Blackburn Spend More On Agents Than All Clubs in League One & Two Combined Despite Costs Falling

Blackburn Rovers spent more money on agent fees than any other club in the Football League and more than all 48 clubs in League One and Two combined.

Rovers were relegated from the Premier League in 2012 and went on to spend £3.5m ($5.5m) on agent fees across 79 deals, a figure that is three times more than any other club in the Championship.

The signings of Jordan Rhodes, Danny Murphy and Nuno Gomes are just some that are attributed to the figure. Gomes and Murphy left the club after just one season and 18 and 33 appearances respectively.

Blackburn managing director Derek Shaw said: “After suffering relegation from the Premier League, there was an influx of new signings, including a number of ‘high profile’ players on lucrative contracts, in the hope that we would make an immediate return to the top flight.

“Regrettably, those moves didn’t work out, both in terms of results on the pitch and from a financial point of view, which is something we have worked hard to put right this summer.”

 Agent fees drop

The news comes at a time when the Football League has said fees paid to agents has fallen by 1% in the 2012/13 season.

Clubs committed £21.5m ($33.6m) to agents, which is £170,000 ($265,796) less than the previous year.

Championship clubs paid £18.6m ($29.1m) of the total with League One sides paying £2.2m ($3.4m) and £0.7m ($1.09m) being paid by League Two clubs.

Football League chairman Greg Clarke: “This is a considerable amount of money to be leaving the game.

“However, the real challenge is to ensure that such payments are part of a sustainable financial model with clubs only spending what they can afford. In conjunction with clubs, we’re making real progress towards this goal and now have all three divisions operating Financial Fair Play regulations.”

This season represents the first accounting period for the Championship with Financial Fair Play (FFP) sanctions.

Salary Cost Management Protocol is being used in League One and Two which limits player salaries to 60% and 55% of turnover respectively.