BIGGEST SPENDERS ON AGENTS 1. Southampton - �842,533 2. Sunderland - �594,500 3. Stoke City - �560,000 4. Birmingham - �519,950 5. Crystal Palace - �433,818

The figures were revealed in the league's latest agents' fees report.

Championship clubs contributed 88% of this amount and Southampton were the biggest spenders, paying �842,533.

League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "We understood the culture of paying agents would take time to reverse. These figures underline that reality."

However, Mawhinney said he thought "change is in the air", citing new agents' regulations introduced by the Football League and Football Association last year.

These stipulate that there will be no "dual representation", whereby an agent represents both club and player, and that agents will no longer be able to pass on to clubs the costs of representing a player.

Football League clubs took part in 2,034 "player transactions" from 1 July to 31 December 2006, up from 1,765 for the same period last year.

They committed to pay agents in 24% of these transactions.

A total of �6.214m went to agents, with 88% of this being spent by Championship clubs, 8% by League One sides and 4% by League Two.

The biggest spenders were Southampton, whose outlay on agents was �842,533 - a huge increase on the �275,000 they spent in the same period last year.

Leeds topped the table last year, when they spent �576,800 on agents.

Twenty-one clubs did not spend any money at all on agents from 1 July to 31 December 2006.

Football League clubs voted in September 2003 to start publishing details of the money they spend on agents.

The League described this as "breaking new grounds for transparency in the football industry".