'It's a deal!'

The ludicrous amount of money spent paying agents has dropped in the Championship after several years of inflation.

Watford themselves had nineteen dealings between July and December 2007 which cost them approximately 169,000 pounds. Overall, the Coca Cola Championship clubs lost 19% of transfer fees to agents which is a huge improvement when you consider last years figure of 29%.

However, the overall figure of 7.9million spent on agents fees between the 24 clubs does not look too healthy when considering only 6.2million was spent in the same period last year.

League One clubs spent just 1million on agents fees and League Two even less at 260k. Figures which reflect the level of wealth and it's decrease down the footballing ladder.

Credit to the nineteen Football League clubs who did not deal through agents at all, the only Championship side being Blackpool.

Personally, I have nothing but respect for the likes of Paul Scholes, a dying breed in football today, someone who does all dealings himself and I'm sure would sign for the love of it if it came down to that.

The latest figures are rather worrying in my opinion and when you consider that the likes of Coventry and Southampton [to name just two clubs] are in dire financial strates, the money given to agents is ridiculous.