Good to see people raising this. I see two issues here: potential legal implications of our dealings with Bayat, and impact of Bayat having such influence over our club. People have covered the legal implications here. There's certainly enough there to feel we have a close relationship with someone who faces considerable, serious legal issues, which opens up the club to (time-consuming, costly, potentially unpleasant) legal issues itself, or that we're implicated in those issues. Even if we accept that the Pozzos are familiar with being investigated, and there's nothing illegal going on, it's hardly the thing I want the club to have to focus on. There are separate questions about the values and ethics of the club. I agree that sports agency is in general a pretty nasty business. But we have a choice over who we decide to closely connect ourselves to, and we've chosen someone who seems problematic at best as our best mate. Second, we've tied ourselves to a powerful agent who seems to hold increasing influence over the results of our scouting/transfer efforts. While some clubs do fine in that situation, it's incredibly harmful for others. Just look at Valencia and Jorge Mendes, and how their (terrible) owner was so tied to Mendes that it appeared the transfer strategy was increasingly about Mendes' financial interests than the good of the club. There are many reasons Valencia were/are broke and broken, but the Mendes relationship is certainly part. Maybe Watford would have an even worse squad without Bayat. Maybe Watford would have to pay even more for players without Bayat. Maybe most agents are questionable characters. But surely it has to be questioned why the club gets so many players from a guy with such a questionable background.
I’m more concerned with 2, personally. If we end up being found liable in some way it’ll be because Gino and Co. are deemed crooks due to their conduct not because of some sort of guilt by association. If they have participated in illegal conduct I doubt they have only done so with Mogi Bayat and not with other agents.
Am not sure he is better than what we have, maybe he is cheap, and we want to sign him just to have more options due to injury Sent from my TECNO P701 using Tapatalk
