Arsenal fined for using unlicensed agent who turned down a role in S Club 7

Just to clear things up, the club were fined because he was unlicensed, not because he rejected S Club 7.

Arsenal were slapped with a £60,000 fine over the signing of Calum Chambers from Southampton in 2014. Along with the fine, the club were issued a warning regarding their future conduct, due to the involvement of Phil Ercolano in the deal. Ercolano was an unlicensed agent at the time who, according to the Independent, once turned down a role in S Club 7. He was fined £30,000 and given a three-month ban over the Chambers deal. There is no suggestion that Chambers, who is no longer represented by Ercolano acted improperly. Arsenal had pleaded guilty to using the services of Ercolano, and were also found guilty of failing to disclose Ercolano’s involvement at the time. Ercolano was a promising young footballer before becoming a model and signing with Simon Fuller, the brains behind the Spice Girls and S Club 7. He was offered a role in the latter, but turned it down in order to become a talent agent and establish his company Cassius Management. He then moved into the world of sports management and although he failed the FA’s Football Agent’s exam, he was widely thought to represent Calum Chambers when the youngster was at Southampton. Ercolano seemed to just play along with the lie and played a part in contact negotiations which saw Arsenal pay his sports management company £150,000. The Gunners have since claimed that they "acted in good faith throughout in this transfer and had no reason to believe that the player’s representative was not authorised to be involved in the transfer negotiations".