Simon Jordan says it is 'scandalous' that a tribunal has decided Spurs should pay £700,000 for John Bostock.
Tribunal decides Spurs should pay £700,000 for teenager
Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan says it is 'scandalous' that a tribunal has decided Tottenham Hotspur should pay £700,000 for John Bostock.
Teenage midfielder Bostock accepted a move to White Hart Lane in May, but a fee had to be settled by a tribunal after the two clubs were unable to agree on a figure.
Jordan wanted an initial £2million, rising by a further £2.5m, for the 16-year-old, but is unhappy with the tribunal's verdict.
Spurs will stump up £700,000 now, while the sum could eventually climb to £1.25million depending upon appearances.
The decision has infuriated Jordan, with the Palace chairman feeling he had not put an unrealistic value on Bostock.
Mugged
"I feel mugged and brutalised, it is scandalous, and this sends a message to smaller clubs," said Jordan in
The Times. "Why bother to bring players through if tribunals cannot reflect the work that has gone in?"
He added in the
Daily Mail: "For a tribunal to reward a purportedly bigger football club in Tottenham to take one of the most gifted young English players in the country for a sum of £700,000 is nothing short of scandalous.
"You get players like Aaron Ramsey, who has gone for £5m from Cardiff to Arsenal because that is the UK transfer market.
"The tribunal, in my view, are supposed to reflect the conditions of the transfer market place. And they came up with a figure of £700,000 for a player who has captained his country at Under 17 level, who is perceived to be one of the best youngsters in the country and is being chased by Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea.
"We had a £900,000 offer from Chelsea when he was 14 which we turned down. It's beyond me and it makes me question why I bother with football.
"I have an academy who have produced a world-class footballer for someone else and got paid two-and-sixpence for it. We weren't unrealistic - we didn't try to be clever and put a value of £5m on the player.
"We simply said this is what the player is worth, these are the reasons why he is worth it and all we wanted was a fair and equitable outcome."
