Cahill angry over 'bitter' agents row

TIM Cahill has blamed "bitter" player agents for a recent row within the Australia national team.

Cahill admitted he was angry with a situation that evolved in the Australian camp during the recent World Cup qualification campaign and said that a player's agent, who he did not name, had deliberately tried to tarnish his character.

The Everton midfielder would not elaborate further on the claims, only saying that the support he received from people like Mark Schwarzer was very important to him.

Fulham goalkeeper Schwarzer publicly backed Cahill and was himself then targeted in a letter to a newspaper apparently written by an anonymous team-mate, criticising both him and Cahill – though some reports suggested the letter was drafted by an unnamed player's agent.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what's happened in the last couple of weeks," Cahill said. "Obviously there's player agents involved who are very bitter.

"Outside of football, commercially, is one thing you would hope wouldn't affect a team. It's one of those issues that definitely will be addressed after this whole camp."