Ex Shelton Seagull
New member
Seems some of our rivals are having a tough time of it at the moment.
Queen's Park Rangers
QUEENS PARK RANGERS director Gianni Paladini today denied any wrongdoing after a Standard Sport investigation revealed the staggering amount of money the club are paying to agents.
Leaked documents show that so far this year Rangers have authorised fees of £473,785 to middle men, many of whom are friends and business colleagues of former FIFA-licensed agent Paladini.
The most significant payments were £40,000 to Midlands-based agent Mel Eves for the transfer of Ian Evatt; £60,000 to another Midlands agent, Brian Hassell, for Marc Nygaard; and £40,000 to Italian agent Marco Sommella for goalkeeper Generoso Rossi.
When contacted by Standard Sport, Paladini admitted knowing all the agents involved, but insisted he had done nothing wrong.
He said: "I have been in the world of football for 35 years and my job used to be an agent. I know every single agent in England, Italy, Spain and Brazil. If I didn't have these connections I would have been skint. I do not care which agent I use as long as I get the player I want.
"Every single player at QPR has got an agent and we pay fees to the agents. It is nothing new and has been legally done by the club in the proper manner.
"Nothing has been done under the table that is fishy or suspicious.
"Everything we have done at the club has never been agreed by one person. If you look at the contracts, each one has been signed by Bill Power [former chairman] and Mark Devlin [former chief executive]. And everything has been checked by the Football Association."
Last June, QPR signed Ian Evatt from Chesterfield for around £200,000 in a transfer brokered by the agent and former Wolves defender Mel Eves. Acting for the club, Eves was paid £40,000 from the transfer, 20 per cent of the total value of the deal. Industry insiders say the average is around five per cent. It is also surprisingly high given Evatt's apparent willingness to join QPR.
It has also emerged that Eves and Paladini are known on the West Midlands football circuit as close friends. They live near one another in the Birmingham area and worked together as agents on the £4m deal which took West Bromwich Albion's Enzo Maresca to Juventus in 2000. The pair are also listed as working as "professional introducers" for Wolverhampton-based financial advisers FSC Investment Services Ltd.
In a section listing financial services offered to professional footballers, FSC's website states: "We have specialist knowledge of the market as we have professional introducers like Mel Eves - England International, ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion, Gianni Paladini - FIFA Players Agent, ex-Juventus and Italy, and Tony Daly - England International, ex-Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers." Eves was also involved in the deal for Dean Sturridge, who joined QPR on a free transfer in March. Despite languishing in the Wolves reserves and apparently anxious to leave Molineux, Sturridge still managed to secure a £3,500-a-week salary, a £2,000-a-month accommodation allowance and a £1,250 bonus for every goal he scores. This deal netted Eves another £10,000 from QPR.
Another large agents' fee, £60,000, was paid in relation to the free transfer signing of Marc Nygaard, who arrived from Brescia in July. This time Midlands-based Brian Hassall is listed as the beneficiary. Hassall, like Paladini, has worked as an agent for Juninho.
An Italian agent, Marco Sommella, has also cashed in since Paladini's arrival at QPR. He was responsible for goalkeeper Generoso Rossi, who joined towards the end of last season after being banned in Italy for involvement in a betting scandal. Rossi cost £40,000 in agents' fees and, after playing just twice for QPR, has returned to Italy. Sommella, Standard Sport understands, is another friend of Paladini.
Not featured on our list, which shows the amounts of money committed to all agents involved in negotiating player and managerial contracts at QPR, is a deal that never happened but was seriously considered by the club during the summer.
The club showed an interest in signing Tore Andre Flo from Italian club Siena only to be rebuffed when the former Chelsea striker opted to return to Norway.
Standard Sport has learned that an Italian and a Norwegian agent would have shared £150,000 in agents' fees if Flo had been persuaded to move to Loftus Road.
After coming through administration in 2002, Rangers were saved from another financial crisis last year when Paladini and two consortiums bought a combined 46 per cent stake in the club. The investment cleared some debts but the club must still meet annual interest repayments of £1m on a £10m loan secured against their ground.
Even though lifelong fan Bill Power remained chairman when the new investors arrived, Paladini took over day-to-day control of football matters.
Power and chief executive Mark Devlin signed the cheques, but the Italian made the decisions. It is perhaps evidence of Power's lack of control that costs spiralled so easily.
Cracks started to emerge between Paladini and other directors during the summer culminating in Power's removal as chairman - and the sacking of Devlin - at a dramatic board meeting last month.
Before that, armed police were called to Loftus Road shortly before the Sheffield United game in August after Paladini alleged he had been held at gunpoint by a gang of men.
Co-director David Morris and three other men have since been charged with blackmail and joint possession of a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
With Power and Devlin out of the way, Paladini is poised to take over as chairman and, providing he maintains the support of the Monaco consortia, is likely to be given a free hand.
The Football League are so worried about events at QPR they recently called Paladini and a number of fellow directors to a meeting with Andy Williamson, the League's director of operations.
Not surprising we didn't manage to sign Evatt in the summer, a 40k pay-off to an agent would have been a little hard to justify. Mind you, didn't we pay over 100k to an agent for Turienzo's signature? Not been a huge success yet. I do wonder who the agent was. Yeovil signed two Argies this summer and I think another English club bought one.
Derby County
The main news story in the past seven days was the revelation on Radio Derby that Grzegorz Rasiak had indeed been sold by Derby for financial reasons despite what had been said by the board about it being the player's choice, the Bank not calling the tune and who knew what and at what time.
In a confusing turn of events which appeared to hinge on the timings of phone calls and who was where and/or uncontactable, the integrity of the current owners of DCFC was greatly called into question - and certainly on the RamZone Message Board.
The only thing for sure is that a leaked e-mail to Radio Derby disclosed that the Bank had demanded £1m by 31st August, that the DCFC Board had failed to meet four separate assurances to the Bank and that a board member had made an unrepeatable comment about Player of the Year Inigo Idiakez.
Yet again the club is dragged into the spotlight through the lack of transparency of the current board. This spilled over into anger at the game vs Southampton on Sunday where 'board out' flyers were held up along with some larger banners and there was a noisy protest outside the main entrance after the game.
Phil Brown's tactics have been called into question and the whole issue of having six players on loan when we can only name any five of them in the squad of sixteen at any one time.
There has been some discussion on the performance of the loan players, the team in general and the decision to play most of the game with one lone striker at home.
Stoke City
A Stoke City footballer has been arrested at an airport on suspicion of assisting illegal entry into the UK.
The club's recent record signing, Sambegou Bangoura, 23, was released on police bail after being held at Nottingham East Midlands Airport.
Leicestershire Police said he will be questioned again next month.
The Coca Cola Championship side signed the Guinea international striker for almost £900,000 at the end of August when he was granted a UK work permit.
Stoke City have said the striker will still be available to play in the first team and could be in the squad for Saturday's home derby against Wolves.
In a statement chief executive Tony Scholes said the inquiries did not affect his place in the squad.
He added Bangoura was assisting police with the matter and emphasised he had not been charged.
Visa problems
The player, who previously played for Belgian side Standard Liege, should have arrived in England eight days ago but was turned away from Manchester Airport due to what Stoke described as "visa problems".
When the 23-year-old returned on Tuesday it was another two days before he arrived at the Britannia Stadium.
In a statement Leicestershire Police said a 23-year-old man was arrested at East Midlands Airport on 13 September on suspicion of assisting unlawful entry into the country.
"The man was on a flight from Brussels to the East Midlands and was arrested at about 11.30pm.
"He has since been released on police bail pending further enquiries," the statement said.
"He is due to answer bail at Loughborough Police Station on 24 October."
BTW he probably won't play against Wolves because he has an ankle injury!
Queen's Park Rangers
QUEENS PARK RANGERS director Gianni Paladini today denied any wrongdoing after a Standard Sport investigation revealed the staggering amount of money the club are paying to agents.
Leaked documents show that so far this year Rangers have authorised fees of £473,785 to middle men, many of whom are friends and business colleagues of former FIFA-licensed agent Paladini.
The most significant payments were £40,000 to Midlands-based agent Mel Eves for the transfer of Ian Evatt; £60,000 to another Midlands agent, Brian Hassell, for Marc Nygaard; and £40,000 to Italian agent Marco Sommella for goalkeeper Generoso Rossi.
When contacted by Standard Sport, Paladini admitted knowing all the agents involved, but insisted he had done nothing wrong.
He said: "I have been in the world of football for 35 years and my job used to be an agent. I know every single agent in England, Italy, Spain and Brazil. If I didn't have these connections I would have been skint. I do not care which agent I use as long as I get the player I want.
"Every single player at QPR has got an agent and we pay fees to the agents. It is nothing new and has been legally done by the club in the proper manner.
"Nothing has been done under the table that is fishy or suspicious.
"Everything we have done at the club has never been agreed by one person. If you look at the contracts, each one has been signed by Bill Power [former chairman] and Mark Devlin [former chief executive]. And everything has been checked by the Football Association."
Last June, QPR signed Ian Evatt from Chesterfield for around £200,000 in a transfer brokered by the agent and former Wolves defender Mel Eves. Acting for the club, Eves was paid £40,000 from the transfer, 20 per cent of the total value of the deal. Industry insiders say the average is around five per cent. It is also surprisingly high given Evatt's apparent willingness to join QPR.
It has also emerged that Eves and Paladini are known on the West Midlands football circuit as close friends. They live near one another in the Birmingham area and worked together as agents on the £4m deal which took West Bromwich Albion's Enzo Maresca to Juventus in 2000. The pair are also listed as working as "professional introducers" for Wolverhampton-based financial advisers FSC Investment Services Ltd.
In a section listing financial services offered to professional footballers, FSC's website states: "We have specialist knowledge of the market as we have professional introducers like Mel Eves - England International, ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion, Gianni Paladini - FIFA Players Agent, ex-Juventus and Italy, and Tony Daly - England International, ex-Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers." Eves was also involved in the deal for Dean Sturridge, who joined QPR on a free transfer in March. Despite languishing in the Wolves reserves and apparently anxious to leave Molineux, Sturridge still managed to secure a £3,500-a-week salary, a £2,000-a-month accommodation allowance and a £1,250 bonus for every goal he scores. This deal netted Eves another £10,000 from QPR.
Another large agents' fee, £60,000, was paid in relation to the free transfer signing of Marc Nygaard, who arrived from Brescia in July. This time Midlands-based Brian Hassall is listed as the beneficiary. Hassall, like Paladini, has worked as an agent for Juninho.
An Italian agent, Marco Sommella, has also cashed in since Paladini's arrival at QPR. He was responsible for goalkeeper Generoso Rossi, who joined towards the end of last season after being banned in Italy for involvement in a betting scandal. Rossi cost £40,000 in agents' fees and, after playing just twice for QPR, has returned to Italy. Sommella, Standard Sport understands, is another friend of Paladini.
Not featured on our list, which shows the amounts of money committed to all agents involved in negotiating player and managerial contracts at QPR, is a deal that never happened but was seriously considered by the club during the summer.
The club showed an interest in signing Tore Andre Flo from Italian club Siena only to be rebuffed when the former Chelsea striker opted to return to Norway.
Standard Sport has learned that an Italian and a Norwegian agent would have shared £150,000 in agents' fees if Flo had been persuaded to move to Loftus Road.
After coming through administration in 2002, Rangers were saved from another financial crisis last year when Paladini and two consortiums bought a combined 46 per cent stake in the club. The investment cleared some debts but the club must still meet annual interest repayments of £1m on a £10m loan secured against their ground.
Even though lifelong fan Bill Power remained chairman when the new investors arrived, Paladini took over day-to-day control of football matters.
Power and chief executive Mark Devlin signed the cheques, but the Italian made the decisions. It is perhaps evidence of Power's lack of control that costs spiralled so easily.
Cracks started to emerge between Paladini and other directors during the summer culminating in Power's removal as chairman - and the sacking of Devlin - at a dramatic board meeting last month.
Before that, armed police were called to Loftus Road shortly before the Sheffield United game in August after Paladini alleged he had been held at gunpoint by a gang of men.
Co-director David Morris and three other men have since been charged with blackmail and joint possession of a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
With Power and Devlin out of the way, Paladini is poised to take over as chairman and, providing he maintains the support of the Monaco consortia, is likely to be given a free hand.
The Football League are so worried about events at QPR they recently called Paladini and a number of fellow directors to a meeting with Andy Williamson, the League's director of operations.
Not surprising we didn't manage to sign Evatt in the summer, a 40k pay-off to an agent would have been a little hard to justify. Mind you, didn't we pay over 100k to an agent for Turienzo's signature? Not been a huge success yet. I do wonder who the agent was. Yeovil signed two Argies this summer and I think another English club bought one.
Derby County
The main news story in the past seven days was the revelation on Radio Derby that Grzegorz Rasiak had indeed been sold by Derby for financial reasons despite what had been said by the board about it being the player's choice, the Bank not calling the tune and who knew what and at what time.
In a confusing turn of events which appeared to hinge on the timings of phone calls and who was where and/or uncontactable, the integrity of the current owners of DCFC was greatly called into question - and certainly on the RamZone Message Board.
The only thing for sure is that a leaked e-mail to Radio Derby disclosed that the Bank had demanded £1m by 31st August, that the DCFC Board had failed to meet four separate assurances to the Bank and that a board member had made an unrepeatable comment about Player of the Year Inigo Idiakez.
Yet again the club is dragged into the spotlight through the lack of transparency of the current board. This spilled over into anger at the game vs Southampton on Sunday where 'board out' flyers were held up along with some larger banners and there was a noisy protest outside the main entrance after the game.
Phil Brown's tactics have been called into question and the whole issue of having six players on loan when we can only name any five of them in the squad of sixteen at any one time.
There has been some discussion on the performance of the loan players, the team in general and the decision to play most of the game with one lone striker at home.
Stoke City
A Stoke City footballer has been arrested at an airport on suspicion of assisting illegal entry into the UK.
The club's recent record signing, Sambegou Bangoura, 23, was released on police bail after being held at Nottingham East Midlands Airport.
Leicestershire Police said he will be questioned again next month.
The Coca Cola Championship side signed the Guinea international striker for almost £900,000 at the end of August when he was granted a UK work permit.
Stoke City have said the striker will still be available to play in the first team and could be in the squad for Saturday's home derby against Wolves.
In a statement chief executive Tony Scholes said the inquiries did not affect his place in the squad.
He added Bangoura was assisting police with the matter and emphasised he had not been charged.
Visa problems
The player, who previously played for Belgian side Standard Liege, should have arrived in England eight days ago but was turned away from Manchester Airport due to what Stoke described as "visa problems".
When the 23-year-old returned on Tuesday it was another two days before he arrived at the Britannia Stadium.
In a statement Leicestershire Police said a 23-year-old man was arrested at East Midlands Airport on 13 September on suspicion of assisting unlawful entry into the country.
"The man was on a flight from Brussels to the East Midlands and was arrested at about 11.30pm.
"He has since been released on police bail pending further enquiries," the statement said.
"He is due to answer bail at Loughborough Police Station on 24 October."
BTW he probably won't play against Wolves because he has an ankle injury!
