Fergie expresses agent concerns

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has expressed concern over the growing influence player agents have in football.

The 68-year-old’s comments come in the wake of Blackburn’s sacking of former manager Sam Allardyce last week, with Ferguson insinuating that the involvement of the SEM Group, a player agency, was crucial in the shock decision.

Speaking on the day he became Manchester United’s longest serving manager, Ferguson told the Daily Telegraph on Sunday that he saw the growing influence of agents as a ‘serious threat’.

“I think it’s very difficult these days (to build a club) with the life we’re in now,” Ferguson said.

“There’s intense pressure on managers. You’ve got that issue at Blackburn of an agent involved and deciding the future of the club, Jerome Anderson (of the SEM Group), he couldn’t pick his nose.”

“It’s baffling and it’s a serious threat to how clubs get run and how they conduct themselves.”

Ferguson believes managers are being sacked far too regularly and took a swipe at Blackburn’s new owners for choosing to dispense with Allardyce.

“It’s becoming trendy to sack a manager in difficult circumstances and I just wonder whether Blackburn thought, ‘You know, if Newcastle can do it, we can do it’,” he said.

“I don’t know the answers to it, but what I can say is that a manager’s job, whatever he’s getting paid, it’s not worth it. If Sam had won on Sunday, they’d have gone fifth in the league.”

“But he still would have got sacked because they would have said they should be fourth.”

Scottish coach Steve Kean remains the caretaker manager at Blackburn as the search for Allardyce’s successor continues.