Feels like time is running out, looking back at some earlier posts I wanted to have recap on the post from late September "Prep for 2014". Basically my strategic plan was to work on 3 points in order stay alive both in the short and long run. These 3 points were:
1. Collaboration with an academy:
Visiting the UK based academy I was just so impressed with resources that are used on these young kids. Comparing to my country of residence it is just day and night, anyone doubting football business is big deal should travel around in Europe seeing how much money is invested in kids.
Anyway, after some negotiations i managed to convince the academy director an agent is a necessity in order to get players out to pro clubs. He gave me his blessing and I got to work.
Back in my office I started contacting suitable clubs (there are several parameters to take into consideration when picking a club, such as; to they play young players, do they historically sell young players, coach mentality, club environment good for youth, level of league etc.). One of the conditions from the academy was that the club should cover all costs in regards to trails, in pro football this is not the standard. Opposite it always the agent/player that players that stands for this cost.
Also from the Academy side a prerequisite was that I as an agent do not take any commission from the first transfer, thats understandable.
Selling the academy and services to the suitable clubs I managed to arrange 3 trials for these young lads. First one was negative, the next 2 have been at their club for 2 weeks and yesterday the trainer was positive in an interview to the newspaper. We will have feedback today (please please).
I really have invested allot of time and cash on making me the agent for this academy so deeply hope they produce some interesting players..
Whats innit for me? Well I will write representation contract with the players and try get in a sell on clause for my self on next transfer.
2. Attacking players with ending contracts:
This I thought was a well performed point from my side. Together with a colleague from the agency I work with we had 12-13 good players were contracts ends, in other words helping transferring 5 out of those would be an ok result. This has not really worked out the way I wanted, mainly for 2 reasons. It is commonly known both by players/clubs/agents that it is a clubs market and that they determine the conditions (we have touched upon this subject before). Therefor half of those 12-13 players got offered new deals directly after the season ended, 2 months before the window open with a tight deadline. Players know it is not easy to find new clubs these days and therefore chose the safe option to directly extend the deal...
Secondly feedback from clubs is that the cant give any concrete offers for January before mid December, budgets are very tight and if they already have signed a player and lets say 2 crucial players get injured the last weeks of the year they will not have room in the budget to replace the injuries. Clubs wait until last minute, this of course makes the agent work much harder and players stressed.
2. Asking clubs for lists:
When I say lists I mean demand lists from clubs on what they will be looking for. This point has gone really well, and I have managed to get in contact with many clubs from UK, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Scandinavia, Ukraine, Greece etc. Problem is that I cant provide the players the clubs demand. Often I present a player were I know their agent which makes me have to split the potential commission. This is ok as long as you know the other agent well and no one tries to rip each other off..
Two other points:
-There will be no new years celebration this year, need to be in the office 1 Jan in morning..
-David Russel movie The Fighter is on telly tonight, cant wait
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
dizzy & tv scouting
still after almost 6 months acting as a player agent i am amazed by how some days can just implode... Feels like every second day is totally different, yesterday I got all phonecalls, emails and contacts responded and planned out they way I wanted. Today totally opposite, few responses and negative feedback. In the very beginning I thought it was all about luck if someone got back directly when emailing a player presentation but I realize more and more that timing and tactics are essential. I have learned when before getting in touch things to bare in mind:
- Did the team lose the evening before (people are going to be negative)
- Is the person in mind or club travelling somewhere (trying to get hold of player, director, coach travelling is hard)
- Is it a red day or holiday, try to get in touch with an Israeli club on yom kippur
- dont speak to directors about players if the coach is about to leave or get fired
- dont call people before 10.00 nobody within football picks up
there are just numerous of things to think through before you get in contact with someone. Today I was to dizzy/unconcentrated to think and got shit done.
My agent colleague Zaid Eideh told me to write a couple lines in regards to what makes a player interesting for me as an agent and if there is any difference watching footy in my profession as oppose to a fan. Well there is at least one big difference.
First of all want to emphasize that I have never played/coached so I have no real experience from pro football. I have not really developed an eye for scouting and looking at players from a pure technical perspective is not my strength (neither my interest). In other words I tend to avoid discussion with very technical oriented people... Anyway the way that I now watch football has changed slightly. I have realize that any player that want to perform on a ok pro level need competitve edge and thats what Iam looking for. Can he show something that nobody else on the pitch can, speed, precision, vision, passing% etc.
The game today is to maximize the best individuals much more that team effort, how can each individual player in the optimal use their competitive edge.
This is of course just my theory but before I did not in particular concentrate on this but now I do.
Hope tomorrow is going to be a more productive day.
Monday, October 21, 2013
examples of emails
Recent email I have received, through my details being on FIFA.COM
Enjoy!
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Enjoy!
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Dear Agent
.
We are glad to introduce our company specialised in sport tours and travels for young people in Italy.
.
We have been operating since 1993 and since then we have dealt with more than 2,000 teams. We started with soccer and then, year after year, we added other sports following the increasing requests we received from coaches of other sports practised in Colleges and Universities.
.
We have excellent relationships with Pro Football Club in Italy and we can arrange TEAM CAMP and TEAM TOUR to any category and age group.
.
Apart from the tours, we also organise some of the most important soccer tournaments in Italy such as:
> Venice Christmas Cup (December 27-29 in Venice): 40 teams - categories: from under 13 to under 9
> Florence Epiphany Cup (January 3-5 in Florence): 40 teams - categories: from under 17 to under 9
> Terre di Siena Cup (Easter in Tuscany): 60 teams - categories: from under 17 to under 9
> Roma Cup (Easter in Rome): 60 teams - categories: from under 17 to under 9
> Milano Festival (Easter in Milan): 80 teams - categories: from under 17 to under 9
> Pfingsten Cup (Pentecost in Emilia Romagna): 80 teams - categories: from under 17 to under 9
> Mirabilanda Cup (June 19-22 in Emilia Romagna): 60 teams - categories: from under 17 to under 9
.
In case you are interested in collaborating with us, in both ways, do not hesitate to contact us
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hello mister fredrik
I'm young Senegalese player I would like your help I'm a free agent fifa and club
I played the champion Senegal and tournaments in Europe
I was in Europe in 2010 to play a tournament
I'm serious my name on google I would come in player sweden on your help
I pay for my ticket and hotel to come to test
I can send you the visa on my passport
I am ready to come if you get me an invitation club
my cv in french
cordially
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Hello Sir/ Ma
Hello My name is Seun Oloyede I am 16 years old ,Born in Lagos Nigeria. Am a very good Football Player , Well am looking for a Good Agent who can Manage me for as many trier in Europe and Asia for Tournament or Clubs . I have to go on a search at FI FA.com to seek for a very good Agent cos i do believe that's is the best way to Find a good Agent , so that's where i got to have your email address , hope i would be glad to hear from you soon .
My dreams is to play in Europe and be a better player , well known and famous like the professionals we see on the TV station and cables . I Play at the Central Midfielder and am very good in that , i train very harder and am always consistent athletics so i will be waiting your respond , Let me know if there is any Free Trier for your boy hope to hear from you soon , God bless you .
My Number +23470 5599 82
Best Regards
Hello My name is Seun Oloyede I am 16 years old ,Born in Lagos Nigeria. Am a very good Football Player , Well am looking for a Good Agent who can Manage me for as many trier in Europe and Asia for Tournament or Clubs . I have to go on a search at FI FA.com to seek for a very good Agent cos i do believe that's is the best way to Find a good Agent , so that's where i got to have your email address , hope i would be glad to hear from you soon .
My dreams is to play in Europe and be a better player , well known and famous like the professionals we see on the TV station and cables . I Play at the Central Midfielder and am very good in that , i train very harder and am always consistent athletics so i will be waiting your respond , Let me know if there is any Free Trier for your boy hope to hear from you soon , God bless you .
My Number +23470 5599 82
Best Regards
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friend,
Complement of the day to you and your love ones
I hope my email will arrive to you at good time.
My name is Ghais Mohammed from Damascus Syria.
I am 64 years old and retired. I was former personal investor & financial consultant advisers to
a Top Politician here in SYRIA.
Why I'm contacting you is to know if we can have a personal conversation.
Whatever truth you may brief me will be highly recommended.
Tell me more about your country, how good it will be to invest in your country.
Such as buying of properties, or real estate and some tourist places or any profitable investment venture that will yield good profit.
I will appreciate whatever result you may brief me.
Do let me know your idea and knowledge regarding this or any other profitable investment venture you may suggest.
I have a substantial amount and I am willing to order the transfer of the money to you for investment if you’re interested with my proposal.
In my next mail I will explain the full details of the project and interest, and then we reach an agreement on what will be your share from the money or investment.
I shall tell you more about myself when I read from you.
You may as well tell me little more about yourself when replying.
Waiting for your reply.
Thanks and best regards,
Ghais Mohammed
Damascus,Syria:
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Whats innit for me?
late evening/early night sitting in my office reading through old texts I come up with the following reflections:
since this agent thing is a quite new environment for me and mainly due to football players being a quite unique set of people an agent is put in many strange contexts, a couple of examples;
A player gets in touch with me and asks if I can call his sport responsible and ask what the clubs future plan is. This happened today. Here an agent is put a strange position, first of all its not my client second of its quite pathetic making errands for players that are not under representation with you.. I get several requests from players every week if I can help them with different stuff. The first couple of months I was so eager I could go and buy groceries for a any player (even pay) but nowadays I most likely tell them off. It has even happened that player with an agent travelling in another continent calls me asking for help because he cant get hold of him right now.
Getting calls like this a couple of points directly pop into my head, how can this be of benefit for me? Maybe in return I can:
- get a tip of a good talent
- find out info in regards to team mates and when their agent contracts end
- give me a number or email to player
- etc.
Iam slowly coming to the realization that this is a selfish world were people are willing to give up allot in order to gain themselves. I am no exception...
The best scenario though when recruiting players is to make a hell of a job and the by word of mouth you will have more clients. Majority of the players I work with I get recommended from a fellow player. This is a a much better scenario, if the player comes to you you have the upper hand directly. Opposite to beg for a chance to represent..
Whats innit for me ? at the end of the day I think we can agree its a cash related question.
Just a couple of thoughts that probably are not that linked to each other from a tired brain..
since this agent thing is a quite new environment for me and mainly due to football players being a quite unique set of people an agent is put in many strange contexts, a couple of examples;
A player gets in touch with me and asks if I can call his sport responsible and ask what the clubs future plan is. This happened today. Here an agent is put a strange position, first of all its not my client second of its quite pathetic making errands for players that are not under representation with you.. I get several requests from players every week if I can help them with different stuff. The first couple of months I was so eager I could go and buy groceries for a any player (even pay) but nowadays I most likely tell them off. It has even happened that player with an agent travelling in another continent calls me asking for help because he cant get hold of him right now.
Getting calls like this a couple of points directly pop into my head, how can this be of benefit for me? Maybe in return I can:
- get a tip of a good talent
- find out info in regards to team mates and when their agent contracts end
- give me a number or email to player
- etc.
Iam slowly coming to the realization that this is a selfish world were people are willing to give up allot in order to gain themselves. I am no exception...
The best scenario though when recruiting players is to make a hell of a job and the by word of mouth you will have more clients. Majority of the players I work with I get recommended from a fellow player. This is a a much better scenario, if the player comes to you you have the upper hand directly. Opposite to beg for a chance to represent..
Whats innit for me ? at the end of the day I think we can agree its a cash related question.
Just a couple of thoughts that probably are not that linked to each other from a tired brain..
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Monday, September 30, 2013
Prep for window 2014
Frequent question (which also I asked myself) what do agents do when window is closed.
- Preperation work for the next window
- Scouting and Signing players
- Time off
As I understand (i am not exactly experiences in this game) prep work is done more or less 6-8 weeks before the window officially opens. Above that in theory and complying with FIFA regulations players can speak/sign for clubs 6 months before the end of their current contract. I have 3 strategic points I want to cover before the window opens, hopefully they will leave me much more prepared this time which will result in more deals done:
1. Collaboration with an academy = I have managed to establish a contact with top academy in the UK. Had a meeting with them last month and tomorrow I am flying to visit them. Usually academies are very reluctant to working with agents but the man in charge know how pro football works. I am hoping to negotiate a deal where I am exclusive for the academy players for a certain region. I managed to convince the academy director that if he wants his players to get a pro contract an agent is a necessity. They will now look for 4-5 agents to cover most of Europe, hopefully I will have it on paper that I will be their representant in my region. Certain details need to sorted (mostly financial). How do we split the potential profit, in how many steps does the academy get paid, if the player moves to a 3 club do they still get a %, who pays for the travel costs when going on trail etc.
Anyway this puts me in a good position. First of all I will have access to many good young talents so I dont have to travel around and waste time, secondly it is a nice thing to actually help a player (from a poor background) to sign their first pro-contract. As oppose to being a parasite and just chasing $
2. Attacking players with ending contracts = As written before and I think the official statistic from FIFA TMS is that 95% of all transfers done during the summer window 2013 were free agents. In other words if I want to make any dough this winter (believe me I need to) having a couple of players with ending contract will most def help me. So I am contacting players with ending contracts offering my services. Most of these interactions are done by phone were I present myself, what I have done and what I can do. The player is smarter than signing with me directly and says something like this;
"the agent that finds me the best offer I will sign with". This results in several agents working for one single player hoping to come up with the best contract proposal. The situation is difficult because often the player is desperate (in a couple of months he will be out of paycheck) and any concrete planning or strategy is hard to carry out. From my side I demand exclusivity on a market from the player otherwise iam out. The reason is that if several agents work for the same players in one league, eventually the same player will be presented to club several time, and in my world that's unacceptable. I want to maintain good contacts with the clubs !
3. Asking clubs for lists = many European leagues have in the beginning of October played around 10 games in their domestic leagues. This means that more or less they know what they are looking for during the winter window. A mix of cold and warm emails/phonecalls to get that info.
also I receive a lot of emails I have a hard time to answer. Most of them in regards to exam info (read my earlier posts), the rest I will try to answer.
peace
- Preperation work for the next window
- Scouting and Signing players
- Time off
As I understand (i am not exactly experiences in this game) prep work is done more or less 6-8 weeks before the window officially opens. Above that in theory and complying with FIFA regulations players can speak/sign for clubs 6 months before the end of their current contract. I have 3 strategic points I want to cover before the window opens, hopefully they will leave me much more prepared this time which will result in more deals done:
1. Collaboration with an academy = I have managed to establish a contact with top academy in the UK. Had a meeting with them last month and tomorrow I am flying to visit them. Usually academies are very reluctant to working with agents but the man in charge know how pro football works. I am hoping to negotiate a deal where I am exclusive for the academy players for a certain region. I managed to convince the academy director that if he wants his players to get a pro contract an agent is a necessity. They will now look for 4-5 agents to cover most of Europe, hopefully I will have it on paper that I will be their representant in my region. Certain details need to sorted (mostly financial). How do we split the potential profit, in how many steps does the academy get paid, if the player moves to a 3 club do they still get a %, who pays for the travel costs when going on trail etc.
Anyway this puts me in a good position. First of all I will have access to many good young talents so I dont have to travel around and waste time, secondly it is a nice thing to actually help a player (from a poor background) to sign their first pro-contract. As oppose to being a parasite and just chasing $
2. Attacking players with ending contracts = As written before and I think the official statistic from FIFA TMS is that 95% of all transfers done during the summer window 2013 were free agents. In other words if I want to make any dough this winter (believe me I need to) having a couple of players with ending contract will most def help me. So I am contacting players with ending contracts offering my services. Most of these interactions are done by phone were I present myself, what I have done and what I can do. The player is smarter than signing with me directly and says something like this;
"the agent that finds me the best offer I will sign with". This results in several agents working for one single player hoping to come up with the best contract proposal. The situation is difficult because often the player is desperate (in a couple of months he will be out of paycheck) and any concrete planning or strategy is hard to carry out. From my side I demand exclusivity on a market from the player otherwise iam out. The reason is that if several agents work for the same players in one league, eventually the same player will be presented to club several time, and in my world that's unacceptable. I want to maintain good contacts with the clubs !
3. Asking clubs for lists = many European leagues have in the beginning of October played around 10 games in their domestic leagues. This means that more or less they know what they are looking for during the winter window. A mix of cold and warm emails/phonecalls to get that info.
also I receive a lot of emails I have a hard time to answer. Most of them in regards to exam info (read my earlier posts), the rest I will try to answer.
peace
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