The scramble over the right to manage Jamie Salé and David Pelletier has left some uneasy feelings.
Craig Fenech quit as their agent last week after representatives of a fall tour for Elvis Stojko met with the Olympic gold medalists in Edmonton without his knowledge.
However, Ed Futerman, the agent for Stojko, said he and tour promoter Steve Herman had no intention to "back door" Fenech and went to Edmonton to meet with the skaters because their new business manager, Bob Steadward, asked them to.
"Bob Steadward called us to come out there," Futerman said yesterday. "His reasons were that he was taking over and he was their new manager. . . . I would never go behind someone's back."
Steadward, a trusted family friend of Salé, also organized the news conference announcing the skaters' retirement from Olympic-eligible competition.
Steadward could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he told an Edmonton newspaper: "I perceived I had to jump in. He [Fenech]initiates nothing now. I'll be doing everything for them."
He told the newspaper that Fenech negotiated a deal for Salé and Pelletier to skate with Stars on Ice because Fenech's tour plan wasn't panning out.
Fenech said he had negotiated a four-year, seven-figure deal across Canada, but Salé and Pelletier turned it down.