The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Dons fighting the compensation cause with SFA
Aberdeen are among the Scottish clubs pushing for change to the compensation rules as they bid to keep their best young talent at Pittodrie.
Following Brexit, Scotland’s brightest young talent have become in demand from clubs in England.
Academy players Fletcher Boyd and Timothy Akindileni both left the Dons last year to join Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers respectively while another prospect, Lewis Pirie, moved to Leeds United in 2023 after being spotted by scouts.
With English clubs unable to scour Europe, Scottish clubs are pushing for more protection.
Dons academy director Stuart Glennie believes his club, and Scottish football, need more protection.
He said: “Brexit has changed things, because clubs in England are looking more and more at Scotland.
“I think back to when I was playing in my younger days as well. Rangers and Celtic had coaching centres in this area, so it’s not a new development.
“You can moan about that competition that’s out there, but it’s a sign people are looking at your players as good players.
“It happens, but there’s things happening right now in Scotland with regards to compensation that we’re trying to change.
“There might be players that leave our club and go for money, but we just want to make sure that the guidelines and the rules in place make sure that we are compensated properly.”
The SFA and SPFL tribunal system heavily protects an investing academy, but the crossborder loophole bypasses the system completely.
An international transfer is conducted under Fifa’s training compensation rates, which means an English club can pick up a Scottish player for less than a rival Scottish club can.
Glennie said: “The SFA are liaising with clubs right now, and we’ve got some working groups looking at this with regards to the compensation rule.
“In Scotland, the compensation rule for players moving club to club isn’t what it should be.
“We want to keep players in Scottish football, but the club is a business as well. We’re just trying to make the system fairer.
“It’s not about trying to hold clubs to ransom for players, it’s just you’ve put a lot of time and effort into these guys as we want them to go and play for Aberdeen’s first team.
“Some of them might bypass that and go to an English club or whatever, we understand that.
“But the compensation and the potential money that’s there for players going cross-border, I think it’s something that maybe needs to be increased.”