The circumstances under which Rooney came to be represented by Stretford, rather than his original agent, Peter McIntosh, were the subject of an extended dispute. An associate of McIntosh, Dave Lockwood, attempted to get Stretford to pay out a share of his earnings from Rooney's representation, engaging John Hyland, a former Olympic boxer, to help in the attempt. One meeting to settle the issue was attended by Tommy Adams, member of a London family who have been called "worse than the Krays" and a man described once in court as "a notorious gangster". Adams had been invited by Kenny Dalglish, a shareholder in Stretford's Proactive agency, who had advised Rooney's parents to change his representation. At one stage Stretford had £250,000 in cash ready to pay off Hyland, although the money never changed hands.