Michael Olise’s agent handed six-month ban over illegal transfer clause in Reading contract
Michael Olise’s agent has been banned by the Football Association but the six-month suspension will start after the summer window in a “critical juncture” for one of his clients.
Glen Tweneboah, Olise’s intermediary when he moved to Crystal Palace, was punished following an investigation into the terms of his player’s contract with Reading in 2019. Tweneboah broke FA rules by agreeing a deal that saw him eligible for 10 per cent of a future transfer fee.
Tweneboah’s ban will only start on October 4, leaving him free to work for Olise and his other clients during the summer when clubs could look at trying to land the 22-year-old, who has been on the radar of most of the Premier League’s elite clubs.
In the FA’s written reasons, it stated why they delayed the ban for six months. “This reflects our concern that the timing of these proceedings has seemingly come at a critical juncture,” it says, suggesting Olise will be the subject of bids this summer. Chelsea have previously bid for Olise, who has since signed a new four-year deal at Palace.
Tweneboah works as a trader of liquid natural gas, the written reasons added, and he started as an agent while at university and has five clients. He denied the charge and insisted in his witness statement: “I had no knowledge that this proposal was not permitted under FA intermediary regulations.” Only clubs and players are allowed to receive a percentage of future deals.
The FA investigation also saw Nigel Howe, Reading’s former chief executive, suspended for 12 months. Howe has been helping Reading owner Dai Yongge sell the club but the FA insist the ban should not prevent a takeover.
“It seems to us that [with respect to Howe] it ought to be possible for the club to find other suitably experienced professionals to manage the sale of the club, if need be,” read their decision.
Two other Reading staff members, Sue Hewett and Michael Gilkes, were found to have breached FA rules on working with agents. The League One club were fined £200,000 and released a strongly worded statement criticising the punishment.
They were “extremely disappointed” as “charges were brought against individual club officials who were acting to protect a valuable club asset and ultimately the best interests of Reading Football Club”.
“The club views these sanctions as excessive, in particular when considered in comparison to sanctions handed down in a previous case, which involved another professional football club and multiple breaches of The FA’s intermediary regulations over a 10-year period,” their statement added. “In our view, in that context, the treatment handed down to Reading Football Club, for a stand-alone, one-off incident seems exceptionally harsh.”
