LIKE A DOG WITH A BONE

‘Howard became a team regular but is now back on the bench.
At the time of his transfer he was virtually unknown in
Britain and the talks to sign him for a relatively small fee
should have been straightforward. But the revelations that
United were willing to sanction such large commission fees
on a routine deal will spark fresh questions from investors.

'All three agents in the deal are business partners of Elite
Sports Group, the agency run by Jason, son of Sir Alex
Ferguson. The payments to two of the agents — Gaetano
Marotta and Mike Morris — were revealed by this newspaper in
January. The story prompted an investigation by the Football
Association, which is continuing.

‘Last week, The Sunday Times established that another agent
closely associated to Elite was also paid. He is Antonio
Calzado, a businessman based in New Jersey. Calzado is now
working as Elite’s American representative, helping recruit
staff and sign up young US stars to sell to European clubs.

‘Yesterday Calzado talked openly about how he and the other
business partners of Elite had shared in the proceeds from
the Howard deal. Officially, United have admitted to dealing
with only one agent: Marotta, who owns Gama Sports, a Swiss
firm not widely known in the upper echelons of football. His
main connection with Britain appears to be his business
partnership with Jason Ferguson’s agency.

‘According to Calzado, Marotta was given $1m by the club
when the transfer was completed. Standard agents fees are
between 8% and 10% of the transfer fee. This was 33%. It is
not clear what Marotta did for his pay. The club has said
his role was to obtain a work permit for Howard, but he
appears to have little expertise in British immigration law.

‘Calzado said Marotta then passed on the cash to the other
agents. “The money went to Marotta and he distributed the
money and signed the papers,” he said. Calzado’s cut was
$200,000 (about £123,000), a further sum of $220,000
(£136,000) went to SportsNet, the player’s agent in America.

‘Leaked documents have also confirmed that Marotta handed
over $225,000 (£139,000) to Morris, a Monaco-based tax exile
who runs the World Football agency. Morris is so close to
Elite he is regarded as its unofficial “fifth director”.
Morris was not involved in the negotiations.

‘Calzado is also close to Elite. He confirmed that the
Manchester-based agency represents him in transfers to
British clubs. But despite his ties to the agency, when The
Sunday Times approached Jason Ferguson last week, he said he
had “never heard of Calzado”. However, Francis Martin,
Jason’s co-director, was more forthcoming. “Yes we know him,
and we are working with him,” he said.

‘Sources at New York Metrostars, the club that sold Howard,
said the deal should have been simple as it was already
agreed before Jason Ferguson’s business partners moved in.
“Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach Tony Coton had
already decided Tim was the keeper for United. From that
moment it was a done deal,” said the source.

‘According to Howard’s agent, Dan Segal of SportsNet, the
player was forced to accept reduced wages to allow all the
agents acting for Manchester United and his US league
employer, Major League Soccer, to take their cut. “Tim ended
taking a little less money so that all parties could be
happy. We recognised this was an occasion where we didn’t
want to be pennywise and pound foolish,” said Segal.

‘Concerns about Ferguson family dealings are shared by some
United fans. Richard Kurt, of the fanzine Red Issue, said:
“I don’t think Manchester United should have anything to do
with Jason Ferguson, full stop. Manchester United plc were
supposed to agree with that. Alex Ferguson was warned about
it, but the warning went in one ear and out the other.”

‘Elite represents United players Darren Fletcher, Quinton
Fortune and goalkeeper Roy Carroll. It was involved in the
transfers of David Bellion (through Morris), Howard and the
Spanish keeper Ricardo.’