Portsmouth reveal fourth-highest agent fees in League One - with Sunderland, Coventry and Ipswich larger

Pompey paid out £220,367 in agents fees during 2019-20 - the fourth highest in the division. Picture: Graham HuntPompey paid out £220,367 in agents fees during 2019-20 - the fourth highest in the division. Picture: Graham Hunt
Pompey paid out £220,367 in agents fees during 2019-20 - the fourth highest in the division. Picture: Graham Hunt
Pompey paid out £220,367 in agent fees during 2019-20 – the fourth highest in League One.

According to information released by the Football Association, that’s the cost of dealing with agents and intermediaries from February 1, 2019 until January 31, 2020.

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Effectively, the period covers two transfer windows, which includes the summer signings of Ellis Harrison, Marcus Harris and John Marquis.

That’s a rise of £36,577 on the £183,790 recorded for 2018-19.

Overall, League One tallied £3.9m in agent fees – with Sunderland contributing a third of that figure.

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The Black Cats, who next season mark their third year at this level, paid out a staggering £1,346,373.

That’s more than the outlay of 11 Championship clubs in the same timeframe.

Their figure is also nearly £1m higher than Coventry, the club who have the second largest in League One with £353,632.

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Ipswich (£325,262) are also above the Blues’ tally of £220,367.

Meanwhile, just below are Peterborough (£186,744) and Fleetwood (£178,535), with Pompey’s play-off semi-finalists Oxford on £135,075.

Elsewhere, Bolton’s administration problems dictated they didn’t pay a penny to agents over the period, while Rochdale were £15,390.

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Also featuring among the lowest payers are Wycombe (£25,868), Gillingham (£28,089) and Accrington (£30,035).

The Premier League saw £263m paid to agents – a rise of £3m.

For the third successive year, Liverpool were the highest spending, with £30.3m paid to agents.

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Others ranked highly include Manchester City (£29m), Manchester United (£27.6m) and Chelsea (£26.2m).

Burnley (£3.9m) and Sheffield United (£4.26m) were the lowest spenders.

Championship clubs spent more than £49m on intermediary and agent fees, down from £50.5m, with Stoke (£5.7m) and Swansea (£5.2m) the highest.

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League Two paid out £1.17m, with Bradford (£114,010) and Salford (£111,619) topping the list.

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