Speculation continues to rage regarding the future of Bull’s young striker Andy Williams with press reports this morning coming out of Bristol suggesting that he may have agreed terms to join Bristol Rovers. Williams decided against a January move to the Memorial Stadium club after Graham Turner accepted a reported £150,000 bid for the Wellington born player. However, with his contract now up for review, any fee will need to be either decided by agreement between the clubs or by a tribunal. Whilst it is not clear what criteria would be used in deciding a fee it must surely take into account that the earlier offer had been accepted. The 2000/2001 FIFA/UEFA football review acknowledged the need for clubs to be properly compensated for the loss of young players.
The FIFA/UEFA proposals specify that "clubs should have the necessary financial and sporting incentives to invest in training and educating young players. It is further recognised that all clubs which are involved in the training and education process should be rewarded for their contribution". The emphasis on incentives draws attention to the problems involved in the threat of 'poaching' young players by rival clubs. If players leave for other clubs before the completion of their training and development programmes the former clubs would not gain the expected return on their investment in training and development. Under such circumstances, clubs would lack the incentive to offer training and development and the industry, as a whole would suffer from an under-provision of training and development programmes. The proposed FIFA/UEFA compensation system is intended to preserve suitable incentives for the training and development of young players.
This guideline appears to make no provision for actual value of the player either at the time of the move or in the future. Consideration may also have to be given to the time that Williams spent at Aston Villa during his formative years. It may be that an initial fee may be combined with an award for future performance and subsequent onward transfer should a tribunal be required.
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Next Game: Brentwood In The FA Trophy At Edgar Street On Saturday 16th November At 3.00pm