DONS CAN’T BE ALLOWED TO PINCH FERGUSON
LEWIS FERGUSON’S stunning overhead kick against Burnley should be a cause for high fives in the Hamilton boardroom. The talented teenage midfielder left Accies earlier this summer to move north to Pittodrie. And the Dons tried to chance their arm by low-balling with a compensation offer of just £100k. Nothing wrong with that. Every club does it. Rangers are trying to get Kyle Lafferty on the cheap from Hearts. And Craig Levein admits he’s done the same himself. Celtic are no better with John McGinn. The problem for Aberdeen is that Hamilton want £900,000 and the matter will now be subject to the vagaries of a tribunal on August 21. It’s now four years since Dundee United ended up paying Rangers a £204,000 fee set by a tribunal for Charlie Telfer, a young kid who had made one substitute appearance in League One. What price on Ferguson, then, after scoring a superb first senior goal in a Battle of Britain clash beamed live across the nation by BT Sport? No harm to Aberdeen, but Hamilton deserve to leave the tribunal in two weeks’ time the happier club. There’s an important principle at stake here. Accies are a club dedicated to youth development. It’s their raison d’etre. They produced James McArthur and James McCarthy. Ferguson and former Accies defender Mikey Devlin performed well for Aberdeen in the Europa League on Thursday night. And Hamilton’s Under-17s team defied the odds to pip Celtic to the Scottish Elite Youth League title back in May. For youth development to improve in Scotland, club academies have to produce quality players. And they have to pay their way. Hamilton have achieved the first goal. If they can’t achieve the second, directors are entitled to look at their academy and ask: ‘What’s the point?’ Dons boss Derek McInnes wants £20million for Pittodrie prospect Scott McKenna. If that’s the case, it’s surely not too much to ask that Accies rake in at least £600k for Ferguson. And when they do, directors should probably resist opening any emails from Nigerian bankers...