Ex-Leeds United owner makes Garry Monk claim after agent accusations

Monk, who also managed Middlesbrough in 2017, has come under fire this week following his sacking from Birmingham City, with Blues chief executive Xuandong Ren claiming the manager’s agent, James Featherstone, had been used in the club's transfer dealings.

It’s since been reported that Boro are also investigating the transfer business that took place under Monk, in particular the signings of Cyrus Christie, Ashley Fletcher, Ryan Shotton and Marvin Johnson.

Monk and Featherstone have denied any wrongdoing, yet Cellino says he banned the latter from Elland Road.

“I never allowed Featherstone near the club. I told Monk that he was a coach, and the players belonged to the club,” Cellino told the Times.

“I never let Monk get involved with transfers because every player he wanted to sign he wanted to do through Featherstone.

“Monk came to me with a player from Brentford he wanted to sign.

“I asked him who the agent was. He said, “It doesn’t matter, I will make the transfer”.

“Then I found out the agent was Featherstone and they did the deal directly with him.

“Featherstone said he was his player, but I found out he wasn’t.

“Featherstone asked me for commission fees for doing Monk’s contract, and I didn’t give him anything. We had a big fight because I refused to pay his fees. I said to him, “You work for Garry Monk? Ask him to pay the fees”.

“He was always trying to get Featherstone involved in deals. Remember Mo Barrow from Swansea? I didn’t want to sign him because the number 17 brings me bad luck, but Garry wanted to bring him in. We had a fight about Barrow, but Featherstone did the transfer.

“After three months he brought another assistant coach, James Beattie.

“Then I found out that he was a client of Featherstone’s agency. After that I cut him out.

“I didn’t allow him to come to the games, I didn’t allow him to come to training.

“I didn’t want him at the club any more.”