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Quoted from MarinerDevil

I believe it's his decision. We are entitled to compensation if he signs with another club as we have offered him pro terms, but I don't think he's actually signed with us, unless someone can put me right on that. If he wishes to go to Middlesbrough, we'll just have to accept the £100k and move on.

Yeah, re-reading the tweet says he was 'offered' terms. I'd like to see some clarification, could be a shame to lose him over terms

I'd let him go and wish him well on his way. Likely to have better chances to develop away from here and may well come back one day a much better player. Also raises the prestige level and visibility of GTFC academy amongst the league's bigger clubs so may open the doors to future business. A shame it's this way but I think our academy is best served generating saleable assets, not necessarily GTFC first team prospects.

Said a few times last year that I thought the lad has a better all round game than Rose and was the better long term prospect. He really impressed so I'm not surprised he's got interest.

Sad thing is it just shows the state of the game. Anyone who shows any promise is just hoovered up by the big boys.

At his age, who can blame him for taking whatever they're going to offer. But I think he'll be better off staying here. He'll definitely get chances here and as long as he continues to develop his stock will increase. Big danger he goes to 'Boro and just gets eaten up alongside another god knows how many 18 year old strikers with potential.

They must have seen something in him to be bidding 100k

Take the money, let him go.

He will not prosper at Grimsby. Even this manager who professes to want to play young players will jib at giving the lad enough match time to really improve. In the meantime he plays for the Reserves at a relatively low level when he could be at a Championship club getting higher quality games and a loan out when he's ready, maybe even back here.

Bite their hand off for it! if he doesn't prosper we're £100k richer, if he does then we still win.He's only played about 30 min of first team football so he's hardly an integral part of the team.

i'm sure our Beloved Supreme Leader will spend the money wisely........... :-/

"Could be worth £100k with add ons".

In other words, we'll get probably 10 or 20 grand off the bat then a bit more here and there if he makes a certain number of First Team appearances and a bit more if they get promoted when he's playing or he wins an international cap.

It'll be a crap deal for us, mark my words. Unless he's guaranteed megastardom, he'd be better off staying here to make his name as he's not going to be bunged into a 'development squad' here in the same way.

Two issues for me. The first is that if he has been identified as such a good prospect by a top end Championship club and their scouts, then why hasn't he had more game time for us this season? Given our lack of goals and the fact we were destined for mid-table mediocrity, Jolley should have given him 9-10 games so that (provided he does stay), he is closer to a finished product for next year. There was no risk for us in doing that this year, and I thought he looked a talent in last game of season when he came on.

Second, if the rumour is true then I imagine he will go, if only because of the wages they can offer him. However, he will need game time, so I would like to see the club push for a guaranteed season long loan back (is this possible in EFL rules?), and perhaps a guaranteed first refusal on future loans until such time as he fits into their plans, alongside a sell on clause etc. I don't know if he has agreed terms with us and therefore if we can engineer that sort of deal.

If he hasn't signed terms, then at least this should be a wake up call to the management team that we have some real talent that Neil Woods is developing (trophy for them this season), so let's get some of them signed up and take a punt on giving them some game time. We talk a lot about young talent from the conference, well some of it might already be at cheapside.

100K with add ons ? Are the add ons included in the 100k.? If they are - No Deal- tell them 100K plus add ons or on yer bike -they'll come back if they really want him.

Quoted from golfer

100K with add ons ? Are the add ons included in the 100k.? If they are - No Deal- tell them 100K plus add ons or on yer bike -they'll come back if they really want him.

As he hasn't signed his contract, it's in his (or his agent's) hands.

I wonder if there's potential for him to stay with us for a year on loan if he does end up going.

Even 5 minutes off the bench every other week is more than he would get at the Riverside (at the minute).

Quoted from golfer

100K with add ons ? Are the add ons included in the 100k.? If they are - No Deal- tell them 100K plus add ons or on yer bike -they'll come back if they really want him.

Wouldn't the deal be £100k up front and the add-ons be extra cash dependant on appearances and sell on clauses??..
I'm no guru on these sort of things but when it says "100k PLUS add-ons" would mean the lump up front and then extras like I've stated above.

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Wouldn't the deal be £100k up front and the add-ons be extra cash dependant on appearances and sell on clauses??..
I'm no guru on these sort of things but when it says "100k PLUS add-ons" would mean the lump up front and then extras like I've stated above.

it doesn't say plus add ons if you read it it says Could be worth 100k with add-ons .......... would have been clearer if he had put 100k with the add-ons

We should insist on a sell on clause if he goes apart from the other add ons.

Myself I hope he stays and gets more game time with us there is plenty of time for him to move on in the future.

Sale confirmed on the OS.

https://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/news/2019/may/burrell-departs-for-championship/?fbclid=IwAR2TxkPUPfDrMI-cd9pot90LqevXUNr0NsS-vRendlMirbCMtrJ2ZqO4hs4

Undisclosed !! Does my head in.

Well least its some money

Quoted from grimsby pete

We should insist on a sell on clause if he goes apart from the other add ons.

Myself I hope he stays and gets more game time with us there is plenty of time for him to move on in the future.

That post didn't age well!

Good luck young man. I just hope we don’t waste that money like we have done other transfer fees, invest it in a quality young player from lower down the pyramid.

Now use the money to get a decent striker.

Quoted from promotion plaice

Now use the money to get a decent strikerreduce the loan account.

So many people in this thread who seem to think they know better than he does on what's best for his own life and career. The guy just turned pro and he's already being offered terms by a much bigger club that will give him higher quality training and opportunities to play with much better players.

In the last 10 years how many players who stayed on with us after turning pro went on to bigger things? Maybe 1? There is little evidence to suggest that staying another season or two here would have any benefit to his career when the majority of our youth team after turning pro end up in part time non league football. I'm sure his new club have better links to other clubs and can find him the right loan move to get first team experience while he benefits from better facilities and higher quality reserves football.

I wish him luck and hope he grabs hold of the chance he's been given to have a good career in football.

Well, I really hope he does well and to me it's a pat on the back for Neil Woods and the academy staff for all their hard work.
Think most of us have the same worries though, what will happen to the cash?...pay off more of the benign loans to our illustrious leader or allow Jolley to spend it on bolstering the squad, just hope it's the latter and not the former...

Quoted from promotion plaice

Now use the money to get a decent striker.

100%

Just dawned on me, who signed Burrell for Middlesbrough?...as far as I am aware they are still managerless...just a thought ..🤔🤔

Whether lads are breaking into the team or being poached in this fashion, it's all a success for our youth team and credit to them they are working wonders lately.

It's ideal for us really at this moment in time as we need the funds for players that are ready now, hopefully they will be reinvested

Good bit of business.

All the hard work done by Mr Woods and his staff have benefited Middlesborough and we get a few quid for our troubles. Good luck to him, cannot blame him for leaving to go to a bigger club GTFC going no where so he is better off where he is.

This is a difficult one. If he has that much potential it’s a shame to lose him so soon. And for the lad you’ve got to wonder if he’s just going into a big pool of other potential players and get no competitive experience.

It’s a good pat on the back for the Youth set-up but if we get naff all for him what is the point if we have neither player nor money to show for it.

I suppose on the more positive side, it might help attract good young players to sign up in the first place

We score nil every game yet this fella is so impressive we haven't played him. We cannot afford decent strikers, but apparently we had one on our books and he doesn't get a game. He is so good and despite him being in the building we were unable to get him to sign a pro contract at such a young age and instead we let him go for peanuts.

Terrific.

Good business by the club.

100k for the club, and local lad has more of a chance to become a full time pro.

If it doesn't work, like that lad that went to Hull that time, then we delighted with the money.
If it goes well, and he sells for more money in the future, then we get more money for the add-ons.

Face it, he wasn't going to get much game time here, so more youth training at Middlesbrough will do him well

Hmmmm. It would have been nice to actually see him play a FEW full games for Town. But then I get the fact that Boro' are buying 'potential' and around 100k for potential?! So, you damned if you do, and you damned if you don't.

This is football. Unless you got an oligarch or a saudi prince, (which I would NEVER want anyway) we have to sell. We are always going to be survivalists, unless I win the jackpot tonight!

Hats off to the Mariners Trust, who do a lot of fundraising for the youth.

UTM

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Good business by the club.

100k for the club, and local lad has more of a chance to become a full time pro.

He's from Birmingham.

Quoted from promotion plaice

He's from Birmingham.

intercourse him then

Close enough for Martin Butler to commute to training.

Can’t see any losers in this.

100k to Boro is peanuts so they can take a punt on a kid like this.

100k to us is serious money and we have sold an unproven out of contract player who was not expected to be a starter next season. I really hope this doesn’t happen but he could be the next Jack Barlow.

Fantastic move for the player as well. He’s jumped up a few leagues to one of the biggest teams outside the prem with an amazing reputation for developing and playing youth. Good luck to him. Hope he rips it up for them.

If Rumarn Burrell was that good of a prospect why have Grimsby left it this late to try and give him a pro contract?

Good luck to him, I'm sure he will be earning more money developing in Boros academy than on the fringes of first team football here at Grimsby.

We won't have got anywhere near 100k for the lad. Check out the EPPP regulations:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Player_Performance_Plan

Middlesbrough have a class 1 academy so will have picked him up for a song (relatively). They are probably paying him several times the amount that we can so no blame on him for looking after himself. It's a short career, after all.

Will he get a game? Who knows? He'll certainly play a lot less competitive football than he would have done here but he'll be up against several other players around his age, not to mention the first-teamers they have signed for millions. Good luck to him.

If anyone thinks that Middlesbrough taking one of our brightest prospects off us for an upfront payment of less than 0.5% of our annual turnover is great for GTFC, they need their head examining. It's fantasy to think we'll get anywhere near the 100k even if he makes it. The rules of compensation are stacked against us. And it's a bigger fantasy that it will release enough funds for us to get a decent striker in with it. Woodsy may be personally proud tonight that his work with a player has been recognised by a Championship club but professionally he must be tearing his hair out that the club he works for has benefitted practically nothing in the grander scheme of things for the amount of time and money invested in the lad..

It's time to face facts and not get all excited about a headline figure of up to 100k, Burrell going to Boro was good for the player, a low risk investment for a Championship club and nothing much gained at all for GTFC. Sorry to pop balloons and all that, but let's deal with reality rather than fantasy..

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Good business by the club.

100k for the club, and local lad has more of a chance to become a full time pro.

If it doesn't work, like that lad that went to Hull that time, then we delighted with the money.
If it goes well, and he sells for more money in the future, then we get more money for the add-ons.

Face it, he wasn't going to get much game time here, so more youth training at Middlesbrough will do him well

He’ll have less chance to become a full time pro at Boro. He’s got more chance of getting in the Town team.

Bigdog - what do you think the lad is worth right now?

Quoted from psgmariner

Bigdog - what do you think the lad is worth right now?

I wouldn't know because I've seen less than half an hour of the lad and it's fairly immaterial at this point in time. But 20k or so right now is pretty meaningless, as will the paltry add ons which will never get close to six figures. The question should be.. what could he be worth after 50 league games and scoring one in two games? That figure would be much more meaningful to the club. He may not be the one, and it might be one in ten or twenty that become a seven figure player while others fall by the wayside. What we can't do is keep letting our best young pros go for peanuts because we'll never be able to blood them in the first team to find out if they could make us half a mill or a mill. Doesn't make economic sense, so I just don't understand all this self congratulatory stuff I'm seeing as if something good or fruitful for our club happened today. My heart instinctively sank when I heard the news..

A lot of ifs about this though isn’t there? It’s more likely that he won’t make the grade so it’s a safer option to take the £20k or whatever it is now and put that back into the youth team to find another two players (lol joke - bonnet needs a respray remember!) to get some more cash. This is how we need to make cash to survive in the absence of an oligarch or significant cup run.

It's annoying when we put so much time and money into the academy and then other clubs come along and cherry pick the better players for little profit for Town.

At least we got Clifton out of it and Wright looks a good prospect I suppose.

Would be good to know if Buckley and Curran have signed.

I was looking forward to see him play next season....hope he has made the right choice and goes onto great things.

Doesn't really matter whether we think it was a good deal or a bad deal. We offered him a pro contract, he declined, and decided to sign for someone else in a higher division. Not sure what else we could have done. At least we are producing young players capable of winning their division and attracting interest from higher up the food chain. Surely that is a good thing, and a sign of progression, even if we haven't got the clout to hang onto those young players. It's a whole new world now from when we were producing the likes of Ford, Drinkell and the Moore's. The disparity in finances between the divisions is huge compared to the 80's and we can't fend off the likes of Boro, never mind Prem teams who have billions to spend, while teams at our level have sodomist all. 100k is a significant amount for us. It's a weeks wages to a Prem fringe player. That's the way of it now.

What will be will be... Just hope what we have initially received is atleast half of the 100k

Quoted from ginnywings

Doesn't really matter whether we think it was a good deal or a bad deal. We offered him a pro contract, he declined, and decided to sign for someone else in a higher division. Not sure what else we could have done. At least we are producing young players capable of winning their division and attracting interest from higher up the food chain. Surely that is a good thing, and a sign of progression, even if we haven't got the clout to hang onto those young players. It's a whole new world now from when we were producing the likes of Ford, Drinkell and the Moore's. The disparity in finances between the divisions is huge compared to the 80's and we can't fend off the likes of Boro, never mind Prem teams who have billions to spend, while teams at our level have sodomist all. 100k is a significant amount for us. It's a weeks wages to a Prem fringe player. That's the way of it now.

That's the sad part of it. I agree with selling him because we have to maximise our assets and there is no way the lad is going to bring any more money if we kept him for 2-3 years and only gave him the usual amount of first team time that we seem to give anyone under 25 these days. ;)

But what this does show is that the days of nurturing kids through the academy and into the first team to build up a side of lads who have grown up together, those days are gone. The job of Neil Woods and co. is to produce players for the first team at other clubs, not ours, just to keep GTFC's head above water. Our team may have some younger players but they will be the likes of the Burrells who fail to make it at the big club, players like Vernam for instance, or the ones not quite good enough to attract those bigger clubs. I would fully expect Buckley and Curran to go if they show real signs of progress this year.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

That's the sad part of it. I agree with selling him because we have to maximise our assets and there is no way the lad is going to bring any more money if we kept him for 2-3 years and only gave him the usual amount of first team time that we seem to give anyone under 25 these days. ;)

Jeez you really are negative. What about Harry Clifton? He's had plenty of game time and I would put money on us selling him for a decent sum at some point in the future if he continues to develop at the same rate.

I have heard a prem club are tracking max Wright ......... coys

Quoted from Roast Em Bobby

Jeez you really are negative. What about Harry Clifton? He's had plenty of game time and I would put money on us selling him for a decent sum at some point in the future if he continues to develop at the same rate.

It was a joke - ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) see? ;)

The point still stands - Burrell would need to spend at least another 2 years here before he might be considered a first teamer. Would we get more for him then? I doubt it. Clifton is different, for one thing he is not a striker and pacy forwards are the players in demand.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

That's the sad part of it. I agree with selling him because we have to maximise our assets and there is no way the lad is going to bring any more money if we kept him for 2-3 years and only gave him the usual amount of first team time that we seem to give anyone under 25 these days. ;)

But what this does show is that the days of nurturing kids through the academy and into the first team to build up a side of lads who have grown up together, those days are gone. The job of Neil Woods and co. is to produce players for the first team at other clubs, not ours, just to keep GTFC's head above water. Our team may have some younger players but they will be the likes of the Burrells who fail to make it at the big club, players like Vernam for instance, or the ones not quite good enough to attract those bigger clubs. I would fully expect Buckley and Curran to go if they show real signs of progress this year.

That will be the gtfc who ended the season with 6-7 of the team being 23 or under??

I suppose the point about age is we are no longer starting 16-18 yr olds they are nearly all 20 or above before they get anywhere near a regular start so if that good a prospect they will get picked off before we get any real game time from them. Fordy, Drinks, Moores etc were 17/18 yr olds when they played a fair amount. I think Fordy was still 16 on his debut.

I don’t understand the negativity aimed at the club. We identified a young lad with talent, took him on and developed him to the point that a big championship club have taken a chance on him . Chances are he would’ve earned his chance in the 1st team this season regardless of what certain posters think .
The fact that he hasn’t signed a new contract means the decision has been taken out of GTFCs hands so to get a decent offer is a no brainer. Hopefully this may mean a loan signing or 2 like Embleton may be on the cards .

dont know much about his background really, ie how long have we had him in our system....i think we pick up players from other areas who maybe havnt quite impressed enough at their local clubs and give them a chance....if we have only had him in the building for a couple of years then its not really suprising he has no real loyalty to us and is happy to take an offer elswhere up the pyramid....
the local players like Clifton have the affinity to the club and all they have wanted is to play to GTFC so we are more likely to keep them and turn them into pro's for ourselves.

Just shows the importance of keeping hold of the local kids when first scouting and not allowing them to be picked off before we have brought them into the academy.

Quoted from Codswede

I'd let him go and wish him well on his way. Likely to have better chances to develop away from here and may well come back one day a much better player. Also raises the prestige level and visibility of GTFC academy amongst the league's bigger clubs so may open the doors to future business. A shame it's this way but I think our academy is best served generating saleable assets, not necessarily GTFC first team prospects.

This was a policy used by Dario Grady at Crewe many years ago. Produce good prospects and sell on to keep the club financially viable. I remember reading an article about him in one of the national newspapers at the time. He said that if he could produce one decent prospect a year to sell on then that would help to secure the clubs financial future. If he managed to produce two then he could retain one for his first time , which would be a bonus. Finding young talent , developing it and then selling on is just as important an income stream as ticket sales, merchandising etc.

Quoted from rancido

[/b]

This was a policy used by Dario Grady at Crewe many years ago. Produce good prospects and sell on to keep the club financially viable. I remember reading an article about him in one of the national newspapers at the time. He said that if he could produce one decent prospect a year to sell on then that would help to secure the clubs financial future. If he managed to produce two then he could retain one for his first time , which would be a bonus. Finding young talent , developing it and then selling on is just as important an income stream as ticket sales, merchandising etc.

Totally agree 100% but he's gone for peanuts and i doubt its for 100,000

To be fair Jolley has been pretty proactive locking up our young assets, Clifton 3 years, Wright and Rose 2 years, and Battersby and Pollock signed while they were still YTs. Logically that suggests that the latter two were the pick of the recent crop to get signed so early on.

There's only so much room on the roster for young pros and inevitably the odd gem might slip through if we are producing so many. In reality this is a good problem to have as since Buckley III we've only had one or two young lads make sporadic appreances during the last decade.

Still it's a massive pat on the back for the lad and the academy, and I guess only time will tell if we've missed out or not.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

I suppose the point about age is we are no longer starting 16-18 yr olds they are nearly all 20 or above before they get anywhere near a regular start so if that good a prospect they will get picked off before we get any real game time from them. Fordy, Drinks, Moores etc were 17/18 yr olds when they played a fair amount. I think Fordy was still 16 on his debut.

Yes well time moves on. The game is far more competitive these days and it takes a whole lot more at that age to get in the team. GTFC was always a little club punching above it's weight too so had to make use of the squad we had full of local lads. As much as you have starry eyes from the old days when the team was full of local kids and you want that now it's just not how it works.

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Still it's a massive pat on the back for the lad and the academy, and I guess only time will tell if we've missed out or not.

Who knows, bigger clubs have the finances to take a risk on potential. What they paid is a drop in the bucket up front and over time they could pay more if he works out and if he doesn't they lose nothing more.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

I don’t understand the negativity aimed at the club. We identified a young lad with talent, took him on and developed him to the point that a big championship club have taken a chance on him . Chances are he would’ve earned his chance in the 1st team this season regardless of what certain posters think .
The fact that he hasn’t signed a new contract means the decision has been taken out of GTFCs hands so to get a decent offer is a no brainer. Hopefully this may mean a loan signing or 2 like Embleton may be on the cards .

I don't think it's negativity aimed at the club. The club did what it could do to retain him. It's disappointment about the general situation in football.

'Boro site says he signed professional terms in April this year with us.

Does that mean that we'll end up getting more for the lad than if he just left our youth set-up and we got the breadcrumb that's fed down?

If so, fair play to the lad for signing the deal when he probably knew he would be leaving anyway. Similar to when Ryan Bennett signed a new deal, knowing full well it would mean we benefited from a bigger transfer fee.

Quoted from diehardmariner

'Boro site says he signed professional terms in April this year with us.

Does that mean that we'll end up getting more for the lad than if he just left our youth set-up and we got the breadcrumb that's fed down?

If so, fair play to the lad for signing the deal when he probably knew he would be leaving anyway. Similar to when Ryan Bennett signed a new deal, knowing full well it would mean we benefited from a bigger transfer fee.

If that’s the case then the club have done a decent bit of business

We wont have got anywhere near 100k for him, that was the figure with add ons. The wiki link near the top of this thread shows a fee of around 25k if we have had him 2 years and we are in the lowest grade of academy (am assuming leage 2 is lowest grade). If we have negotiated add ons it is likely this will mean the initial figure is even lower, so probs more like 15 or 20k

Quoted from rancido

[/b]

This was a policy used by Dario Grady at Crewe many years ago. Produce good prospects and sell on to keep the club financially viable. I remember reading an article about him in one of the national newspapers at the time. He said that if he could produce one decent prospect a year to sell on then that would help to secure the clubs financial future. If he managed to produce two then he could retain one for his first time , which would be a bonus. Finding young talent , developing it and then selling on is just as important an income stream as ticket sales, merchandising etc.

I’m not sure we should use Crewe as a blueprint when it comes to the youth team 😳

Quoted from Posh Harry

I’m not sure we should use Crewe as a blueprint when it comes to the youth team 😳

I was using Dario Grady's approach to player development for the benefit of the club.

Big opportunity for him. Can we not loan him straight back?

Quoted from Posh Harry

I’m not sure we should use Crewe as a blueprint when it comes to the youth team 😳

Dario Grady's Crewe where a perfect example of how a good youth setup can sustain a club

No brainier for the club and for the lad really, we get a few bob for boro investing in potential cos that’s all it is at this moment in time and the lad jumps up the pyramid.

Quoted from scrumble

Dario Grady's Crewe where a perfect example of how a good youth setup can sustain a club

I think he was referring to less acceptable parts of the coaching

it’s not going to be anywhere near the 100k stated because he didn’t sign his contract that was offered.
We will get very little for him and only time will tell whether Boro have got a steal.
I certainly don’t see how this is a deal that can be celebrated. You want to keep your best prospects and see them play, if that doesn’t happen you want it to be because you’ve got really good money for them. Neither has happened here.

Not the club’s fault, offered terms and the boy has had his head turned. The system means we’ll be screwed.

Quoted from headingly_mariner

it’s not going to be anywhere near the 100k stated because he didn’t sign his contract that was offered.
We will get very little for him and only time will tell whether Boro have got a steal.
I certainly don’t see how this is a deal that can be celebrated. You want to keep your best prospects and see them play, if that doesn’t happen you want it to be because you’ve got really good money for them. Neither has happened here.

Not the club’s fault, offered terms and the boy has had his head turned. The system means we’ll be screwed.

I don't understand the bit about his head being turned.

We are a club at the moment going nowhere. There is nothing to suggest that we are going to progress either on the field or off it and he has the opportunity to go to a Championship club that wasn't too far away from the Premiership.

He would be barmy to turn it down.

Most of the lads coming up through the youth team are local and / or they have some family connection to the club so they will jump at the offer of a pro contract with the club.  If they turn out to be brilliant and go elsewhere after a season or two we are all happy.

So far as I know, Burrell didn’t have any big connection with the club so if a bigger club comes calling with a wage we can’t match, he is bound to go.  He might make it, but if not, then he’s earned a good wage for a few years.

It’s a bit catch 22 for the club.  If the youth set up develops a good reputation then clubs will come looking for signings.  I’m tempted to say that if Woods and Jolley thought he was the next Kevin Drinkell, they’d have offered him a bigger contract and brought him thru into the squad sooner.

Quoted from LondonMariner43

Most of the lads coming up through the youth team are local and / or they have some family connection to the club so they will jump at the offer of a pro contract with the club.  If they turn out to be brilliant and go elsewhere after a season or two we are all happy.

So far as I know, Burrell didn’t have any big connection with the club so if a bigger club comes calling with a wage we can’t match, he is bound to go.  He might make it, but if not, then he’s earned a good wage for a few years.

It’s a bit catch 22 for the club.  If the youth set up develops a good reputation then clubs will come looking for signings.  I’m tempted to say that if Woods and Jolley thought he was the next Kevin Drinkell, they’d have offered him a bigger contract and brought him thru into the squad sooner.

Your last sentence mirrors what I said earlier in this thread - why on earth didn't he start some games when we had been safe for several weeks and could not hit a barn door with hardly any goals being scored?

Had he started and enjoyed it he may have signed a contract. As it is we have let him go for basically nowt having spent time and effort on him.