Friend of Venables bids to take loss-making sports agency private

Terry Venables' accountant and close friend, Leon Angel, has resigned from his position on the board of one of the country's leading sports management companies in order to make a bid for its struggling football business.

Base Group, which manages players such as the Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, said it expected to incur further "significant losses" during the year. It cited the newly introduced FIFA rulings that limit the "transfer window" for clubs to January and August, as one of the main culprits.

Adrian Bradshaw, chairman of Basegroup, said: "The problem is that you have about eight months of cost and four months of income, and that together with the downturn in the market means we now don't see return being very attractive in that industry." Earlier this year the company announced that its annual losses had doubled to £2.2m.

The football agency market has declined significantly over the past two years, despite the recent high-profile spending spree of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, whose £111m made up more than half of the £215m spent in the summer transfer window, fuelling optimism among sports agents of a pick-up.

However, even allowing for the Abramovich effect, the overall transfer market of £250m this year is down by more than 20 per cent from £323m in 2001-02.

If accepted, the offer from Mr Angel - whose accounting skills earned Terry Venables a £400,000 pay-off from Leeds earlier this year - would leave Basegroup as a cash shell. Mr Bradshaw said a decision on the offer is expected within a matter of weeks.