IPSWICH Town paid a club record £125,000 in agents' fees in the six month period between July and December 2007.The money relates to the player movement when Tommy Miller, Pablo Counago and Neil Alexander all joined for free from Sunderland, Mallorca and Cardiff City.

Derek Davis

IPSWICH Town paid a club record £125,000 in agents' fees in the six month period between July and December 2007.

The money relates to the player movement when Tommy Miller, Pablo Counago and Neil Alexander all joined for free from Sunderland, Mallorca and Cardiff City.

Lewis Price was sold to Derby County for £220,000, while Ian Miller, Matt Richards and Sammy Moore were loaned out.

In all the Blues were involved in nine new registrations which included six updated contracts and a total of 16 transactions. In the same period last year Town paid just £5,000 to agents.

Colchester paid agents' fees for the first time and spent £91,300 between July and December.

Leicester City paid nearly £1.7m, Stoke City £931,000 and Charlton the third highest with £782,000, to agents as they bolstered their squads significantly.

In total the Football League's three divisions paid £7.9m with the Championship splashing out £6.2m of that.

Only newly-promoted Blackpool, who Town play on Saturday, did not pay any agents, while 18 other clubs in Leagues One and Two, also avoided any payments.

Fees paid to agents was at its lowest relative level since figures were first made public in 2004, even though transfer payments made by Football League clubs had increased almost double in 12 months, rising from £21.7m to £42.1m

Clubs had committed to pay agents in 283 of the 1,913 transfers (15 per cent) that took place in the six month period which was down on the same period in 2006.

Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: “I'm encouraged that a more buoyant transfer market has been coupled with a more disciplined approach to clubs' dealings with agents.

While £7.9m is still a lot of money leaving the game, it is clear we are still making progress in terms of establishing a fairer balance in the relationship between clubs, players and agents.”

The figures were revealed as part of the Football League's agents' fees report which they first introduced in 2003 to show transparency in the football industry, although transfer fees often remain shrouded in secrecy.

The Blues paid the £125,000 even before the Marcus Evans takeover and the figures do not include transactions during the January transfer window.