It is that time of year again. Lighter nights, daffodils and the sobering discovery of just how much your football team has handed over to agents.

The Football Association (FA) published its annual figures yesterday and, as is the norm, they were bigger, more gasp-inducing than ever before.

The Premier League’s 20 clubs combined to pay £409million ($509m) in agents’ fees in a 12-month monitoring period that began on February 1, 2023. Include the EFL’s outlays and English clubs handed over close to half a billion to that select group of men and women representing a footballer’s interests.

It was the usual suspects leading the way but the Premier League’s spend continues to rise. This year’s total is markedly up on the £318million of last season and almost twice the amount paid in 2017-18.

The Athletic picks out the key points from the FA’s latest report.

---

Chelsea drive spending records… again

An age of excess at Stamford Bridge has seen Chelsea spend like no club has ever spent before. Close to £1billion has funded a lavish overall that is yet to deliver discernible progress under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake-led ownership group and the fees paid out to agents are another marker of their intemperance.

Brace yourself for Chelsea’s full outlay over 12 months:…

It is probably a mistake to start with a British cultural reference that is nearly 29 years old, but this is a story about misgivings and mistakes, so it feels apt.

In 1995, the late, great comedian Caroline Aherne had a spoof talk show in which she played a character called Mrs Merton, an elderly lady from Manchester who would ask celebrities disingenuously blunt questions.

“So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?” was her famous opener to Debbie McGee, the glamorous assistant and wife of the aforementioned TV magician.

A version of that question had been rattling around my head while I tried to find a common thread between the four case studies we have done this week on men who want to buy football clubs.

So, Chris/Dozy/William/Thomas, what first attracted you to the cash business with property assets that would guarantee weeks, if not months, of positive media coverage and a huge dopamine hit from the gratitude of strangers?

Because when you put it like that, it is not hard to see how bidding for football clubs might be addictive/a good smokescreen/useful advertising/worth a go (delete as applicable).

We picked Chris Kirchner, Dozy Mmobuosi, William Storey and Thomas Zilliacus this time, but if there are any streaming giants reading, we could flesh out…

Permanent concussion substitutions will be introduced into the laws of football, the game’s lawmakers have confirmed.

The measure, which has been trialled in a number of competitions such as the Premier League, Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship and FA Cup, will come into effect from July 1, 2024.

Teams will be able to use additional substitutions, outside of their allotted amount, if any player is showing signs of a concussion, regardless of the number of changes they have made already.

However, a trial for temporary concussion substitutions — a measure which has been called for by the Premier League as well as players’ unions — was not approved at the annual general meeting of The International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Scotland on Saturday.

It is understood the Premier League remain of the view that permitting professional leagues to trial temporary concussion substitutes will significantly benefit player welfare and the sport.

Scottish Football Association CEO, Ian Maxwell, said: “Regarding permanent concussion substitutions, the trial we’ve run is effectively concluded and that is now enshrined in the laws of the game.

“It will be for competitions to determine whether they want to use permanent concussion substitutes, as per the…

Jonathan Morgan, the manager at the centre of the Football Association’s Maddy Cusack inquiry, was appointed by Sheffield United despite the club being warned by a senior executive that he “doesn’t have a great reputation” within women’s football.

New evidence shows the club’s head of football administration, Carl Shieber, was made aware of unspecified concerns during the recruitment process that led to Morgan being offered the job in February last year.

The Athletic has also established that Morgan was the subject of two previous complaints at Leicester City, one of his former clubs, relating to his alleged behaviour towards certain players. He denied any misconduct and no findings were made against him.

Morgan is being investigated by the FA after a complaint from Cusack’s parents, David and Deborah, about his alleged behaviour towards their daughter, United’s longest-serving player, before she took her own life, aged 27, last September.

Morgan has always denied any wrongdoing and was cleared in December by an external inquiry, commissioned by the club, of any bullying or inappropriate behaviour.

The club say they are satisfied with their recruitment process even…

Welcome to Full Time, The Athletic’s women’s football column, a one-stop shop every Monday to discuss the big issues in the game in the UK and Europe.

---

Main story

On Friday morning, Sheffield United announced they had sacked coach Jonathan Morgan based on “new information (that) came to light about his conduct”. The Athletic revealed that the reason for Morgan’s dismissal was a previous relationship with a teenage player during his time managing Leicester City.

The decision came just weeks after Morgan was cleared of any wrongdoing by an external inquiry — carried out at the request of Sheffield United player Maddy Cusack’s parents following her death at the end of September.

GO DEEPER

How Morgan’s ‘immoral’ relationship with his teenage player led to his sacking

Morgan’s sacking has distinct parallels with the situation of former England manager Mark Sampson, who was dismissed by the Football Association (FA) in 2017. Sampson was also the subject of an inquiry after he was accused by former England forward Eniola Aluko of displaying racist behaviour. He was cleared, but the FA eventually sacked Sampson based on reports of a relationship with a player when he was manager of Bristol Academy (now Bristol City) three years earlier.

In both cases, the alternative…

For almost three years, Jonathan Morgan hid a secret from the rest of his football team and almost everybody else in his life.

Today, though, it can be revealed why the manager at the centre of the Football Association’s Maddy Cusack inquiry was sacked on Friday by Sheffield United’s women’s team — and why the announcement was quickly followed by his management agency terminating its contract to represent him.

His club took the decision after The Athletic presented a portfolio of evidence that Morgan, when manager of Leicester City’s women’s side, had embarked on a secret relationship lasting nearly three years with a teenage player from his own team.

The player in question, who spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity for her family, says she was 17 when the relationship started and that Morgan, then in his late twenties, took advantage of her immaturity.

Her mother also believes she was 17 at the time and has described Morgan’s behaviour as “inappropriate and immoral”.

“He wouldn’t have wanted to keep the relationship a secret unless he knew he was doing something wrong,” she says. “It was her age, more than anything. He was supposed to be in a position of trust.”

Morgan, now 35, insists they are wrong about the girl’s age and says she was 18….

Jonathan Morgan has been sacked as manager of Sheffield United women’s team after it emerged that he had been involved in a relationship with a player at a previous club.

Morgan is also the manager at the centre of the Football Association’s Maddy Cusack inquiry.

He was informed of the decision on Friday, with United saying in a statement it was because of “new information that has come to light in the last few days”.

Morgan has also been sacked by the agency which represented him, Tongue Tied Management (TTM).

“In the last 24hrs we have learnt new information regarding Jonathan Morgan and a relationship with a player under his charge,” a TTM statement read. “We will no longer be working with him in any capacity and the termination of our relationship is with immediate effect.

“The termination of this contract is a critical measure in preserving the integrity of our agency.

“We are absolute in our view that safeguarding standards and processes should apply to all athletes be they male or female. At Tongue Tied Management we are committed to maintaining an environment of respect, integrity, trust and accountability within the sports industry.”

GO DEEPER

Emotions running high at Jonathan Morgan’s first game since death of Maddy Cusack

Morgan, who previously managed…

The Football Association has opened a formal investigation into the circumstances surrounding death of Maddy Cusack and her family’s complaint about Jonathan Morgan, the manager of Sheffield United’s women’s team.

Cusack, the team’s longest-serving player, was found at her parents’ house in Derbyshire on September 20 last year. Her family say her working relationship with Morgan caused her mental health to suffer and that was a contributory factor in the 27-year-old taking her own life.

Morgan has robustly denied any wrongdoing and maintained from the start that he had a normal manager-player relationship with Cusack and had never done anything to make her feel he disliked her.

He was exonerated by an external inquiry, commissioned by the club, that was carried out by a former superintendent from Northumbria police, Dennis Shotton, on behalf of Safecall, a Sunderland-based company dealing with whistleblowing matters.

Shotton’s inquiry concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing. However, Stephen Bettis, United’s chief executive, acknowledged in a letter to Cusack’s family that Morgan had “divided opinion” among the people who were interviewed as part of the process. Some found him supportive and caring. Others saw him as “isolating, quite authoritative and…

Maddy Cusack’s death has left “real questions about her treatment,” a government hearing has been told, with ministers welcoming the news that the Football Association is considering an investigation into her family’s complaints.

In a meeting of the culture, media and sport committee, the chairperson, Dame Caroline Dinenage, raised the subject of Sheffield United’s handling of the case and added that there had been a “seemingly quite flawed investigation”.

Cusack, 27, was found at her parents’ house on September 20 and her family have submitted a seven-page complaint to her club alleging that Jonathan Morgan, the women’s team manager, was responsible for causing the emotional anguish, they believe, that led to her taking her own life.

Morgan has strenuously denied the claims and an external inquiry, commissioned by the club, cleared him on all matters, saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

Cusack’s family, however, have complained that the investigation, carried out by a retired superintendent from Northumbria police, was mishandled and had not sufficiently taken into account their oral evidence from numerous conversations with Maddy since Morgan’s appointment last February.

GO DEEPER

Why I felt let down by the club after Maddy Cusack death – Sheffield…

The chaplain of Sheffield United quit the club in a resignation letter stating he had felt ignored and let down by senior officials — including when he was trying to help Maddy Cusack’s colleagues cope with their grief.

Dr Delroy Hall stood down at the end of November, two months after Cusack died, and explained his reasons in a resignation letter — widely distributed within the Premier League and Women’s Championship club — which also asked whether his skin colour had contributed to the way he perceived he had been treated over a number of years.

Contacted by The Athletic, Hall said he had often felt ignored by people at the top of the club and “totally excluded” when it came to the in-house response to the death of Cusack, a player for their women’s team, on September 20.

“You would have thought, with something like this, it was made for, ‘Del, could you be the interface between the club and the family?’. But there was not a dickie bird,” Hall said.

“I said (to the club), ‘Look, I’ve been involved in stuff like this for 30 years. I’m not asking for the limelight or to be the centre of attention but if I can offer any support, just let me know.’ I knew straight away it was going in one ear and out the other. They had no interest in getting me…