THE latest publication of Football League clubs spending on agents' fees has revealed that the amount of money committed to agents has fallen by more than £2 million in the last twelve months.
League clubs committed £8.8m to agents between July 2008 and June 2009 compared to £11.1m for the same period in 2007/08.
In announcing the latest agents' fees figures Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "Given the current financial outlook, it is encouraging that clubs are being more circumspect in terms of their payments to agents.
"In fact, clubs only committed to pay an agent in 6% of the 3,700 player transactions that took place during the course of the season. This is the lowest figure recorded in the five seasons since the publication of agents' fees began.
"I would like to think that in pioneering the publication of agents' fees, The Football League has helped bring this about."
During the 2008/09 season clubs committed to pay agents in 229 (6.1%) of the 3,727 player transactions that took place, collectively committing the sum of £8,809,501.
Championship clubs accounted for £7.5m (86%) of this total, with League 1 and League 2 clubs accounting for £1.1m (12%) and £0.2m (2%) respectively.
Nineteen clubs did not commit any money to agents during the 12 months covered by this report. They were Accrington Stanley, AFC Bournemouth, Barnet, Chester City, Chesterfield, Crewe Alexandra, Dagenham & Redbridge, Darlington, Exeter City, Gillingham, Grimsby Town, Hartlepool United, Hereford United, Macclesfield Town, Northampton Town, Port Vale, Rochdale, Scunthorpe United and Tranmere Rovers.
A further ten clubs, including the O's, paid less than £10,000.
