EXCLUSIVE: Bullying, threats of violence and million-pound demands from greedy agents - a chairman's view from inside the war zone that is the January transfer window
Sullivan lifts the lid on the 'dark arts' deployed by agents and players
West Ham co-owner reveals he was threatened with violence - and so was one of his players
Claims 'scavenger' agents demand more than £1m in fees
Exposes culture of greed and calls for action from the Football Association
It's like dealing with terrorists or kidnappers... you can't pay the ransom
Praises West Brom for standing up to Peter Odemwingie's walkout
'Honestly, the transfer window makes you feel ill. I’m glad it’s over'
By DAVID SULLIVAN
PUBLISHED: 08:12 EST, 1 February 2013 | UPDATED: 10:19 EST, 1 February 201
In this window, I have had an agent threaten me and threaten one of our West Ham players with physical violence, because he thought he was being cut out of a deal.
I heard of three or four agents trying to jump in on other deals. Some of these people are like scavengers.
It was all deeply unpleasant and I’m glad it’s over. Now we can get on with the football.
Harry Redknapp was right: it feels like gang warfare out there and I can see it spilling over into violence in the future, unless there is legislation from the FA to curb the practices.
People do desperate things when they are desperate. We read of people robbing betting shops or post offices with sawn-off shotguns for £5,000. We are talking millions of pounds here around a transfer and not enough deals to go around. There are too many agents and not enough transfers to feed them.
Agents who would once demand £50,000 for their part in a transfer, now want £500,000 to £1million to either bring a player or keep a player. It is quite outrageous and the FA should cap the amount paid to agents for their work.
I heard of one agent, who took over representation of a player for ONE DAY, and he wanted to be paid between £1.25m and £1.5m for his part in negotiating a new contract.
If a player damages his cruciate ligament, or is playing badly, he will expect the club to honour his contract. If a player has six good games, it seems he and his agent rush to demand double his salary.
It has become crazy and a transfer window serves only to provoke the dark forces within the game.
You will have an agent who thinks he represents a player and then another who hears there may be a deal and tries to break in on the transaction.
They see it as their survival money. As a chairman, you can end up dealing with three or four agents for the same player.
There are a few agents who are very good at what they do (and are millionaires as a result of that), but others who want to force their way in. And do whatever it takes. Thinking about it, ‘deeply unpleasant’ is the best you can say.
I greatly admire what Jeremy Peace has done at West Brom. I take my hat off to him.
His player, Peter Odemwingie, drove down to QPR and was actively trying to force a transfer, but Mr Peace refused to cave in. He held his ground. He would not be bullied.
For the size of that club at West Brom, they have a fantastic team. They have done unbelievably well and I have always respected him - now my admiration has doubled.
You cannot give in to players like this. It is the same as giving in to terrorists or kidnappers. If you pay the ransom, they will only come back for more.
Consequently, Mr Peace has done a great service to football.
It has been hard work in this window. I’ve had sleepless nights. I couldn’t got to an FA Youth Cup match because I couldn’t risk leaving my home phone.
I’ve had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of calls. We signed four players (Joe Cole, Marouane Chamakh, Emanuel Pogatetz and Wellington Paulista) but I’m not satisfied. We desperately needed a left back and we didn’t get one.
However, I'm confident we have a strong enough team to have a successful run-in and to finish the season strongly.
For all the deals you have read about, there were 30 others we were trying. I thought we had Stephen Warnock from Aston Villa and he said he was signing.
Our contract offer was for six months with an extension based on appearances and he accepted that. Then he changed his mind and signed for a Championship team in the north (Leeds).
We had a deal for the Olympiacos left back, but when Warnock said yes, we scrapped that. Then, when we tried to get the other deal back on, the chap had gone somewhere else.
We then spoke to Juventus left back Reto Ziegler, who's on loan in Russia and tried to make that happen, but he went to Turkey. We tried to bring in goalkeeper Paul Robinson from Blackburn, but he had an injury and hasn’t played often and we had a bit of doubt.
Honestly, it makes you feel ill. I’m glad it’s over. For now.
If any of our fans think we are not spending enough, can I remind you that West Ham are £100m in debt.
We owe £6m in connection with Carlos Tevez - to be paid by July. We have various other debt repayments in August totalling £20m.
Myself and co-owner David Gold are giving away our savings. There is only so much we can do. We are ambitious and we want to bring success to West Ham. We are doing our best.
If you look at what QPR have done, possibly putting the future of the club at risk, we cannot take
that gamble.
They are paying wages nobody else outside the big four or five will pay, but it means they have only one player with any sell-on value. And that is the goalkeeper, who is quite brilliant - Julio Cesar, who is 33. And came on a free transfer!
Let me explain: If you have a player earning £30,000-a-week, then other clubs can afford to buy him. Once you have a player earning £60,000-a-week plus, only the big four can afford to pay his wages and any transfer fee.
I admire the balls of the chairman and the owners at QPR. They have broken the club record in buying Christopher Samba and if it is right that they had to pay the whole fee to Anzhi up front, plus the investment in his wages, that is a remarkable gamble for a club of their size. I wish them well.
Finally, I am often asked about Andy Carroll’s deal.
It is a season-long loan. Liverpool had an option to take him back in January, but he has been injured.
West Ham have an agreement with Liverpool to sign him at the end of the season, but we have no agreement with the player.
It was his desire to come to West Ham to prove himself to Liverpool and that hasn’t changed. He has had injuries since he came, but he is back to fitness now and we have 15 games left… we need some goals and some points, so let’s see.
His return will give us a lift. We need one of our strikers to hit goal form. We’re in the middle of a poor run in a tough division and we play a very good Swansea team on Saturday.
Do you know they have conceded the fewest number of goals away from home in the division? It’s nine, less than the champions, less than Manchester United and everyone else.
They are an impressive club who have worked themselves up from the bottom division to the top half of the Premier League and into a cup final, without risking their financial future.
Our game against them is a sell-out, the 11th successive sell-out at our ground. We are operating our ‘kids for a quid’ system for this game (the next one is the home game with Wigan), where any adult can bring as many children as they like for £1 each. It creates a family atmosphere.
We believe in offering affordable football and we need a bigger ground to satisfy demand, but as you know, we are working on that, too.
However, as FIFA regulations barred players from playing for more than two clubs in a season, this forced him to stay in Russia at least until June 2013;[21] eventually, the conflict between player and management was solved.[22]
