Toxic club - an inconvenient truth about our fans

[smudgerfox]

23 hours ago, SafewayFox said:

From the BBC -

 

Leicester City FC paid £5.87 million to football agents and intermediaries in the most recent reporting period (February 2025 to February 2026), according to figures released by The FA. This ranked as the third-highest agent fee spend in the Championship for that specific period

I think the accusation is not that we pay a lot to agents. That is inevitable if you're buying and selling players with EPL pedigree. They're going to have agents who will want a slice of the financial action of incoming and outgoing transfers. And for all we know their payments may not all be up front - they could well be in instalments.

 

The more specific accusation is that the club is over-reliant on a very small number of agents. They, allegedly, have far too much influence on transfers in and out, effectively controlling who we buy. 
 

If true, that would be game-changing and explosive.
 

It would help explain why we have signed so many complete duds - ill advised and poorly researched players who have been quickly dismissed by our managers: Aribo; Carranza; Coulibaly; that second keeper; the Chelsea striker/winger ; Edouard. 

 

For a club with no money that's a lot of dosh out the door (wages, signing fees)  for no return at all. 
 

it would also destroy Top's assertion that he, head of recruitment, director of football and manager all have to agree a transfer for it to happen. 
 

This already seems highly dubious when you consider that Coulibally, Carranza and Edouard were discarded so quickly by their managers.

 

So the over influential agent is a very enticing theory - the only trouble is, there's little evidence to date that it's true.

 

[SafewayFox]

14 hours ago, smudgerfox said:

I think the accusation is not that we pay a lot to agents. That is inevitable if you're buying and selling players with EPL pedigree. They're going to have agents who will want a slice of the financial action of incoming and outgoing transfers. And for all we know their payments may not all be up front - they could well be in instalments.

 

The more specific accusation is that the club is over-reliant on a very small number of agents. They, allegedly, have far too much influence on transfers in and out, effectively controlling who we buy. 
 

If true, that would be game-changing and explosive.
 

It would help explain why we have signed so many complete duds - ill advised and poorly researched players who have been quickly dismissed by our managers: Aribo; Carranza; Coulibaly; that second keeper; the Chelsea striker/winger ; Edouard. 

 

For a club with no money that's a lot of dosh out the door (wages, signing fees)  for no return at all. 
 

it would also destroy Top's assertion that he, head of recruitment, director of football and manager all have to agree a transfer for it to happen. 
 

This already seems highly dubious when you consider that Coulibally, Carranza and Edouard were discarded so quickly by their managers.

 

So the over influential agent is a very enticing theory - the only trouble is, there's little evidence to date that it's true.

 

I actually appreciate your reply.

 

I wrote a long response but it still boils down to two key points.

 

We didn’t sign a single player in that time period yet had those insane agent fees - to remind you, we weren’t in the PL during that time so stating “that’s what happens when buying and selling players with EPL pedigree” doesn’t really stack up.

 

Also, another fact that suggests that we’re lazy and sign players from agents rather than traditional or data based scouting - look at the dates of our signings last season.

 

They were all on deadline day (summer and winter windows) - that screams of agents dealing, rather than a considered approach.

Edited 2 hours ago by SafewayFox

[smudgerfox]

1 hour ago, SafewayFox said:

I actually appreciate your reply.

 

I wrote a long response but it still boils down to two key points.

 

We didn’t sign a single player in that time period yet had those insane agent fees - to remind you, we weren’t in the PL during that time so stating “that’s what happens when buying and selling players with EPL pedigree” doesn’t really stack up.

 

Also, another fact that suggests that we’re lazy and sign players from agents rather than traditional or data based scouting - look at the dates of our signings last season.

 

They were all on deadline day (summer and winter windows) - that screams of agents dealing, rather than a considered approach.

Yes happy to continue discussing...maybe by DM to spare others !! ..I think you're discounting loan signings , assuming agents are not involved in those, but I'm not sure that's true.

 

And I take your point about signing at the very end of the transfer window but I've assumed that's to do with our declining attractiveness and players waiting for a better offer. Hard to know I suppose...