The release by the Football League of the annual Agents' Fees Report on Wednesday, showing an increase in fees paid of close to £4m in the last twelve months, brought with it a warning from new League chairman Greg Clarke.

He said: "This year's figures demonstrate a considerable increase on those of last season and it is essential that clubs work to reduce this liability over the coming campaign."

The issue of payments to agents is one that was addressed just over three years ago when Lord Mawhinney - then chairman of the Football League - and the FA took the lead by tightening up the relationships between agents and clubs.

Dual representation, where an agent worked on behalf of the player and the club and therefore received two payments for a single transfer transaction, was discouraged and the initial result was a downward trend in the amount of money leaving the game via this route.

Managing director John Nixon said: "That system was good as it brought an almost immediate reduction in fees being paid to agents by clubs.

"Unfortunately over the course of the last few seasons it has become apparent that top flight clubs have either been unwilling or unable to adopt the same approach. The Football League rules on dual representation have since been relaxed, hence the increase in payments that have recently been reported."

And that trend is likely to continue with the confirmation that the Premier League parachute payment has been extended from two to four years.

"If you look at the three biggest figures in the Championship for agents fees then you see that it's Newcastle United, West Brom and Middlesbrough - the three teams relegated from the top flight the previous season - that have spent just over or below £1m each," Mr Nixon continued.

"What is clear when you look through the report for the Championship and League One is that the figures are pushed up by those teams who have been in the top flight. They have the spending power, and it is likely to remain this way as those same teams push to try to get back into the Premier League."

"These clubs have been used to a different way of working and they've brought that with them into the Football League," Mr Nixon explained. "They tend to have tie-ups with agents and that pushes more money out of the game.

"If you then go down to League One you see that the three biggest spenders are Leeds, Norwich City and Southampton - again, ex-Premier League clubs.

"Even beyond those three sides, you have another five teams in our division that have spent six figure sums on agents' fees and that is a fair bit of money that is going out of the game."

With a payment figure of £12,000 Carlisle United sit at fifth lowest in League One for payment of agents' fees for the reporting period.

Mr Nixon said: "Our policy as a club is to try not to deal with agents if we can help it. But there is a problem with that. While the more experienced professionals don't tend to use agents, most of the young players are tied up quite early on.

"They tend not to feel as confident during the negotiating process so the agent will do that part of things for them. That's how we ended up losing Tom Aldred. His agent convinced him that he could get more money elsewhere and we were unable to tie him down.

"So, where possible, we try to avoid dealing with agents and we only use them to recruit a player in extreme circumstances. However, the change in the rules has meant that we have been involved with an agent in almost every transfer that we looked into or completed during the summer."

For a break down of the 2009/10 season report on agents' fees spending, click here.