Paul Stretford
Encyclopedia
Paul Stretford is an English football agent. In 1987 he founded Proactive Sports Management, renamed Formation Group in 2004, which went on to represent, amongst others, England footballer Wayne Rooney
. In 2010 Rooney revealed as part of his evidence during a court case that Stretford received 20% of his off-field earnings, an amount the player regarded as being fair.
Stretford has frequently been embroiled in legal disputes and his methods have been criticised. As part of the same court case in 2010 Stretford admitted that when he first represented the 17-year-old Rooney, he had not explained to the player, or to his father, what documents were being signed or what their effects would be – something the prosecuting barrister called "absolutely extraordinary".
, whom he had got to know through a friend who mixed socially with the players of Manchester United. Stretford's first deal was Stapleton's transfer from the French club Le Havre AC
to Blackburn Rovers in 1989.
. In January 1995 Stretford negotiated Cole's transfer from Newcastle United to Manchester United for a then record British transfer fee of £7 million. Stretford's connection with Manchester United had begun in 1994, with his involvement in the £1.2 million transfer of David May to the club from Blackburn Rovers. Cole considered the agent a friend and on moving to Manchester had stayed at Stretford's house, later discovering that rent had been deducted from his earnings. "Stretford wasn't motivated by friendships, but money" Cole said in a 2010 article.
A legal case that in January 2011 was moving through the Portuguese courts suggested that for a time Stretford co-operated with the Gestifute
agency run by the Portuguese football agent, Jorge Mendes
, in order to bring Portuguese players into British football. According to claims made by Formation in that legal suit, agent's fees were shared between Gestifute and Formation in the deals that brought Hugo Viana
to Newcastle United for around €12 million in 2002, Nuno Capucho to Glasgow Rangers in 2003 and Christiano Ronaldo from Sporting Clube de Portugal to Manchester United for £12.24 million in the same year. Formation were pursuing Gestifute for what they claimed were unshared fees on subsequent deals.
, Kenny Dalglish
, Kevin Keegan
, Graeme Souness
and Peter Reid
. In 2008 the company was reported to have 130 employees.
from Everton F.C.
to Manchester United. At the time the amount was understood to be the biggest payment ever received by an English-based agent. Stretford received £1 million, with a further £500,000 to follow when Rooney saw out the duration of the contract.
, a shareholder in Stretford's Proactive agency, who had advised Rooney's parents to change his representation. At one stage Stretford had £250,000 in cash ready to pay off Hyland, although the money never changed hands.
At a subsequent meeting at a Cheshire Hotel in June 2003, Stretford claimed that he was physically threatened by Hyland and two other men, Christopher and Tony Bacon, who were reportedly Australian cage-fighting champions. That meeting had been secretly videoed by Stretford who went to the police, leading to Hyland and the Bacons being charged with attempted blackmail. When the case came to court in October 2004, however, it collapsed when it was revealed that Stretford had given misleading evidence. Stretford had told the jury that he had not represented Rooney before December 2002, but documents came to light revealing that their association dated to at least September of that year when the player was still contracted to McIntosh's Pro-Form Sports Management Limited. The prosecution barrister said "we do not feel able to rely on Paul Stretford as a witness in this case". Stetford stepped down as a director of Formation.
The case led to the Football Association charging Stretford with misconduct in June 2005, a case he at first attempted to have heard in a public court and then challenged on the ground that the FA's disciplinary procedures did not comply with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights
and that one of the FA's rules was an unlawful restraint of trade –claims rejected by the Court of Appeal in March 2007.
In July 2008 the FA found Stretford guilty of seven of the nine counts against him, including making false and/or misleading statements to the police and in court. The commission found that Stretford had "encouraged Mr Rooney and his parents to enter into a representation agreement with Proactive Sports Management Limited on 17 July 2002 although he knew Mr Rooney was still then under contract with Pro-Form Sports Management Limited."
A charge of enticing Rooney away from his previous agent was not proven but the FA also stated that: "The commission found that Mr Stretford had made a misleading witness statement and had given untruthful evidence in court in criminal proceedings in Warrington Crown Court, particularly in relation to the existence, dates and nature of those representation agreements dated 17 July 2002 and 19 September 2002." Stretford maintained that he believed those two contracts were for image rights only and that the pivotal document was signed in error by Proactive's chief executive, Neal Rodford, without Stretford's knowledge.
A further charge of entering into a representation contract with Rooney for eight years was also proved, the limit for written contracts being two years, as were two charges of failing to lodge representation contracts with the FA.
Stretford was fined £300,000 and banned for 18 months, half of which was suspended. He called the verdicts of the disciplinary panel "a travesty", appealing the decision and then taking the case to arbitration before accepting the 9-month ban on May 1, 2009.
Proactive in fact sacked Stretford for "acts of gross misconduct" and sued Stretford in an attempt to recover the £1.6 million it had paid for Stretford's breach of FA regulations. £300,000 of the total was the FA's fine, with £1.3 million in legal costs. In July 2009 Stretford in turn issued a writ to Proactive's Neil Rodford in an effort to make him personally liable for the £1.6 million.
Proactive also claimed it was entitled to £4.3 million from Rooney as the 20% commission payments on the contracts brokered by Stretford while he was at the firm. The judge in the case ruled in part in favour of the footballer, saying that the contract Rooney had signed with Stretford's Formation as a 17-year-old player had amounted to a "restraint of trade", running as it did for eight years, six years longer than recommended by the Football Association but did find in favour of Proactive for its "restitutional remedy" claim element. Proactive were awarded a thus far indeterminate "quantum meruit" payment by Wayne Rooney / his company which is the subject of a further legal hearing. Proactive also won the right to appeal the "restraint of trade" judgement and the courts will hear this appeal in July 2011 whilst Stretford will defend the £1.6m claim Proactive has brought against him later in the year.
Proactive was also awarded £90,000 in respect of its full claim against Mrs Rooney / her company (who chose not to attend court and offer any personal defence to the claim brought against her and her company).
later saying that Stretford was "not the most popular man in the world – certainly at our club".
Stretford had a lengthy association with Newcastle. He first represented Andrew Cole while he was a player at the club, suggested by a second player, Scott Sellars
, and Kenneth Shepherd had formerly been employed by Proactive Sports Management, working for Stretford from an office in Newcastle's St James Park. According to Manchester United's chief executive, David Gill
, Wayne Rooney's original transfer to Manchester United was provoked by Newcastle's apparent interest in the player.
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
. In 2010 Rooney revealed as part of his evidence during a court case that Stretford received 20% of his off-field earnings, an amount the player regarded as being fair.
Stretford has frequently been embroiled in legal disputes and his methods have been criticised. As part of the same court case in 2010 Stretford admitted that when he first represented the 17-year-old Rooney, he had not explained to the player, or to his father, what documents were being signed or what their effects would be – something the prosecuting barrister called "absolutely extraordinary".
Beginnings
Stretford grew up in Warrington and after leaving school worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman and for a marketing agency in Manchester. He began his career as a football agent working from his basement with a single client, the Irish Republic striker Frank StapletonFrank Stapleton
Francis Anthony "Frank" Stapleton is an Irish former football player and manager. He is best remembered for his time at Arsenal, Manchester United and as a pivotal player for the Republic of Ireland...
, whom he had got to know through a friend who mixed socially with the players of Manchester United. Stretford's first deal was Stapleton's transfer from the French club Le Havre AC
Le Havre AC
Le Havre Athletic Club Football Association is a French association football club based in Le Havre. The club was founded originally as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, thus making it the oldest association football and rugby club registered in France...
to Blackburn Rovers in 1989.
Larger Dealings
Among the major players Stretford went on to represent were Andrew Cole and Stan CollymoreStan Collymore
Stanley Victor "Stan" Collymore is an English football pundit and former footballer, who played from 1990 until 2001. He held the British transfer record when he moved from Nottingham Forest to Liverpool for £8.5 million in 1995 and was capped three times at senior level by the England...
. In January 1995 Stretford negotiated Cole's transfer from Newcastle United to Manchester United for a then record British transfer fee of £7 million. Stretford's connection with Manchester United had begun in 1994, with his involvement in the £1.2 million transfer of David May to the club from Blackburn Rovers. Cole considered the agent a friend and on moving to Manchester had stayed at Stretford's house, later discovering that rent had been deducted from his earnings. "Stretford wasn't motivated by friendships, but money" Cole said in a 2010 article.
A legal case that in January 2011 was moving through the Portuguese courts suggested that for a time Stretford co-operated with the Gestifute
GestiFute
GestiFute full name Gestão de Carreiras de Profissionais Desportivos S.A. is a Portuguese company. It provides agent services for footballers...
agency run by the Portuguese football agent, Jorge Mendes
Jorge Mendes
Jorge Paulo Agostinho Mendes is a Portuguese football agent. He is registered with the football association of Portugal and heads the GestiFute company, founded in 1996...
, in order to bring Portuguese players into British football. According to claims made by Formation in that legal suit, agent's fees were shared between Gestifute and Formation in the deals that brought Hugo Viana
Hugo Viana
Hugo Miguel Ferreira Gomes Viana is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Sporting de Braga as a central midfielder.His main assets are good set-pieces and passing skills...
to Newcastle United for around €12 million in 2002, Nuno Capucho to Glasgow Rangers in 2003 and Christiano Ronaldo from Sporting Clube de Portugal to Manchester United for £12.24 million in the same year. Formation were pursuing Gestifute for what they claimed were unshared fees on subsequent deals.
Flotation
Proactive Sports Management was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2001 with a valuation of more than £30 million. The list of the company's shareholders was later described as "a Who's Who of the footballing fraternity", and included the managers and former players Bobby RobsonBobby Robson
Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson, CBE was an English footballer and manager, who coached seven European clubs and the England national team during his career....
, Kenny Dalglish
Kenny Dalglish
Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
, Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
, Graeme Souness
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur,...
and Peter Reid
Peter Reid
Peter Reid is an English football manager, pundit and retired player, who is currently without a club since his departure from Plymouth Argyle.A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career...
. In 2008 the company was reported to have 130 employees.
Transfer to Manchester United
In 2004 Stretford was paid a reported £1.5 million as part of the £27 million transfer of Wayne RooneyWayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
from Everton F.C.
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
to Manchester United. At the time the amount was understood to be the biggest payment ever received by an English-based agent. Stretford received £1 million, with a further £500,000 to follow when Rooney saw out the duration of the contract.
Blackmail Case and FA Charge of Misconduct
The circumstances under which Rooney came to be represented by Stretford, rather than his original agent, Peter McIntosh, were the subject of an extended dispute. An associate of McIntosh, Dave Lockwood, attempted to get Stretford to pay out a share of his earnings from Rooney's representation, engaging John Hyland, a former Olympic boxer, to help in the attempt. One meeting to settle the issue was attended by Tommy Adams, member of a London family who have been called "worse than the Krays" and a man described once in court as "a notorious gangster". Adams had been invited by Kenny DalglishKenny Dalglish
Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
, a shareholder in Stretford's Proactive agency, who had advised Rooney's parents to change his representation. At one stage Stretford had £250,000 in cash ready to pay off Hyland, although the money never changed hands.
At a subsequent meeting at a Cheshire Hotel in June 2003, Stretford claimed that he was physically threatened by Hyland and two other men, Christopher and Tony Bacon, who were reportedly Australian cage-fighting champions. That meeting had been secretly videoed by Stretford who went to the police, leading to Hyland and the Bacons being charged with attempted blackmail. When the case came to court in October 2004, however, it collapsed when it was revealed that Stretford had given misleading evidence. Stretford had told the jury that he had not represented Rooney before December 2002, but documents came to light revealing that their association dated to at least September of that year when the player was still contracted to McIntosh's Pro-Form Sports Management Limited. The prosecution barrister said "we do not feel able to rely on Paul Stretford as a witness in this case". Stetford stepped down as a director of Formation.
The case led to the Football Association charging Stretford with misconduct in June 2005, a case he at first attempted to have heard in a public court and then challenged on the ground that the FA's disciplinary procedures did not comply with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
and that one of the FA's rules was an unlawful restraint of trade –claims rejected by the Court of Appeal in March 2007.
In July 2008 the FA found Stretford guilty of seven of the nine counts against him, including making false and/or misleading statements to the police and in court. The commission found that Stretford had "encouraged Mr Rooney and his parents to enter into a representation agreement with Proactive Sports Management Limited on 17 July 2002 although he knew Mr Rooney was still then under contract with Pro-Form Sports Management Limited."
A charge of enticing Rooney away from his previous agent was not proven but the FA also stated that: "The commission found that Mr Stretford had made a misleading witness statement and had given untruthful evidence in court in criminal proceedings in Warrington Crown Court, particularly in relation to the existence, dates and nature of those representation agreements dated 17 July 2002 and 19 September 2002." Stretford maintained that he believed those two contracts were for image rights only and that the pivotal document was signed in error by Proactive's chief executive, Neal Rodford, without Stretford's knowledge.
A further charge of entering into a representation contract with Rooney for eight years was also proved, the limit for written contracts being two years, as were two charges of failing to lodge representation contracts with the FA.
Stretford was fined £300,000 and banned for 18 months, half of which was suspended. He called the verdicts of the disciplinary panel "a travesty", appealing the decision and then taking the case to arbitration before accepting the 9-month ban on May 1, 2009.
Sued by Proactive
Stretford 'left' Proactive in October 2008, citing "huge and irreconcilable differences" that were believed to centre on his relationship with the firm's board.Proactive in fact sacked Stretford for "acts of gross misconduct" and sued Stretford in an attempt to recover the £1.6 million it had paid for Stretford's breach of FA regulations. £300,000 of the total was the FA's fine, with £1.3 million in legal costs. In July 2009 Stretford in turn issued a writ to Proactive's Neil Rodford in an effort to make him personally liable for the £1.6 million.
Proactive also claimed it was entitled to £4.3 million from Rooney as the 20% commission payments on the contracts brokered by Stretford while he was at the firm. The judge in the case ruled in part in favour of the footballer, saying that the contract Rooney had signed with Stretford's Formation as a 17-year-old player had amounted to a "restraint of trade", running as it did for eight years, six years longer than recommended by the Football Association but did find in favour of Proactive for its "restitutional remedy" claim element. Proactive were awarded a thus far indeterminate "quantum meruit" payment by Wayne Rooney / his company which is the subject of a further legal hearing. Proactive also won the right to appeal the "restraint of trade" judgement and the courts will hear this appeal in July 2011 whilst Stretford will defend the £1.6m claim Proactive has brought against him later in the year.
Proactive was also awarded £90,000 in respect of its full claim against Mrs Rooney / her company (who chose not to attend court and offer any personal defence to the claim brought against her and her company).
Contract Negotiations
During negotiations for a new contract in October 2010, Wayne Rooney announced that he wanted to leave Manchester United, only to agree a new 5-year deal days later. Stretford was criticised for his part in these events, with Manchester United's manager Sir Alex FergusonAlex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...
later saying that Stretford was "not the most popular man in the world – certainly at our club".
New Agency
On leaving Proactive Stretford set up Triple S Sports and Entertainment Group with former Newcastle United owner Freddie Shepherd and his son Kenneth.Stretford had a lengthy association with Newcastle. He first represented Andrew Cole while he was a player at the club, suggested by a second player, Scott Sellars
Scott Sellars
Scott Sellars is an English former professional football player, who is the coach of the Manchester City U18 team after previously holding the role of assistant manager at Chesterfield in the League Two....
, and Kenneth Shepherd had formerly been employed by Proactive Sports Management, working for Stretford from an office in Newcastle's St James Park. According to Manchester United's chief executive, David Gill
David Gill (executive)
David Alan Gill is British football executive, currently Chief Executive of Manchester United F.C. and a board member of the Football Association...
, Wayne Rooney's original transfer to Manchester United was provoked by Newcastle's apparent interest in the player.