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As of late, much has been made in the footballing media, and the like, of the practice of 'tapping'; in it’s simplest form, a process by which one interested club makes an 'illegal' approach towards a targeted player, while said player is still under contract to his current club. All this, of course, without the knowledge, or even the permission, of the player’s contracted club. One of the more 'recent' cases in point was that of Ashley Cole (in late January 2007) being 'tapped up' by Chelsea when he was still under contract to Arsenal, where it was proved that the player himself was in attendance at a covert meeting. That cost the player a fine of £100,000.00: hardly a debilitating sum of money when you’re pulling down upwards of a reputed £20,000.00/week. Under normal circumstances, the player is advisedly kept at arms length from such meetings, with the initial approach being made, to the targeted player, by an agent representing the interested (buying) club. Every professional club, whether at directorship or management level, has one or two agents they believe they can rely on - and will therefore utilize the services of one of those 'trusted' individuals to clandestinely initiate the approach procedure. As many of you will be aware, this process is openly known – and accepted - as 'headhunting' in the normal business world. However, in the case of football, where young, impressionable, players are easily swayed at the thought of another few thousand pounds in their weekly wage packet, it is generally perceived that 'tapping' can have a substantially unsettling effect on such players. My experience of football only leads me to concur with such a view. Unfortunately, in a sport where a the manager is rarely judged on anything more historical than his last ten or twelve results, the pressure on those same Managers to ensure that the team’s performance is maximized, is relentless. Therefore, most managers have little choice but to jump onto the tapping treadmill - otherwise they risk losing out to their competitors, in trying to secure any targeted new signings. Fact: it is sadly the case (and there is a definite similarity here between football managers and football agents) that the good guys will probably finish last. Ask yourself this: why, by their own admission, did Manchester United disburse £750,000 in agents’ fees, relating to the transfer of Louis Saha from Fulham in January of 2004, when that lad would have crawled up the M6 on his hands and knees (on broken glass!) to play at Old Trafford? The answer – simply - is this: those considerable fees were paid much less for the agents’ involvement in negotiating Saha’s deal at his new club, when the time came to put pen to paper, than for the same agents’ involvement in ensuring that the player’s path to Old Trafford was cleared of any unforeseen obstacles and that the player was well aware, beforehand, of the deal on offer. It doesn’t look good for Manchester United – or any club for that matter – when news breaks of their impending interest in an elsewhere-contracted player, only to find that the deal stalls as a result of the player’s personal financial demands (i.e. salary, signing-on fee, bonuses, re-location costs, city apartment, Maybach 62, etc.) In this particular case (Saha) I suspect the tapping was of a most sophisticated - and almost 'professional' – nature, but a form of tapping nevertheless. So, can it be stopped? Let’s get real here: as sure as night follows day, the practice of tapping will never be eradicated from the professional game. From the point of view of damage limitation however, severe penalties could be handed down to players who are found to have had a direct involvement in any discussions with any interested club (whether directly, or by way of having instructed their appointed agent), while they are still contracted to another club. Fining Liverpool a mere £20,000 in connection with the tapping-up of Christian Ziege hardly constitutes a future deterrent. Hit them where it hurts - with a points deduction or a ban from the transfer market for three months Some might argue that Ashley Cole should have been suspended, once proven to have been complicit, but why should Arsenal suffer? They can’t keep their players chained up twenty-four hours a day. If all this whets your appetite to delve a little deeper into football’s darker side, then be sure and pick up a copy of Tom Bower’s excellent book 'Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football'. |
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