In a pocket of Cheshire earlier this year, Charles Collymore was responsible for a little piece of history. Approached by Crewe Alexandra, struggling in the Championship and desperately seeking a defender to help shore up a porous back-line, he recommended the Algerian Madjib Bougherra to Dario Gradi. A six-month loan was secured and, for the first time, Crewe had paid an agent to secure a deal.
The £5,000 fee to help pluck a player from the obscurity of FC Gueugnon in the French Second Division went almost unnoticed at the time and was paid completely legitimately. As Crewe's chairman John Bowler explained at the time, Collymore was effectively being used "as a scout" with the case only remarkable because Crewe boast such extensive knowledge of English domestic football that they rarely have to resort to asking others to scour the market for them.
But what the transfer of a 23-year-old African from Gueugnon to Gresty Road did illustrate was the extent of Collymore's contacts. The website for his CS Sports Management company is still apparently "under construction" and, while the same could be said for any agent's client list, his reputation is already established, stretching across continents as well as sports. He manages the England cricketer Simon Jones, helping the player set up lucrative commercial contracts since the part he played in winning the Ashes last summer, and has thorough experience of the lower leagues.
His knowledge of French football is extensive, the agent boasting particularly strong links with African players playing in Le Championnat. He has dealt with Eric Djemba-Djemba, the Cameroonian midfielder who moved from Nantes to Manchester United for £3.5 million in 2003 and has since swapped Old Trafford for Villa Park in a £1.35 million deal. He smoothed the Strasbourg striker Mamadou Niang's transfer to Marseille a year ago, claiming there had also been firm interest from the Premiership sides West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Indeed, Senegal's success at the 2002 World Cup finals has benefited Collymore's business, with Khalilou Fadiga and Salif Diao, both integral members of the Africans' line-up in Japan and South Korea, among his clients. He secured Fadiga's move to Bolton, despite a history of heart problems, and played his part in taking Diao from Sedan to Gerard Houllier's Liverpool for £4.2 million in the wake of the World Cup.
Those successes have helped generate a healthy client-base and a thriving agency, prompting Crewe to turn to Collymore in last season with Bougherra, who is now at Sheffield Wednesday.
