BOOK REVIEW

Done Deal by Daniel Geey (Sportsbookofthemonth.com price: £10.57, saving £5.42 on rrp)

SEVERAL newspapers have this week exposed the sordid tale of how at least four football agents scrambled for their cut from the transfer of Emiliano Sala from Nantes to Cardiff. Reading the accounts did little to enhance agents’ status, already several rungs lower than that of national politicians currently enjoying the Westminster gravy train.

Sports fans who can stomach further tales of extreme greed and avarice, many of which would shame the kleptomaniacs overseeing the world’s growing number of gangster states, should carve out the time to read Done Deal by Daniel Geey, a lawyer who specialises in sport’s legal machinations.

Geey has a wealth of experience which he willingly shares, though not by employing legalese. A succession of truly incredible anecdotes that have you shaking your head in disbelief drop from almost every page.

For example, Geey explains how former Crystal Palace owner Mark Goldberg paid Terry Venables a fee of £135,000 just to get him to the negotiating table where the Palace chief could talk to him about becoming the manager of the club.

Not surprisingly, the author is particularly illuminating when describing some of the more ridiculous clauses inserted into player’s contracts. You can probably guess which player insisted that his club, Barcelona, paid to fly his friends over from Brazil to Spain every couple of months in order that they could spend some time together; the player in question was earning more than £100,000 a week at the time, but the club readily agreed to pick up the tab.

Neil Ruddock’s infamous ‘weight clause’ seems old hat nowadays because stars today who decide to resort to social media where they may share their vast knowledge of life are playing with fire. They face significant fines if their comments are misinterpreted, which makes you wonder why their agents let them enter the deep, etherbased pit of rubbish in the first place.

‘Player power’ has been a characteristic of football for more than two decades – ever since BskyB reinvented the game and scrubbed everything that happened before 1992 from the record books. In the meantime, football clubs have become little more than conduits for player wages. However, as Sky’s and BT’s business models appear increasingly unsustainable, one wonders for how much longer. Nevertheless, Done Deal leaves you with the impression that Mr Geey will not be out of work for some time yet.

We’ve teamed up with website www. sportsbookofthemonth.com and have a copy of Done Deal to give away.

To win, visit www.sportsbookofthe month.com and answer the following question: In which year was

Terry Venables appointed England manager?