IPSWICH Town paid out less than £38,000 to an agent to secure the services of international defender Jason De Vos, writes Derek Davis.A groundbreaking list released by the Football League revealed that the Blues paid just £37,250 in agency fees in the period between January and June 2004.

IPSWICH Town paid out less than £38,000 to an agent to secure the services of international defender Jason De Vos, writes Derek Davis.

A groundbreaking list released by the Football League revealed that the Blues paid just £37,250 in agency fees in the period between January and June 2004.

The list shows the club made seven new registrations, which would include De Vos, who signed on a free transfer from Wigan in May.

Scott Baron and Scott Mitchell signed professional forms while Jim Magilton, Fabian Wilnis, Lewis Price and Richard Naylor all re-signed.

The list shows two contracts were cancelled – those of Marcus Bent, who moved to Everton in a £450,000 deal, and Sam Morrow, who was paid up in April.

The two loan transactions shown were Matt Elliott, who came in from Leicester City, and Andy Marshall, who went to Millwall.

The Blues, who only started paying for agents' service four years ago when they got into the Premiership, are prudent in their dealing with players' representatives.

They do not pay for young professionals signing their first contracts or players renewing contracts. Loan deals are arranged directly between clubs and agents do not get paid.

That would suggest the only deal which attracted an agency fee was that for De Vos, who signed a three-year contract. The fee payable to the agent would be spread over that period.

Blues chairman David Sheepshanks has welcomed the new policy of making payments to agents transparent.

He said: "Agents' fees are usually paid based on a negotiated percentage of a player's wages over the period of the contract. Individual players salaries are a private matter and not for public disclosure.

"I will say that the amount published against Ipswich Town relates to player acquisition and represents the total liability of the club for the duration of the contract in question.

"I'm comfortable that the amount paid by us is proportionate to the service received."

But the report, which was pushed out under the orders of Football League chairman Sir Brian Mawhinney, was labelled as "nonsense" and "hogwash" by Jon Smith, chief executive of First Artist Corporation plc.

Smith said: "The only good thing about this is seeing a politician doing what he said he was going to do because that is rare. The rest of it is a lot of rubbish. You can make figures sing and dance any way you want, this is a nonsense report."

He believes that agents and clubs are often in agreement that it is not politically correct to use an agent, so the agent's fee is included in the costs of the deal.

Smith added: "What Mawhinney is trying to say is 'we don't deal with agents because they are bad guys and we have got our house in financial order' which is a lot of hogwash."

League One club Colchester United, whose chairman Peter Heard is the division's representative on the League board, did not pay a single penny in fees.

Derby, managed by former Blues boss George Burley, spent some £279,000 on such deals despite the club continuing to have debts of around £30million.