NORTH-EAST Football League clubs contributed only a small chunk of the £5m spent on agents' fees over the past six months ending December 31, 2004, it has been revealed.

The League's second Agents' Fees report published yesterday showed an overall increase of over £3.6m in expenditure compared to the equivalent period ending last June.

And while Leeds United were the top spenders as they paid out an embarrassing £1,553,688, Championship rivals Sunderland could boast spending only a slice of that with their £251,720 outlay, although they did not put a penny in the same direction during the first six months of last year.

But considering the huge changes to the playing staff that took place at the Stadium of Light during the summer a quarter of a million can be considered fortunate - especially in relation to the sums forked out by Leeds who had to slash their squad following relegation from the Premiership.

Due to the £1.4m overall increase in the fees paid over the past six months, Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney is calling for the findings to be addressed as soon as possible.

"This report covers a period during which the transfer market is traditionally busy as clubs, including those whose divisional status has changed, shape their squads for the new season," said Mawhinney.

"Therefore these figures were always likely to be higher than for the previous six months and I would expect that pattern to continue. Nevertheless, too much money is leaving football through payments to agents.

"This report strengthens the argument of those who believe that football needs an effective regulatory framework to ensure a level playing field for clubs when negotiating with players.

"Deals using agents need to be more transparent, not least so that supporters can understand when agents are genuinely helping clubs to behave with financial responsibility."

Hartlepool and Darlington hardly spent anything on agents despite making massive strides on the field in their respective divisions.

In League One, Pool continue to push for promotion and the 12 transactions that went through over the past six months only amounted to £5,000.

That represents a huge drop from the £16,050 paid out from January to June.

Sheffield Wednesday were the division's biggest spenders, with £67,060 - during a time when then boss Chris Turner revamped the playing squad at Hillsborough.

Darlington's situation was slightly different, but the club did well to steer clear of paying large sums of money to agents as they successfully came out of administration.

During the full course of the past 12 months, Quakers did not give anything away despite adding big name signings to their squad like Craig Hignett, Alun Armstrong and Clyde Wijnhhard.

Those signings have pushed Darlington up in to a play-off place in League Two - where Swansea, Southend, Oxford and Bristol Rovers all spent over £30,000 - and a low expenditure in this area is another sign of the club's recent progress.

The report also shows that clubs committed to pay agents in 17 per cent (257) of the 1,498 player transactions registered with The League between July and December to the tune of £5,024,789.

Championship clubs accounted for 88 per cent (£4.4m) of this total, with League One and League Two clubs accounting for 7 per cent (358k) and 5 per cent (267k) respectively.

As well as Darlington, 15 clubs did not commit any money to agents during the period under review.

In all, 26 clubs spent less than £5,000.