Neil Hallam: Morris' ability to move players on could prove lesson for the Rams

YOU don't hear much of Eric Hall these days but there was a time when this professional cockney geezer was British sport's most famous sporting agent; a wisecracking character whose involvement in a deal often left his client's employers feeling as though they had been mugged and tickled at the same time.

"I don't like leaving them with any money at the end of our negotiations," this cigar-chomping rascal once admitted.

"They'll only go and waste it on some player I don't represent."

Hall has often been cited as the embodiment of all the grasping and exploitative attributes for which agents have become infamous and he was responsible for coining a phrase that perfectly summed up one particularly vexatious problem for those involved the administration of professional sport.

That phrase was "Bog-off dosh."

"They want to get rid of my client, they better come up with some bog-off dosh or he ain't going nowhere," said Hall of one club's keenness to sell off of one of his stable of players.

In other words, if a club wants to move a player out, either on a free transfer or for a fee, they often have to pod up a significant chunk of what remains on his contract as an inducement.

Locally, this problem has afflicted Derbyshire County Cricket Club as often as Derby County but last week's events at the County Ground suggested that things had changed for the better there and that a more hard-headed attitude to the "bog-off dosh" issue now prevails.

Former England all-rounder Rikki Clarke and left-arm-spinner Nayan Doshi, who both joined Derbyshire last winter, agreed to the termination of contracts that had more than a year to run and both quit the club without a penny piece to lubricate their departure.

This has to be acknowledged as a signal achievement for director of cricket John Morris and a far cry from a situation that has seen Derbyshire laying out large sums in "pay-offs" in the past, most absurdly when coach Colin Wells ended up collecting a settlement despite the fact that he had been out of contract prior to a bout of committee bungling.

Derbyshire coughed up another substantial sum to get rid of one of the most successful players in their history, Kim Barnett, for having the temerity to oppose the committee's misguided attempt to curtail the legitimate authority of the captaincy.

They gave local batsman Ben Spendlove a two year contract when he returned to the County Ground for a second chance and then paid him off at the end of the first season.

They stumped up again when chief executive John Smedley resigned, claiming that criticism from within the committee and the local media had left him suffering from stress.

They paid off Secretary Roger Pearman, despite the fact that he returned the club to profitability and saw through the building of the pavilion, the first development at Derby for donkey's years.

They paid up Phil Sharpe's two-year contract at the end of the former England batsman's very poor first year with Derbyshire and I have no doubt that there have been further cases of "bog-off dosh" being forthcoming for others who have either failed to come up to the mark on or off the field or have somehow offended an all-too-often maladroit committee.

The departure of Clarke and Doshi hardly came as a surprise. The fact that it was achieved so rapidly and that Derbyshire were not financially penalised for bringing their employment to a close certainly did.

The signing of Clarke from Surrey in competition with several other counties last season was widely viewed as something of a coup for Morris and the decision to award the captaincy to a player with a somewhat chequered reputation as a bold gamble.

It was not long, however, before it was obvious that the gamble was failing and Morris acted promptly to overcome it and facilitate Clarke's switch to Warwickshire at nil cost. In fact Derbyshire saved a tidy sum in wages by directing him to Edgbaston with immediate effect.

The departure of Doshi within a couple of days was similarly achieved without any form of settlement. The spinner took issue with Morris over a perceived lack of opportunity in championship matches, was told in forthright terms that eight wickets at 80 apiece did not merit inclusion and had it made clear that if he did not like it, he could take the other option.

With the prospect of a year in the second 11 to concentrate his thoughts, he too decided to leave immediately, saving Derbyshire another useful sum to be reinvested.

"I take full responsibility for the fact that it didn't work out with Clarke and Doshi," said Morris, whose new signings have had rather mixed fortunes this season but who has nonetheless achieved an upturn in results and created a much more competitive attitude at the County Ground.

"The important thing is to accept that it's not working, tackle the problem and move on.

"The worst thing you can do is persist with a negative situation and risk it souring things in the dressing room."

Those words will no doubt prompt an approving response down the road at Pride Park, where manager Paul Jewell continues to wrestle with the expensive and potentially disruptive problem of having within an overloaded playing-staff a number of players who appear to have no further role to play.

Ideally, Jewell concedes, he would like a senior squad that provides a couple of alternatives for every position. In the event, he has a squad of 33 if you count players out on loan and it stands to reason that it would suit the club to get rid of as many as eight or 10 of those currently swelling the wage bill.

In football, however, wanting rid and getting rid are two very different things, especially – as at Pride Park – when some of those no longer required are among the highest earners. Invite a well-paid player with a long-term contract to find himself a new club and you are very firmly – and understandably – in "bog-off dosh" territory.

The fact that Gary Teale and Mo Camara are out on loan indicates that they are among those now regarded as surplus, Andy Todd has already been told he can move and a few others are also in the departure lounge.

Providing such senior players with the sort of incentive necessary to abandon lucrative contracts would, however, cost a very substantial amount of money. On the other hand, having on the premises players who no longer feel valued carries with it the risk of damage to morale.

The presence of unwanted players is not, perhaps, the most pressing dilemma facing Jewell and Derby at the moment, as the first anniversary of their last League win approaches but it is a major problem nonetheless and a heavy drain on resources.

Perhaps John Morris could offer a few tips.