Marc Devlin: Never Offered - and Never Been Offered - a Bung

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[Mark Devlin from last week]

Devlin: No bungs here
This is Swindon Town -13th January 2006

"MARK Devlin is surprised that more players don’t seek free assistance from their own trade union when it comes to sorting out contract and transfer dealings. Town’s deputy chairman has been involved in his fair share of transfer negotiations at both Swindon Town and Queens Park Rangers over the years and insists he has not been exposed to the murky dealings of the type that Luton boss Mike Newell has alluded to.
He said: “I can only talk from personal experience but I have neither offered a bung nor been offered one myself.“Agents are part of football today and it’s something you have to deal with when it comes to signing players, selling players or renegotiating contracts.“I have to say the bit that I find hard to stomach is when a club is asked to pay a fee where you are renegotiating a current player’s contract.”While players are free to negotiate deals themselves, Devlin says there is another route that players can take.
Devlin said: “The players’ union, the PFA, offer a service where one of their officials is happy to act on a player’s behalf. It’s free as I understand.“Clearly though, this is a subject which has been doing the rounds for some time and obviously it’s something we will follow here with interest.”
The Football League agents’ fees report, just released, revealed that Town handed over £5,500 between July and December of last year, compared to £15,250 in the same period in 2004.. http://www.thisisstfc.co.uk/news_headlines_Story.asp?NewsID=5173