Broker Rob Jansen: "Salaries will take a dive soon"

Chris van Nijnatten
Wednesday 31 December 2008

On Thursday the transfer market is open for a month.

It is one of most unsporting periods in a football year.

Player broker Rob Jansen speaks his mind about it.

During the so-called transfer window clubs can castrate the competition halfway through the season, as Ajax did with FC Groningen a year ago.

The system allows it, so they can.

But is all of this morally just?

There are stories going around about many transfers and it is hard to check whether or not they are true.

PSV showed broker Vlado Lemic the door last June, as they had the impression he held office at PSV's training ground 'De Herdgang' out of self interest only.

Within six months PSV have lost contact with both the national and European top.

Clubs and player agents are sentenced to one another due to their own ambitions, and the market can never be truly open because there is a lot to hide.

Rob Jansen is one of the big brokers in Europe and holds office in his home town Den Haag.

He plays the game at all tables but he wants a clean game and calls it a 'realistic wish'.

"There are many ostriches in football. Ostriches who denounce each other and do not look beyond the tip of their noses. Player agents, coaches, managers, boards, clubs; there is so much envy about, just like there is in the real world. At the top clubs in Europe it's not that bad, but one level below opportunism is enormous. You will see it during the coming transfer window."

"Credit crisis? Recession? I have not heard anything among the Dutch clubs. Recently I did a tour of meetings with clubs such as Olympique Marseilles, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, AC Milan. They are giants, almost all of them multinationals. They are developing strategies to be prepared for the relapse."

"During this winter break you will not notice too much of it. This transfer window will be handled under the known standards. For a while we will all keep pretending that there are no problems. But this summer salaries will take a dive."

"Having players on loan will be the big thing, which will bring about perhaps even more transfers but with less money involved. Sponsor money and TV revenue will decrease dramatically all over, as will takings at the gate. People will not come and see a game for the maximum prize any longer. All our numbers will have to be sized down. In the Eredivisie no one talks about it. Here clubs are still thinking of new varieties of (player) investment firms. That is naive."

"To remain standing clubs are exercising pressure. They just want to keep on going. Blind ambition. It causes excesses, also in my branch. Transfers are being created, agreed and financed by clubs who are chasing a standard they can not support anymore, but they force the brokers to do it that way. That will cause trouble every time. And when the bubble bursts the brokers get the blame. That's a bit easy no? It's better to strike at the root of the problem. But you need balls to attempt that."

"I do dare to attempt it but will not do it alone. There are several brokers who are critical of their own profession. The selfcleaning authority is there. That is why we have organized ourselves in Holland (Pro Agent), and internationally there is the European Football Agents Association (EFAA). All big offices have joined. Roberto Branco Martins is the hard working Director. Together with lawyer Pien Bos he is lobbying hard among national and European politicians and he talks to FIFA, UEFA, and all those."

"We want to be taken seriously. And yes I am the president, but that sounds more interesting than it is. It's the old union blood coursing through my veins. I inherited it from my father. He was the founder and much more of the Dutch Players Union VVCS. But it is precisely those old institutions such as FIFA and the player unions who should cooperate more. We want to clean up football and the agencies, but the politicians and the big football organizations must start taking us seriously. That is not happening enough, which causes a lot of money to stream into the pockets of the wrong people."

"The entire story about child trade in football: it is instigated by the unions and the politicians. The subject scores well and rightly so. It is something we can all be enraged about safely. But do you think bona fide agents want to sign contracts with kids at an early age? Of course not. The man who is organizing it all in Holland, mister Treffers, will be removed from our organization - if he does not leave by himself before we do. But it's the clubs who secretly want those contracts and the parents who push for it. It doesn't make sense at all."

"But it also does not make any sense to think of it as something caused by the agents. Let our branch in on the discussion to solve this problem. That helps more than leaving it to the politicians. Stop thinking of us as dodgy. We have dodgy colleagues, yes. But that does not allow you to consider a whole branch to be dodgy. I will not go through fire and water for all members of my profession. But would a Union leader do that? You must always be critical of your rank and file, at least I try to be."

"The presence of player agents is indispensable for professional football. A professional sportsman needs a manager, although there are those who think a fiscal expert is enough. That is nonsense. Some may be able to organize things well with a well educated family member or the network of an acquaintance. In a few cases that works. But in all other cases an athlete or an artist is best off with an upright agency. Such an agency will help you in your career while you can focus on your sport. Unions are trying to do that but they have had to start separate ventures for it, as unions normally act in the general interest."

"The transfer world should be transparent. It is what I want as well. But I am not Don Quixote. Many clubs are consciously keeping it misty. They want to land a player or sell him and need a shadowy atmosphere to be able to manipulate things. But just as there are agents who want to push players in a certain direction there are club directors who want to get something out of a transfer and not just for the benefit of their club. That is why I urge that not only the agents cleanse their branch, but that UEFA and FIFA do the same. We shall have to do it together and that is why I want my organization to be a permanent member of the discussion."

"A while ago there was a meeting in Holland where an Australian lawyer explained the FIFA Transfer Matching System. It is a nice way to monitor all transfers all over the world. But we found out there are too many loop holes in it. It does not work."

"Why? Because football itself, the clubs, they do not want to be clean. They compete each other to bits. Real Madrid are not going to make FC Barcelona any wiser. It's very simple: you draw up a list of all bona fide broker agencies and all clubs and associations agree to only do business with these agencies. But it's not happening. Funny, huh? But it's not. Hunting for a certain player clubs want to outsmart each other and all means are good. That is the atmosphere on the transfer market. There might be slight differences between the individual countries, but in essence they are all the same."

"Together with a few colleagues I want to take on this hypocrisy. Why? I am 53 years old, I can lean back and relax, but I don't feel like it. I earned my money with hard work in a nice profession. If I ever stop doing this I want to have added to making the branch honorable. Guiding a player is a real profession, but the world of football, the politicians and the media are portraying the agents as a bunch of criminals. Sometimes they are right. A lot goes wrong and at some transfers millions get sluiced away. But all of us are held responsible."

"Football has to help out when they really want their world free of excesses. But I see little movement in that direction. All I see is public outrage on child trade and agents filling their pockets. But actually doing something? No. To achieve something we have stick our necks out, all of us. I'm in."