process was in the "approval stage".

There are serious concerns that it will take much longer than that.

Premier League officials maintain there is "no friction" but say they believe it would be impossible to impose the rule.

Officials say what is important is that the payments to agents are transparent and clear in the documentation.

A spokesman said: "You have to have a meaningful rule. It has to be enforceable across Europe."

It is a typical stand-off and is the sort of issue which requires a strong and decisive governing body to lead the way.

Unless the FA take some decisive action against the sort of issues aired in the High Court over the last seven days, football will only get murkier.