Could it be?

Could what we have seen today be the start of a new business model for town?..
With the excellent work Woods and his staff are doing coupled with the success of the academy last year could it just be that bringing through these young starlet's through the academy and selling to bigger clubs be the way that GTFC finally have found the formula to have financial, commercial and footballing success?...

Nope. We do all the hard work and the player and his new club get the benefit  We get a few quid for our troubles and sign players no better than we have already.

Quoted from MarinerMart

Nope. We do all the hard work and the player and his new club get the benefit  We get a few quid for our troubles and sign players no better than we have already.

Rubbish, we’re not a Championship side anymore, making money off our youth products is a good thing.

It’s a risk for Boro, he might turn out no good, Jack Barlow anyone?

Frig me, I ask a simple question and get red X's, it was only a question not a statement...are people really that harsh??..
For me, it would give us a way forward to rid the club of the noose around its neck of the loans and allow us to prosper without external investment...pretty much in the mould if Crewe..plus it makes our academy a damn site more of an attractive prospect than it ever previously has..

Probably not real hard evidence of a new lucrative business model on this deal today. If it amounts to up to 100k with add-ons, in reality it's not a significant amount, possibly 20-30k up front plus add ons. But.. it's a start, been a while since we've sold a player we've developed. The real money is getting the youth into our first team for a season or two and selling on like Exeter do for half a mill plus. Feather in the cap for Woodsy, and hopefully the start of better things on the academy production line, but hardly a budget booster for the summer window as some would think. Unfortunately clubs like ours are left exposed due to player power and the derisory EPPP amounts awarded when bigger clubs come knocking on the door...

The odds are that he won't make it as a pro, so you have to accept the money. Sounds harsh but it's true, and that amount of money isn't to be sniffed at.

Considering the add ons for this kind of thing usually (Especially when dealing with players of his age) come with bonuses for appearances and a percentage of future fees, it adds the risk onto Boro. I’d prefer to keep him but this does help us if he does go further.

Quoted from Mariner93er

The odds are that he won't make it as a pro, so you have to accept the money. Sounds harsh but it's true, and that amount of money isn't to be sniffed at.

If I'm being honest, the amount of up front money we'll have received isn't enough but GTFC had no choice in the matter. The club spends way more than 20 or 30k for every academy player that makes it as a first team regular and far more on senior signings that turn out to be a complete waste of money. Much better to try and keep as many of our youngsters as possible and sell the odd one on as a fully fledged young pro with 50 league games under their belt. Today was not a day to be happy, it just reinforces how clubs like ours get exploited. It would have been much better business to retain Burrell's services in the hope that he develops into a seven figure sum player, but what can the club do if the player gets his head turned by a bigger club and doesn't sign the contract he's been offered? Offer more money in the first place to get him to sign? Maybe, but that's down to the judgement of the manager and board in deciding what his prospective worth could be. This time a young player wasn't offered enough to convince him to stay before a bigger move came along.. and who could blame him? He could have been a young pro at a Conference club in twelve month's time rather than trying his hand at the right end of the Championship and a higher cushion to land on if he doesn't quite make the grade at Boro..

When I win the lottery BIG and buy Town, will you come be an adviser Bigdog?  

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Could what we have seen today be the start of a new business model for town?..
With the excellent work Woods and his staff are doing coupled with the success of the academy last year could it just be that bringing through these young starlet's through the academy and selling to bigger clubs be the way that GTFC finally have found the formula to have financial, commercial and footballing success?...

Simple answer is no.

The best way to profit from the youth setup is to get good players to play for you, then after helping the club to do well on the pitch, sell at a high fee when they’ve attracted serious interest.

As Bigdog and Maringer have pointed out we’ll probably get very little in terms of a guaranteed payment and it’s a long shot that the lad will get a long run in the first team. If he makes it at Championship level, we’ve been screwed considering what those clubs pay. If he doesn’t, we will get even less.

Finances are loaded in favour of the big dogs (sorry!) who can pick up players like Burrell on the cheap and drop them without too much cost.

The move can be interpreted two ways (a) good business as the player is basically untried, and the money will go into strengthening the team or (b) we've not paid due diligence to our crop of young players who are delivering on the pitch, and have undersold ourselves. Where the money ends us is not the point, it's about ambition and whether we really have it.

I'm old enough to remember, as many others are, the impact of home grown players on the club, the fans, and our success in the 1970s / early 1980s. I remember Keith Brown breaking into the team in the early to mid 1970s, followed quickly by Jimmy Lumby - and his goals undoubtedly put numbers on the gate big style. Following these was the cream of the crop, Tony Ford, Kevin Drinkell, Kevin and Dave Moore, Shaun Mawer. For fans not old enough to have seen these guys playing it's so difficult to put into words the effect it had on everyone. It was electric. Couple that with players that came through the youth / reserve set up like Nigel Batch and Bob Cumming and you had a first team that most local folk could physically relate to. The pride in that team was immeasurable.

It seems the work that Neil Woods and others are doing with the youngsters might be starting to pay similar dividends. If that is the case then let's look at safeguarding our position rather than seeking short term gain. Let's try and get that spirit that was so wonderful back in the day as part and parcel of what the Town means to the current fan set up. It's not rocket science....

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Could what we have seen today be the start of a new business model for town?..
With the excellent work Woods and his staff are doing coupled with the success of the academy last year could it just be that bringing through these young starlet's through the academy and selling to bigger clubs be the way that GTFC finally have found the formula to have financial, commercial and footballing success?...

probably paid Woodsy's wages for the year...hardly a get rich quick scheme is it ?

Tbf we are basing our whole argument on the economics of The club from a journalists tweet. Would be nice if the club came out and have us some indication of how financially significant the deal is

Perhaps we need to offer our brighter prospects a 2 year deal ready to sign on their 17th birthday to give us some control over fees. Burrell was well past his 18th birthday before we offered terms.

Don’t get the negativity on this TBH, we bring on a player who we sell for the 1,000’s in cash after a couple of appearances as sub where he hardly got a touch.

Our academy appears to be moving forward with a number of good young prospects coming through and a few former pros like Curran and Pollock trusting Woodsy to develop their boys, things don’t happen over night but this is one area that the club is doing a half decent job with.

A business model, no a decent income stream, definitely! Personally I’d like to see any money from the sale of this kid reinvested back into the youth system.

Quoted from Bigdog

If I'm being honest, the amount of up front money we'll have received isn't enough but GTFC had no choice in the matter. The club spends way more than 20 or 30k for every academy player that makes it as a first team regular and far more on senior signings that turn out to be a complete waste of money. Much better to try and keep as many of our youngsters as possible and sell the odd one on as a fully fledged young pro with 50 league games under their belt. Today was not a day to be happy, it just reinforces how clubs like ours get exploited. It would have been much better business to retain Burrell's services in the hope that he develops into a seven figure sum player, but what can the club do if the player gets his head turned by a bigger club and doesn't sign the contract he's been offered? Offer more money in the first place to get him to sign? Maybe, but that's down to the judgement of the manager and board in deciding what his prospective worth could be. This time a young player wasn't offered enough to convince him to stay before a bigger move came along.. and who could blame him? He could have been a young pro at a Conference club in twelve month's time rather than trying his hand at the right end of the Championship and a higher cushion to land on if he doesn't quite make the grade at Boro..

The last point is the key. Then he becomes the sort of player that Town take on loan for a year.

I think the OP is right. This is now the only way to work with academies, be an academy to bigger academies and take what rake off you can get. If at all possible get a sell on clause.

The days of building our own team from our own juniors have gone. I don’t like that but the club must survive. Develop and sell is the name of the game.

Can anyone on here actually tell me how good this lad is - I’ve got no idea as I’m sure a lot of others haven’t either ?!

Quoted from MarinerMart

Nope. We do all the hard work and the player and his new club get the benefit  We get a few quid for our troubles and sign players no better than we have already.

When I was in my late teens/early 20's ( late 1960's) I had many friends who served apprenticeships or were put through further education by their companies only to leave for better/higher paid jobs at other places once trained. This is no different. Any company invests in it's youth by training them knowing full well that some will leave when trained . It's a gamble they take - unfortunately that's life.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

Can anyone on here actually tell me how good this lad is - I’ve got no idea as I’m sure a lot of others haven’t either ?!

Does it matter? Seriously, all that matters is how good someone thinks he is and what they offered.

Can someone clarify. Is it £100k up front with add ins, or could the deal be worth £100k plus?

Nobody knows, but the EPPP means that a Class 1 academy can sign young players for a song. Chances of Middlesbrough paying much at all is slim, this being the case.

It's one of the reasons why a number of clubs have dropped their academies, the biggest being Brentford. With the EPPP in place, chances 0f recouping investment are very slim.

That's not to say that a club such as ourselves shouldn't try to develop young players. If we can break even from it, we'll be doing well.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Does it matter? Seriously, all that matters is how good someone thinks he is and what they offered.

Yeah I think it does mate . Here’s a player who hasn’t hardly played and yet has been stolen basically by Boro . The whole debate on this thread has been if we are right or wrong to have let this happen so I think it’s pretty important/interesting to know exactly how people who do know the lad rate him. .