Accrington Stanley once again spent nothing on agents’ fees in 2013/14, making us one of only four clubs in the Football League to commit no money to agents.

The latest publication of Football League clubs’ spending on agents’ fees has revealed that clubs committed a total of £17.7m to agents during the 2013/14 season, a reduction of 18% on the previous year (£21.5m).

Championship clubs accounted for £14.7m of the total, with League 1 and League 2 clubs spending £2.3m and £0.6m respectively. Clubs committed to pay agents in 860 of the 3,355 player transactions that took place.

Four clubs did not spend any money on agents’ fees at all (Shrewsbury Town, AFC Wimbledon and Hartlepool United were the other three) with more than a third of clubs (26) spending less than £25,000 each.

In announcing the latest agents’ fees figures, The Football League’s Chief Executive, Shaun Harvey, said: “The 2013/14 campaign was the first season against which sanctions will be applied in all three of our divisions under The Football League’s Financial Fair Play rules. It is therefore notable that we have seen a significant fall in payments to agents. Hopefully this is a sign that they are having a positive effect but it’s too early to know for definite at this stage.

“Whilst a reduction of £4m is welcome there is still a very significant sum leaving the game to pay agents. Under the financial reporting arrangements in place for clubs these liabilities are provided for in club business plans going forward.”