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John Giles explains just how simple a transfer deal could be in the pre-agent days

The effects of money in football have been raised this week with the revelations by The Telegraph...



John Giles explains just how s...
Soccer

John Giles explains just how simple a transfer deal could be in the pre-agent days

The effects of money in football have been raised this week with the revelations by The Telegraph.

But in the days before football became such a lucrative business, things were far different.

For example, let's take John Giles' transfer from Manchester United to Leeds in 1963.

Speaking to Off The Ball, John explained how relatively simple it could be.

"In my day, there wasn't that much money [in football]. I moved from Manchester United to Leeds for £32,000," he said.

"Like, I know for example in my transfer deal which was 1963, I asked for a transfer, Matt Busby agreed to put me on the transfer list, Leeds came in, they agreed a fee, I agreed my terms with Don Revie and that was it! There was no agent. I know times have changed a bit but that deal could be done today without an agent being involved. "

The Ireland legend also gave his take on the issue of agents' involvement in football.

"I know it's a new era from my time but there were big transfer deals in relation to times when I played. And there were no agents involved in it and I don't see how the agent has become so involved in the transfer," he said.

But John also explained when the change happened that gave impetus for agents to become involved.

"When the maximum wage was abolished was the start of it. You see when I was a young player, it was a retaining transfer. I signed for Manchester United for a year and if I didn't agree terms with Matt Busby at the end of the year, I couldn't play for anybody else. So the freedom of contract and the television money combined has led to what we see today," he said. 

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