Alfie Pond

[iscalad]

I have personally been good mates with Alfie for a good 8 ish years, played a lot of football with him. Alfie loves Exeter city, when he was around 12-15 he would go to every single game standing in the big bank. He would go around the school singing all the Exeter songs etc. Football has ALWAYS been Alfie’s dream, and playing infront of the big bank was in that dream. Please remember for Alfie this will be the BIGGEST decision he has ever made and can be very hard as a young adult. Please give no grief, and never doubt his love for Exeter city. I see a lot on here speaking about his parents… his parents of course main interest is alfie and his career, however both support Exeter also.
Football is an incredibly short career and it could be over with an injury tomorrow, a lot from his cohort in the academy have been released at 18 after playing for Exeter since u9, so don’t even think loyalty is of any relevance in football as there is none either way, this is a serious, professional game- ECFC are at the bottom of the tree which is a big one for a young player to climb. And when an opportunity to climb that tree comes about, of course they are going to think twice about it.

Exactly this. Goes for all our young players.
They also should expect City to get a decent return on their investment in the player development.

 

[Squeezebox]

Thanks for the insight. Good to know he does love City etc. but hope he would understand that the club cannot just accept any old offer from a so called big club.

 

[shhh113]

Thanks for the insight. Good to know he does love City etc. but hope he would understand that the club cannot just accept any old offer from a so called big club.

Of course he does, remember it’s in Alfie’s and the agents interest to get the highest fee possible also, as both the player and agent receive some of the transfer fee.

 

[ExmouthMart]

You misunderstand my point/s. Firstly, the club has to be adequately recompensed for the development put into a young player and as you yourself have said we need this money to operate under our model. Secondly, I'm not saying the boy shouldn't be financially rewarded for his talents by moving away. My point was he should look at whether he would be financially rewarded more in 12 months time by getting himself seen as a League One standard player rather than ending up playing U23 football whether in Scotland or at a higher level English team

We will get whatever is offered before his contract runs out. How much time and effort went into Ben Seymour?! Where is he now?!…… Taylor wanted him to go out on loan this season, so perhaps he feels he’s being denied an opportunity to prove himself in the first term and his pathway is not that clear anymore. It’s a good opportunity for him in Scotland to prove himself and better himself.

 

[tavyred]

When Chrisene went to Villa he was a regular for England U16s, this puts a much bigger price tag on his head. So, there's no way Pond is worth as much as him.

Never said he was. The club has put a valuation on Alfie that no doubt takes into consideration his potential and where he is currently is a player. You either trust the club’s valuation or you don’t.

 

[Devon Red]

At the moment we'd struggle to get more than 200k for Pond surely?

 

[grecian-near-hell]

We will get whatever is offered before his contract runs out. How much time and effort went into Ben Seymour?! Where is he now?!…… Taylor wanted him to go out on loan this season, so perhaps he feels he’s being denied an opportunity to prove himself in the first term and his pathway is not that clear anymore. It’s a good opportunity for him in Scotland to prove himself and better himself.

Really, playing U23's at best against other lesser academy's to what he would play in England. Best thing for Alfie moving North of the border is the money, but some of that will be needed to employ a translator specialising in Glaswegian.

I am not against Alfie going, disappointed, I also dislike the involvement of an agent at such a young age, but football is a short career and it looks like he wants to start building a nest egg early. Whether it is the right move for him is another matter, and I am sure that he has disappointed KMT so I would imagine his time with us will be over before it had really begun and we will move on!

 

[AmberRed]

Never said he was. The club has put a valuation on Alfie that no doubt takes into consideration his potential and where he is currently is a player. You either trust the club’s valuation or you don’t.

Yes you did, ' If Rangers are comparable to Villa, lets make them match Villa's generosity re. Chrisene' !
The problem is, because the club has done well with the money they have received before, they put a bigger price tag on the next player coming through, which is not always realistic! Look at the Key situation last summer!

 

[DawlishBouy]

Rangers are a category 2 club. City are a category 3 club.
If a player moves from a cat 2 club to another cat 2 club the compensation fee is €60,000 per season of training from age 15 to 21. I can’t find the figure for category 3.
If Pond moves to a non English cat 2 club the fee is the average between cat 2 & cat 3 - which I guess would be approximately €50,000 per season.
If he leaves at the end of this season I’m not sure if it would be 3 x €50,000 or 4 x €50,000.
The compensation fee for training a player from age 12 to 15 is the same irrelevant to what category his club is and would amount to another €40,000 added to the compensation fee for Pond.
So the compensation fee for Pond will be at least €190,000. Maybe as much as €240,000.

If Rangers have offered more than this City have to decide if it’s potentially worth losing that extra money or better holding on to him hoping for a better offer from an English Championship or Premiership club.
Rangers will have the worry of potentially missing out on a top prospect if they don’t offer more now.

 

[IndoMike]

At the moment we'd struggle to get more than 200k for Pond surely?

But the thing is that you are not just paying for the player as he is now but for an evident potential. Obviously if a top club comes calling they think he has great potential. Potential has a price.
If they get him on the cheap they then are not at risk and we lose our player for peanuts.Why should the buying club not be exposed to some risk? We risk by spending days, weeks, months and years paying people to train and educate these kids only to lose them for little compensation.
I have no axe to grind with players leaving to better themselves : my axe is with the system that favours the haves and not the have nots