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It's all Player Power
(Stuart Crowther)

HIBS FANS WILL CHOKE ON THEIR CORN FLAKES THIS MORNING, when they read that Didier Agathe is about to pocket something in the region of £3m from a newly negotiated contract with Celtic.

Agathe, as if we need reminding, is the one Frenchman who talked his way into Easter Road but later claimed he was only using Hibernian as a stepping stone to the greater things of which he believed he was capable.  This is a man who nobody knew much about and who was regarded in his own country as little more than a journeyman player; the man who, after a short spell at Raith Rovers, proclaimed that Hibs were the team for him - even before opening negotiations with the club, he was letting everyone know he was about to join the mighty Hibees and right proud he was too.  And this is the man who having joined Hibernian, sat opposite managing director Rod Petrie, was given what he asked for - and each time upped the stakes, knowing full well that another deal was just over the horizon and all he had to do was bluff in the meantime, just to keep his options open.

Agathe during his spell in the shop window (sns)

All of this of course against a background of Agathe doing a good job on the field, to be fair (although Hibs fans will point to the miss on the opening day at Tynecastle as proof that in spite of what Didier thinks, he is human).  And you just can't argue with his thinking off it either, can you?  After all, how shrewd is it to have a clause put in your 3-year contact that should in the first season you turn up at work 25 times, you have an option to tear up the contract and start again!  This is player power 2001, we are in the era when paying customers (that's you folks), club owners, directors, managers, referees, SFA, SPL, old uncle Tom Cobley and all - none matter one iota, the game is run, dictated to and controlled by the players.

".....how shrewd is it to have a clause put in your 3-year contact that should in the first season you turn up at work 25 times, you have an option to tear up the contract and start again! "

I can think of many players who have dealt with this new situation very well indeed.  A very few retain a sense of dignity, or affinity with the game, but these are few and far between - men like Franck Sauzee, who has remained in the game not for any other reason than the enjoyment he gets from entertaining.  Agathe though must surely come up there with the best when it comes to planning his own path to riches, and stomping over anyone who gets in his way.  You could argue of course that it is in his choice of Agent that Didier has done good; until that is you realise that he can be just as ruthless in discarding Agents as he is at discarding clubs.  Apparently, there are three English Premiership clubs lining up to snatch Didier away from Celtic.  Sounds familiar to Hibs fans!

Against this background, Agathe is looking for a new deal tying him to Celtic until 2006, and worth they say a total of £3m.  Good luck to Agathe, he is only doing what many of us would do and grabbing what he can when he can.  Football power with the player, as classic an example as you will get.