FA delays changes to agent regulations
The FA will hope to have the new rules in place in September
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Wednesday, 25, Apr 2007 11:02
The Football Association has announced it plans to delay proposed changes to the rules governing the regulation of agents until September 1st.
New rules were to be implemented on May 1st, in time for the opening of the next transfer window, but objections from the Association of Football Agents (AFA) has postponed the legislation for a few more months.
Over recent years there has been a growing concern about the amount of money being taken out of the game by agents and the FA is keen to impose tougher restrictions on them.
FA director of governance Jonathan Hall said: "We believe that the game's interests are best served by taking this course of action.
"Our primary objective remains to bring in a strong set of regulations which build on the existing ones and address concerns in this area of the game."
It is believed that the AFA could take legal action against the FA over the matter, leading the governing body to seek advice itself, although the FA said they had "no intention of abandoning the key principles".
The Premier League are keen to have the situation resolved as soon as possible and pledged their full support to the FA.
A statement said: "We believe the FA is right to resist the AFA and we support their efforts to ensure these new rules are implemented as intended; any amendments should not impact on what the football authorities are trying to achieve."
The FA also claimed to have the support of sports minister Richard Caborn and insisted that the implementation of new regulations for this area of the game remained "a priority".