The latest publication of Football League clubs' spending on agents' fees has revealed that clubs committed a total of £21.5m to agents during the 2012/13 season – £170,000 less than the previous twelve months.

Championship clubs accounted for £18.6m of the total, with League 1 and League 2 clubs spending £2.2m and £0.7m respectively. Clubs committed to pay agents in 776 of the 3,746 player transactions that took place.

Seven clubs did not spend any money on agents’ fees at all (Blackpool, Hartlepool United, Accrington Stanley, AFC Wimbledon, Morecambe, Barnet and Crewe Alexandra) with 24 clubs spending less than £25,000 each.

In announcing the latest agents' fees figures Football League Chairman Greg Clarke said:

"Again, this is a considerable amount of money to be leaving the game.

"However, the real challenge is to ensure that such payments are part of a sustainable financial model with clubs only spending what they can afford. In conjunction with clubs, we’re making real progress towards this goal and now have all three divisions operating Financial Fair Play regulations.”

In the Championship, the 2013/14 season represents the first accounting period against which Financial Fair Play sanctions could be levied (from January 2015). In Leagues 1 and 2 clubs are operating the Salary Cost Management Protocol which limits spending on player’s salaries to 60% and 55% of turnover, respectively.