Football agents are not after their pound of flesh

Another major change in football in recent years has been the increasing influence of agents on the game.

To many people they are piranhas, just out for their ounce of flesh with no real concern for players or football.

During my time at Hull, I very rarely had to deal with agents, but things have certainly changed over the last four or five years. Most players have agents these days.

However, while certain people have this perception that they are bad for the game, I don't see it like that.

They are part of the game and it's like any other walk of life; you'll deal with people if you trust them.

I can honestly say in my dealings with agents while I have been at York City I have not had any more problems, apart from one.

I won't mention any names because that wouldn't be fair, but that was when an agent told me lies.

But generally I think the role of the agent has changed so that they and their connections can actually be beneficial to a club like York City.

We have Arthur Perry who watches all our future opponents and writes match reports on them, but we don't have a chief scout here at Bootham Crescent.

One reason is that we, along with lots of other clubs at this level, cannot afford it.

But another is I can use connections with agents to give me information on players that are available, which would be part of a chief scout's job anyway.

If agents inform us about players playing in this country then there is a strong chance we know something about them already and we can then decide whether to take it any further.

But with players from outside this country then you have to rely on other people's information.

That was certainly the case in the recent arrivals of Michael Evans and Aidan O'Kane at City.

I didn't know anything about either of them, but we have used the information given to us by the agents.

Of course, ultimately the decision to sign a player rests with the club.

In Aidan's case we had a good look at him before we signed him and we are presently looking at Michael before we make a decision.

It's not just the footballing ability you have to be concerned about, it is their character and attitude and that cannot be judged in a couple of days.

But without the agents we would probably never have got to see either player and who knows, they could go on to become jewels in the crown for York City.

Another plus point for me is that there are a lot of ex-players becoming agents and that helps in terms of contacts because you are more familiar with the person who you are dealing with.

In the case of the Michael and Aidan, the people we were dealing with were ex-players.

What you tend to find now is you are not just dealing with lone agents, but actually companies with someone from a footballing background and someone from a financial background to look after the non-footballing matters, such as insurance.

At the end of the day you have to make your own judgement, but it obviously helps if someone who is recommending a player has been a professional.

An agent with a player at a Premier League club is going to make more money than an agent with a player at a Third Division club. That is fairly obvious.

But this perception that agents are just there to take a percentage of either the transfer fee or the player's contract is wrong.

The ones I have worked with don't work like that, particularly because a lot of the players I have brought in are at the younger end of the scale.

Certainly on several occasions, the agent hasn't taken anything from the signing of the player.

It is a situation where the player needs to trust his agent and if he goes on to make a very good living out of the game the agent will eventually reap the rewards from that.

But their connections can be useful to us and it is important to have a good working relationship with them.

It can be beneficial for everyone - the club, the player and the agent.