Highest value player in the Championship

[AUcal]

1 hour ago, Dunning1874 said:

The amount of money Falkirk made in their last stay in this division was wild for a Championship club, and shows what can be done when you get a reputation for producing players who can make that step up.

Produced Jay Fulton and Stephen Kingsley who both moved to Swansea while they were in the English Premier League and were good enough to be involved in the first team. All of a sudden everyone you produce is being watched just due to the reputation of your club for developing players rather than the quality of the players themselves and you can get far more money out of them than they're worth. Botti Biabi and Ryan Blair were both clearly not good enough for the Scottish Championship which is why they've both spent time as low down the pyramid as the West of Scotland league: Swansea still paid six figures for them. Tony Gallacher played like he'd never seen a football before and went to Liverpool for an initial £200K, then they got add-ons on top of it because he made a first team appearance in that League Cup game where they played a youth team. Get a reputation and you'll even make money on players who are objectively crap as big clubs take a gamble on any slight glimmer of potential they see from your players, whereas if Biabi or Blair had come through at literally any other Championship club there's no chance they'd have ended up on any English clubs' radar.

Even someone who was clearly a good player like Conor McGrandles and was deserving of a move went for a deal worth £1M. Some of that presumably included add-ons which weren't all received in the end, but that's fucking massive money.

Hard to say if anyone in the division now is on the brink of having a similar conveyor belt to the top levels reputation. Queen's Park have brought in a few fees and you wonder if they're already benefiting purely in size of fee for their long standing reputation for youth development - does another club get so much for Callan McKenna? - but to be at the level of the Falkirk to Swansea conveyor belt they'd have to get a six-figure fee for Lucas McCormick or someone like that to be as mad as the likes of Biabi getting moves.  

Makes it all the more remarkable that they managed to f**k up so spectacularly for relegation and several years in League 1, considering the decade or more of producing good players / teams and receiving handsome transfer fees off the back of it. Good laugh that.

[TheScarf]

It'll be Dan MacKay or Roddy MacGregor, I'd imagine.

[Mr.Blue]

Not really sure about Morton's highest value player at the moment. Probably Ryan Mullen in terms performances, age, potential etc.

Would hope after a season Dylan Corr and Morgan Boyes are up there too.

[D'Jaffo]

2 hours ago, Dunning1874 said:

The amount of money Falkirk made in their last stay in this division was wild for a Championship club, and shows what can be done when you get a reputation for producing players who can make that step up.

Produced Jay Fulton and Stephen Kingsley who both moved to Swansea while they were in the English Premier League and were good enough to be involved in the first team. All of a sudden everyone you produce is being watched just due to the reputation of your club for developing players rather than the quality of the players themselves and you can get far more money out of them than they're worth. Botti Biabi and Ryan Blair were both clearly not good enough for the Scottish Championship which is why they've both spent time as low down the pyramid as the West of Scotland league: Swansea still paid six figures for them. Tony Gallacher played like he'd never seen a football before and went to Liverpool for an initial £200K, then they got add-ons on top of it because he made a first team appearance in that League Cup game where they played a youth team. Get a reputation and you'll even make money on players who are objectively crap as big clubs take a gamble on any slight glimmer of potential they see from your players, whereas if Biabi or Blair had come through at literally any other Championship club there's no chance they'd have ended up on any English clubs' radar.

Even someone who was clearly a good player like Conor McGrandles and was deserving of a move went for a deal worth £1M. Some of that presumably included add-ons which weren't all received in the end, but that's fucking massive money.

Hard to say if anyone in the division now is on the brink of having a similar conveyor belt to the top levels reputation. Queen's Park have brought in a few fees and you wonder if they're already benefiting purely in size of fee for their long standing reputation for youth development - does another club get so much for Callan McKenna? - but to be at the level of the Falkirk to Swansea conveyor belt they'd have to get a six-figure fee for Lucas McCormick or someone like that to be as mad as the likes of Biabi getting moves.  

Quick question, what did Falkirk actually do with that money? I find it hard that any other club could so easily bring in all that money and not use it to actually achieve something on the park. 

[Ferguson]

Just now, Mr.Blue said:

Not really sure about Morton's highest value player at the moment. Probably Ryan Mullen in terms performances, age, potential etc.

Would hope after a season Dylan Corr and Morgan Boyes are up there too.

Our only potentially sellable players at the minute are probably Corr and Moffat, seeing as Mullen and Boyes are out of contract next summer. Even at that Corr is out with his 3rd shoulder injury in as many months and Moffat still evidently has a lot to work on before anyone at a higher level will take a look at him.

[AllanJM]

If Lewis Vaughan has another good season (staying clear of injuries too) and we don't go up I could see a few premiership teams looking to take him on.

Kevin Dabrowski would probably be the highest value player in the team (given his age) if he wasn't out of contract at the end of the season.  I would really like the board to start talking to him about an extension now as there will almost certainly be teams sniffing about from January when he could sign a PCA.

Edited to add: based on what I've seen so far, and given his age and length of contract, I can see Lewis Gibson potentially  being the next player to leave Rovers for a decent fee.

Edited July 25 by AllanJM

[R&Y99]

For Thistle it’ll be Fitzpatrick. Can be inconsistent at times, but when he’s on his game he is one of the best in the league. 
 

 

Still only 23 and has two years left on his current deal, so probably our most valuable asset. 

[HoBNob]

1 hour ago, D'Jaffo said:

Quick question, what did Falkirk actually do with that money? I find it hard that any other club could so easily bring in all that money and not use it to actually achieve something on the park. 

In an ideal world you’d hope that the money you make from youth player sales can then be used to compliment the first team budget. That’s the model that our owners seem to be hoping for, however…

 

A large proportion of it, and it’s a big reason as to why I think the “model” Dunfermline are pursuing won’t work is that youth academies are really, really expensive. And the transfer fee’s you get at this level just simply don’t make it up. Falkirk had a fantastic academy that seemed to selling players on every summer and netting them 200-400k every year. But how much does it take to run an academy? Once you include the kit and equipment, the wages of all the coaching and medical staff, travelling to games etc it starts to add up rapidly. How much from those player sales found it’s way to the first team? And while it is a laugh that Biabi went for 200k it’s not exactly massively changing for a club, it’s the difference between finishing 3rd and 5th. Ayr sold Dipo for what, 200k? And went from 2nd to 7th. Clubs at this level don't take that 200k and then spend it on other players. 

 

One of the constraints for selling players on at this level is that it seems incredibly unlikely that you’ll get more than 250k and a nice sell on fee percentage (Which is where the real money might begin tbf). The market we are primarily selling to is Premiership clubs, but it’s unlikely to be the OF. English Premiership youth sides and clubs operating at or below the 3rd tier of English football.  For said player to reach that value you then need to hope you’ve managed to tie him down on a long enough contract where he’s at least had a good season at Championship level, still has a year left on his contract and doesn’t have a release clause. For Dunfermline Otoo is attractive in that he’s still got a couple of years left on his contract, he’s already had a good season at Championship level and he can play in a number of positions. I think if we wanted to get the maximum value from him we should be improving him at LCB, his ball progression skills and physicality, along with he rising popularity of 5 at the back formations means that there’s a bit of a dearth for your wide centre backs. However he is currently better at centre midfield, but his skillsets in that position are allot more common.

I think with all that Otoo is one of the most valuable players in the league, certainly not one of the best, but one of the most valuable. And we still won't get more than 200/250k for him. It's pointless. 

I think Raith have nailed it in chucking any thought of an academy in the bin until they get promoted and it becomes a bit more financially viable, for one the increase in cash, but secondly you can sell on players for far more.

[Proudtobeabairn]

We also brought in some decent players during that period e.g El Alagui, Lyle Taylor, Will Vaulks etc but that period co-incided with having Hearts, Hibs, Sevco, Dundee utd in the league so getting out wasn't easy.  

In terms of now, our most valuable would be Callumn Morrison whose just signed a new 2 year deal and still only 25.  Finn Yeats at right back may become another if he keeps improving.  He'd be another one Aberdeen gave away for nothing.

Possible someone like Yves Saint Laurent or Gucci come in  with a big money bid for Tom Lang too

[Glasgow Diamond]

1 hour ago, R&Y99 said:

For Thistle it’ll be Fitzpatrick. Can be inconsistent at times, but when he’s on his game he is one of the best in the league. 
 

 

Still only 23 and has two years left on his current deal, so probably our most valuable asset. 

Seen him play against us a few times and he can look like the most disinterested guy on the park one minute and rip you apart the next. Good player but must be infuriating to have in your team

[oneteaminglasgow]

38 minutes ago, Glasgow Diamond said:

Seen him play against us a few times and he can look like the most disinterested guy on the park one minute and rip you apart the next. Good player but must be infuriating to have in your team

If he was consistent, he’d be nowhere near this level. Pretty much the same as every winger in this division tbh. 

[Girth]

Zak Rudden. 10 mill.

Thank you.  

 

[cb_diamond]

57 minutes ago, Girth said:

Zak Rudden. 10 million Iranian Rial

Thank you.  

 

FTFY 

Still overvalued in that deal

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

if it's games against Airdrie, Anton Dowds is clearly worth about £40m

[hoobahabba]

Hard to judge the rest of the league as we are new to it and difficult to see how we'll match up. Having said that, I do think that Stephen Kelly is far too talented to be playing in the championship and still fairly young. He's got to be up there in terms of highest value players. 

[Broken Algorithms]

2 hours ago, HoBNob said:

In an ideal world you’d hope that the money you make from youth player sales can then be used to compliment the first team budget. That’s the model that our owners seem to be hoping for, however…

 

A large proportion of it, and it’s a big reason as to why I think the “model” Dunfermline are pursuing won’t work is that youth academies are really, really expensive. And the transfer fee’s you get at this level just simply don’t make it up. Falkirk had a fantastic academy that seemed to selling players on every summer and netting them 200-400k every year. But how much does it take to run an academy? Once you include the kit and equipment, the wages of all the coaching and medical staff, travelling to games etc it starts to add up rapidly. How much from those player sales found it’s way to the first team? And while it is a laugh that Biabi went for 200k it’s not exactly massively changing for a club, it’s the difference between finishing 3rd and 5th. Ayr sold Dipo for what, 200k? And went from 2nd to 7th. Clubs at this level don't take that 200k and then spend it on other players. 

 

One of the constraints for selling players on at this level is that it seems incredibly unlikely that you’ll get more than 250k and a nice sell on fee percentage (Which is where the real money might begin tbf). The market we are primarily selling to is Premiership clubs, but it’s unlikely to be the OF. English Premiership youth sides and clubs operating at or below the 3rd tier of English football.  For said player to reach that value you then need to hope you’ve managed to tie him down on a long enough contract where he’s at least had a good season at Championship level, still has a year left on his contract and doesn’t have a release clause. For Dunfermline Otoo is attractive in that he’s still got a couple of years left on his contract, he’s already had a good season at Championship level and he can play in a number of positions. I think if we wanted to get the maximum value from him we should be improving him at LCB, his ball progression skills and physicality, along with he rising popularity of 5 at the back formations means that there’s a bit of a dearth for your wide centre backs. However he is currently better at centre midfield, but his skillsets in that position are allot more common.

I think with all that Otoo is one of the most valuable players in the league, certainly not one of the best, but one of the most valuable. And we still won't get more than 200/250k for him. It's pointless. 

I think Raith have nailed it in chucking any thought of an academy in the bin until they get promoted and it becomes a bit more financially viable, for one the increase in cash, but secondly you can sell on players for far more.

Rovers won a watch with the Fife Elite Football academy. Us, Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath and East Fife all paid in but Rovers struck gold firstly with Kieron Bowie who opted to play for us as a supporter. Dylan Tait seemingly decided going elsewhere because he knew he had the best chance of regular game time with us. We ended up making six figure sums with both of those moves before Dunfermline opted to go it alone after receiving very little benefit. 

As for the latter point, I've said elsewhere the strategy from Rovers with our two younger signings (Gibson and Montagu) basically feels like we've looked internally and it's easier to pay a development fee for an under 23 who has first team experience than to sift through a "youth intake" for each year with no guarantee of success. 

Gibson in particular has had two seasons of first team football in a relatively poor Queen of the South team. It's a really positive move from our perspective to see Rovers go out and reap the benefit out of that. I'd rate Gibson as having the highest potential in our squad, albeit that's because we've about 4 players under the age of 23.

[Claudia Gentile]

5 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

We sold Fitzpatrick for six figures years ago, and it’s probably still him that’s our highest value asset now. Him or Ricco Diack.

If Milne was younger then it’d be him, but he’ll be 28 in a few months.

We’ve had a few guys recently who were poached by bigger clubs from our youth system, most recently Loney to Everton, so hopefully a sign that they’re doing something right. 

 

Not sure if we would get much for any of our first team squad as it stands and the nature of the market.

We seem to have created interest in our youth teams both up here and down South. I've no idea of the fees as they are never confirmed due to confidentiality clauses. EPL and EFL the larger academies can just hoover up prospects for fees they hardly blink at.

Fitzpatrick and Milne could do a job for a Premiership club. Value wise we'd probably sell for around £100k and as stated above we may not get anything near that for Milne as he is only contracted until the summer of 2025.

Ideal scenario is an u21 player with good physical attributes who gets a few appearances and gets involved in goals, either scoring or setting them up or a big central defender or pacy forward player.

The nearest we have is Diack I would say, right now.

The bar seems quite low at the moment with Edwards going for a package around £150k so if Airdrie get similar or a bit higher that would be a good bit of business as things stand 

[cb_diamond]

51 minutes ago, Claudia Gentile said:

The bar seems quite low at the moment with Edwards going for a package around £150k so if Airdrie get similar or a bit higher that would be a good bit of business as things stand 

Would agree with this to be fair, although we did manage to get a six figure sum plus add ons last season from Crystal Palace for Justin Devenney before we had played in the championship so the chairman is clearly a canny operator.

Edited July 25 by cb_diamond

[Claudia Gentile]

31 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:

Would agree with this to be fair, although we did manage to get a six figure sum plus add ons last season from Crystal Palace for Justin Devenney before we had played in the championship so the chairman is clearly a canny operator.

Can't comment on the player you mention but English academies seem happy to drop sums our clubs will struggle to knock back just on potential.

We've had similar deals including Cammy Cooper who has rocked up at Airdrie this season. I don't think Cooper and Fitzpatrick got any first team football. So it can be a risk for young players but I guess they've got to take a chance not to mention the money they'll get even for a development squad.

[ayrunitedfw]

7 hours ago, callum-ayr said:

Watret for us, being on a 3 year deal and already had trials down south.  Reckon he will be away next summer.  Rus as well should he continue his form.

Either away or firing us into Europe season 25/26 imo.