Town owner Marcus Evans has hit out at the system of compensation for academy players who move on to bigger clubs, the Blues having recently lost highly-rated England U16 international Ben Knight to Manchester City for around an initial £1 million.

Knight, from Reach in Cambridgeshire who had been with the Blues since he was eight, agreed a scholarship with Town several years ago which was due to start in July and also a subsequent professional deal, but the Blues were ultimately powerless to hold on to the highly-rated number 10 when he and his family decided he should join City.

The 16-year-old, the nephew of former England and Essex cricketer Nick, is the third Town academy player to have been poached by a top Premier League side in that manner in recent years with Harry Clarke having departed for Arsenal in 2015 aged 14 and Charlie Brown, then 16, for Chelsea for an initial £600,000 a year later.

In addition, Kundai Benyu, then aged 19, moved on to Celtic having spent a year as a pro with the Blues at the end of his time in the academy in the summer of 2017, Town receiving a nominal fee via FIFA’s training compensation rules.

The Blues also face losing schoolboy Marcelo Flores to Arsenal with talks between the clubs regarding compensation having been ongoing for some months but with the Canadian youngster, whose father Ruben has been coaching at the academy, ultimately appearing certain to move to the Gunners.

Academy right-back Dylan Crowe, 17, who won his first England U18s cap yesterday, is also reported to be a target of Manchester United and other clubs.

“My problem is with the rules, not the clubs. I want to make that clear,” Evans told the club site.

"“Ipswich Town and others, including some Premier League clubs, are losing their best young talent before they even join the full-time academy ranks on leaving school and with it, in our case, one of the channels to assist us to progress to the Premier League.

"“I continue to remain fully committed to our academy and producing homegrown players. It’s a major part of the club’s strategy, however if in the long term the situation worsens and we lose all of our best talent before they even start in the academy, the strategy is thrown into doubt for us and other clubs.

“We have already seen some clubs [such as Brentford] close their academies and the FA as well as the EFL must do everything they can to protect the current number of academies.

“I’m told we had more players aged under 23 on the pitch last season than any other team in the Championship and we achieved an EPPP [Elite Player Performance Plan] score which was in line with some of the Category One level clubs.

"“We also have a number of academy players who are regulars in their respective age groups at international level, proving our ability to develop a quantity of talented players.

"“It is frustrating though to be put in a position where we invest in a young player from the age of nine for several years and then are forced to lose him for a fee well below what I would consider to be a true valuation of that potential.

"“We fully respect that at the age of 15 a person can’t be bound to a club based solely on their location and if the player wants to move on for valid personal reasons, so be it.

“However, more often than not, these decisions are influenced by money and if it’s about money then the club that has developed the player should be fairly rewarded, as the club taking the player is doing so for their own financial advantage.

“This is where the current rules break down and we have accepted figures that were, in effect, forced upon us based on the most likely outcome of a compensation fee tribunal.

"“That’s where - in my opinion — the problem and the potential solution to the problem lies. As long as the compensation figures are high enough then the ‘losing’ club is rewarded.

"“At the moment the tribunal valuations for the loss of a talented player to the top Premier League clubs bears no relation to the potential of the player.

"“I’ll give you an example. We had no choice but to agree a fee of £600,000 with a Premier League club for one of our young players [Brown] with a possible additional £900,000 but only if he played 100 games for that club in the Premier League.

“If he played 100 games in the Premier League, at current values he’d probably be worth £30 million plus.

"“The figures just don’t add up and this is against a background of the league stipulating we must have an academy budget of £2.5 million per annum and we are seeing on average only one in 20 scholars making it to even Championship level and an even smaller percentage to the Premier League. This will drop substantially if we lose the best talent before they become scholars.

"“While the initial fee can be kept reasonable, the contingent add-on payments are where the problem lies. If tribunals reflected the true future value, then in my opinion that would go a long way to solving the problem.

"“If clubs had confidence in the tribunal system this would ease some of the concerns and I will be encouraging further discussions as to how the compensation levels should be assessed.

"“I know from talking to other owners, particularly those in the larger cities, that they are questioning the value of paying for an academy.

“A few have already closed and I would suggest that a dangerous tipping point maybe reached when several clubs follow each other if they keep losing their best players for next to nothing.”

Evans believes an agreement which covers Europe is required as Knight was interesting clubs on the continent, believed to be Borussia Dortmund and Monaco, and had the youngster moved to one of those sides Town would merely have received around £100,000 in compensation.

"“It is all worthless if the foreign clubs don’t have to abide by the same rules as us,” he added.

"“Otherwise, even with the fairer compensation levels I have suggested between English clubs, this would only provide more opportunities for foreign clubs to 'steal' talent for next to nothing.

"“Medium size and smaller football clubs are the lifeblood of football, if everything moves towards those clubs never progressing; it would be short-sighted to think that football will not be affected in the long term.”

Photo: ITFC

runningout added 11:06 - Sep 6 bit late now... Show some ambition and somebody may not need to wine
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TimmyH added 11:15 - Sep 6 @Gilesy - you've just answered your own question, making up for those operating losses through other means. Over the last 5 summers Evans has made approximately £28M on players going out and expenditure of £10.1M of players coming in.
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tractorboybig added 11:21 - Sep 6 talking rubbish. Any one getting through half decent is being palmed off on loan, Who would want to stay when a big club comes calling
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Bluearmy_81 added 11:22 - Sep 6 Remember when we were playing Man city and Leicester in the second tier? Where they under the same real world constraints? He has the money to invest sufficiently, just doesn't choose to. Yet you defend him, he must love people like you!
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ChrisFelix added 11:33 - Sep 6 Interesting to see how their careers develope. With Andre Dozzell his dad decided that his career will do better at Ipswich Let's hope it does.
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midastouch added 11:40 - Sep 6 Makes me feel utterly demoralised reading that, the Premier League clubs are like vultures waiting to swoop down on all our best young talent. The compensation is way too low and it just makes the gap between the rich and poor get ever greater.
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Miles added 11:52 - Sep 6 Good points raised by Marcus. It's is frustrating and we aren't the only one. Chelsea had about 30 youngsters on loan last year. The system is made to suit the big clubs. Big changes to this need to happen.
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Miles added 11:55 - Sep 6 As for you the drivel about investment. Marcus doesn't make a profit from Ipswich and that is as simple a statement you need to know. We are a sensibly run club and the future of our club hasn't been risked by an owner willing to risk it all for promotion. We all want to go up but money doesn't guarantee that. Ask the likes of Derby that because they've been chucking money at it for years now!

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bobble added 12:12 - Sep 6 if town were back in the 1st division this wouldnt happen....
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PhilTWTD added 12:51 - Sep 6 Campag_Velocet Re the Cat One/Cat Two compensation thing, that's not the case when it comes to players who have agreed scholarships, the situation is the same (the EPPP formula relates to those who haven't agreed scholarships). Indeed Cat One clubs have lost players to other Cat One clubs for similar levels of compensation.
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tractorboybig added 13:06 - Sep 6 bobble you may have been tongue in cheek, or are all things pointing to a conspiracy by evans
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lightingblue added 13:17 - Sep 6 In all fairness he may just may have the clubs best interests at heart. Evans may still be trying to pursue this 5 point plan, but finding it increasingly difficult when the decent youngsters are snapped up. He may well be thinking that if this is the case then what's the point of pushing it forward. Sounds a very frustrated man and rightly so if h is investing a load of money in it. In essence the likes of Ipswich do the dirty work bringing a player through as such only for someone to cream the benefits. Bet anyone that it's not only happening to Ipswich. I know questions have been asked about this 5 point plan, but things like this definitely doesn't help the likes of Ipswich. He may well re-thinking this buiness plan. Why invest in something if someone else benefits. Don't mis-understand the bloke, he is clearly a clever chap and I am sympathetic with him at present. Yes he has made mistakes in certain areas. But hay let's move forward and give mr Evans and the team the support. Keep kicking people gets you nowhere in life.

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Bluearmy_81 added 14:00 - Sep 6 Ah the five point plan... that bought him years that did. And the scripted interview another three. You guys!! 😂 Keep celebrating treading water, getting nowhere. Keep backing the cause. Makes sense.
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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 14:07 - Sep 6 Bluearmy_81 what a stupid comment. If you dont like Evans fair enough but his point is very valid and if you were him would you be keen to invest your own money into a system that is unfair to clubs like ours ?!
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itfcserbia added 14:15 - Sep 6 Bluearmy_81 - while this was one of the sanest comments from Evans, yours has to be the right opposite one.
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Gilesy added 14:16 - Sep 6 Ok Blue Army - what do you want Evans to do? Keep batting away those people desperate to take the club off his hands and plough countless millions of his money into it in the hope that we strike lucky?
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Tractorboy1985 added 14:54 - Sep 6 How evans has got so many onside beggars belief! Maybe the monkey dust has travelled south from stoke and you are all indulging in it??? Yes he makes good points about academies blah blah blah but what really have YOU invested in the first team in 6-7 years?? P1$$ all that's what! You sell at the drop of the hat your best players (for pittance I may add) cresswell.. mings... Murphy... Waghorn.. and it's only this season we are seeing money spent.. and may I add shopping at Poundland! If I am lead to believe from a source I know you are already panicking about the appointment of hurst and his league 1 players (that's why you brought in JW) yes he wasn't a hurst signing this club is destined to fail under your ownership! It has and still is failing and it breaks my heart to think it's only going to get a lot worse before it gets better!

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senduntd added 15:30 - Sep 6 Bluearmy Why do we always get crap posts from you?
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Steve_D added 15:33 - Sep 6 Not sure onsiders is the correct term , maybe employees , all large company's have a media relations team , sometimes think it's the only excuse for some of these posts
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Bluearmy_81 added 15:39 - Sep 6 Unbelievable Tractor 85 isn't it?! I think they just get all gooey eyed at someone with money. The only days that are more about the owners bank balance than their club. Absolute melts
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Bluearmy_81 added 15:40 - Sep 6 The only fans that are more concerned about the owners bank balance than their club
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mrmorisato added 16:33 - Sep 6 I don't know how other members on this site will receive this headline however, my first reaction was that it was an agreement initially voted by EFL clubs to receive a nominal fee towards the cost of their Academies to develop young talent. Then my second reaction was largely negative towards ME, an owner who has stated publicly that he is not prepared to match the level of investment in his own club by promotion chasing championship clubs. But I think whats more disappointing for me right now is that our best young players are not getting enough of a run to develop themselves in our own 1st team. #youthoverloanees #enoughsaid

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rabbit added 16:39 - Sep 6 Bluearmy81 unlike others on here I don't understand how Evans profits from losses please will you explain this. I do think such an explanation from you would help lift the wool from others eyes in general and you would be taken more seriously with your posts in the future.
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Steelmonkey added 16:56 - Sep 6 Maybe it's purely their decision to leave the club had been influenced by seeing the lack of opportunity given to those that were slightly ahead of them to be unable to break into a team of proper blokes. Or is that just the cynic coming out of me.
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SohoBlue added 17:02 - Sep 6 Totally agree, Hucks216. We have to have a fair and just compensation clause in the form of a sell-on percentage. The higher the better for us as the club that spotted, nurtured and grew the talent in the first place. It won't be simple, but a formula to take into account age, years of development invested and then subsequently years spent at the new club prior to moving on might stop the giants farming the lower leagues as ruthlessly. Might that stop some clubs chucking the cash around? Why not base the payment on ongoing means, too, so the biggest clubs pay more, particularly if they have been in the Premiership for long periods accruing fortunes. If we trade other commodities with increasing layers of complexity, why not make that work for football and compensate fairly... the Deal is NOT SWEET F.A!

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