With English clubs circling like vultures, Scottish football & the Scottish Government must act and give clubs the power to secure our academy prospects at 14.
I dont see an answer to this, when clubs from down south or on the continent offer these youngsters a 4 figure weekly salary whilst Celtic and other Scottish clubs can only go so far as 5/600 it's a no brainer to boys who dont grow up as supporters of these clubs. The only way would be we then offer the same 4 figure weekly salary only for the other clubs to double those sums of money. I'd suggest having a rule where any club who poach these youngsters early have to pay 25% of ANY future sales of the youngsters to the parent club until they're 21 or 22.
Ben Doak left Celtic for Liverpool and ended up going to Bournemouth for £20m a couple of years later. It's not totally about the money, but if clubs are going to poach these youngsters then they cannot be allowed to sell them on making them an enormous profit from another club's work.
I actually think a set 25% sell on fee for the academy/club would be a perfect on top of a better compensation training fee - but still think the age needs to be dropped to allow clubs to sign them on pro contracts to get an ROI that justifies all the work they have done with the player to develop him over the years.
Having had first hand experience of this Andy, a large part of the problem we face are Parents and Agents.
Parents (who naturally want progress for their kids) get sucked in by the “promises” and go to extraordinary lengths to force clubs to release players. The lengths range from health to conduct to psychological state.
Once you’re in this area, it’s dangerous territory and ultimately the clubs are powerless.
I think we somehow need to prevent kids going South until 18, and try to get those good enough into a first team environment to learn from Professionals, and get game time against seniors.
I’d also love to encourage a return to a Full Reserve League that mirrors out leagues, this way kids again can get a chance to learn from senior players.
Lastly, I think we need reform across the game - schools need to be encouraged again and the SFA need to invest a lot more money than they are doing into the Boys Club and Amateur infrastructure.
I could get onto my squeeze box about this subject all night long mate.
I dont see an answer to this, when clubs from down south or on the continent offer these youngsters a 4 figure weekly salary whilst Celtic and other Scottish clubs can only go so far as 5/600 it's a no brainer to boys who dont grow up as supporters of these clubs. The only way would be we then offer the same 4 figure weekly salary only for the other clubs to double those sums of money. I'd suggest having a rule where any club who poach these youngsters early have to pay 25% of ANY future sales of the youngsters to the parent club until they're 21 or 22.
Ben Doak left Celtic for Liverpool and ended up going to Bournemouth for £20m a couple of years later. It's not totally about the money, but if clubs are going to poach these youngsters then they cannot be allowed to sell them on making them an enormous profit from another club's work.
Will it happen? Not a chance!
I actually think a set 25% sell on fee for the academy/club would be a perfect on top of a better compensation training fee - but still think the age needs to be dropped to allow clubs to sign them on pro contracts to get an ROI that justifies all the work they have done with the player to develop him over the years.
Having had first hand experience of this Andy, a large part of the problem we face are Parents and Agents.
Parents (who naturally want progress for their kids) get sucked in by the “promises” and go to extraordinary lengths to force clubs to release players. The lengths range from health to conduct to psychological state.
Once you’re in this area, it’s dangerous territory and ultimately the clubs are powerless.
I think we somehow need to prevent kids going South until 18, and try to get those good enough into a first team environment to learn from Professionals, and get game time against seniors.
I’d also love to encourage a return to a Full Reserve League that mirrors out leagues, this way kids again can get a chance to learn from senior players.
Lastly, I think we need reform across the game - schools need to be encouraged again and the SFA need to invest a lot more money than they are doing into the Boys Club and Amateur infrastructure.
I could get onto my squeeze box about this subject all night long mate.
Great article tho. 🙏🏼