At first, I was fooled too. The Football League's official Agents' Fees Report for the 2008/9 season splashes on the introductory page that "In total, League clubs have committed £8.8m to agents during the last twelve months, compared to £11.1m in 2007/08." And the League's official website builds further on this headline decline, with Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney saying that "Given the severe economic recession, it is encouraging to see these figures declining.

Football agents have become the most powerful figures in football, and for all the wrong reasons. They are tapping up young talented players, promising them a lot of money and in the end the players become nothing more than their slaves. Most of the agents are corrupted and are not working in the best interest [.

Something to read while you consider the tragic case of the last hooligan (who appears to live in Canada)... The truth about Gisele and Jose (Dirty Tackle) Is Berba the new Seba? (EPL Offside) Rafa is ruining Ryan (SoccerLens) Danielle Lloyd crosses the North London divide (ONTD Football) Great start for the Bebê Seleção (Brazil World Cup Blog)* Killing time outside [.

Football agents are not this cool.

Due to the new requirements in the Football Association's regulations on agents put in place this summer, the Premier League has released its first public report on the amount spent on club payments to agents, totalling £70,692,513 for 803 payments made to agents from 1st October 2008 to 30th September 2009.

Stuff to read while you enjoy a picture of South Africa...... Chinese team fined for losing. (The Beautiful Game) Marcelo Bielsa delivers a must-read/might-not-comprehend press conference. (Reuters Soccer Blog) Walking the newspaper party lines in Spain post-Galactico explosion. (La Liga Loca) Five of football's biggest agents/movers and shakers.

From the official site:

In line with the Football Association Agent's Regulations, Manchester City Football Club hereby disclose details of agents' fees paid over the past year as being £12,875,283.

The figures, being released by all Premier League clubs today, have been verified and reconciled by The Football Association, and include fees paid to agents for incoming as well as outgoing transfers, the renegotiation of existing player registrations as well as fees paid to agents during the stated period, but which relate to transactions predating it.

Mark Hughes was commenting on this story from yesterday:

"If you do a lot of deals – and overall something like 35 were included – given the expenditure and the turnover of players involved, you would expect a figure like that. There is a role that has to be met and, at the moment, agents fill it.

A few days ago the FA released some very interesting statistics. These were the amounts payed by particular clubs to agents in fees for transfers, contracts etc. over the last year (October 1st 2008-September 31st 2009). The Premier League has racked up a staggering £70 million, with Man City and Chelsea being the main culprits, with [.