As the aftershock settled on Monday night's revelation that England's 20 Premier League clubs had paid £70.7m in fees to agents this year, thoughts flooded in of other areas which could benefit enormously from so generous a slug of football's wealth. This is a league shimmering with riches, laying justifiable claim to be the world's most watched, yet in the neighbourhoods around most clubs' grounds are patches of playing fields, many without changing rooms or drainage, which would be transformed by a drop of that agents' bounty.
The Premier League agreed with the government in 1999 to share a fraction of its television windfalls with the impoverished grassroots and, together with the FA and government, currently pays £15m to the Football Foundation for investment in the facilities on which millions of enthusiasts are expected to play the game. That, then, is £55m less for the grassroots nationwide, than the £70.7m paid to a small clutch of individual agents.
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