Agents power can have damaging effect on players and teams

The dangers and potential damage done of and by the involvement of agents in the game have been brought into focus again this week with the story circulating around a loan move for Kenwyne Jones from Sunderland to Liverpool.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce says Kenwyne Jones has been unsettled by reports of a possible loan move to Liverpool and that he is uncomfortable with how those reports have taken off.

“It certainly has unsettled him. His performance on Saturday reiterated that, and that’s my fear. With all the speculation and nonsense that is surrounding him, he has had his head turned by a ludicrous notion that we are going to let him out on loan. On Saturday against Portsmouth it looked as if it had affected him. There’s no doubt the boy has got wonderful talent. The thing he has to do is make sure he does it repeatedly and regularly. Maybe over the last few weeks with all the nonsense which has been written about him, maybe his focus and his attention has not been playing on a Saturday, it’s been elsewhere.”

Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn was more to the point,

“The situation, I’m led to believe, is led by agents, which I find unhealthy. We hope the whole thing is gone to bed and put away.”