I was told, by someone who would have known, that these increased payments were a factor in McD's reluctance to blood youngsters. This was a couple of years back, mind, when we wouldn't have been much under the cap. Not sure it applies as much now.

Not sure what the problem is wrt different ilk of players getting different contracts both in length of time or grade of pay it happens in every team based sport.
Also any agent will always seek out the best possible deal for his client its a no brainer.
Finally if/when deals are not agreed then it can happen for any number of reasons for e.g Learmonth chased the £££ but Sutty stayed is that the agents fault? Is it GH's?
Lets put it this way Mags is with SMTUK as is Cam Smith & Oledzki so does the agent/GH get praise for those deals?
Im firmly of the belief you look to give the best possible deals to your best players both at 1st team level & Acadamy we look like we are trying to do that with certain players.
Finally M.Smith left & that was as much to do with GH &His grandad having a bust up wrt what was offered by us & Wire & not so much the agent.

see you haven't answered gotcha where he asks you to say where he has slagged leeds off in his post.

because you can't.

printer in making up stories and telling lies. again

doesn't GH pay all youngsters the same regardless of ability? no idea if it's true but that's the story

I think he used to & msy still do so wrt Acadamy contracts but Oledzki & Cam Smith im sure are on 1st Team contracts with no doubt certain app clauses etc.

This is actually pretty spot on, except for the last sentence, which isn't actually true. I know for a fact that Cas for example prefer this agency over all others to deal with, and have quite a few players with them.

The key is what they try to do for the player is not a bad thing, but some may well argue they don't like it. People who know very little assume things too much on the name. Actually that agency from what I hear is more in development and the image rights that come along, rather than the basic money.

Harry Boyes facing a Grade E - abusive language to an official. Must have given him a right gobful.

When did this problem between GH and SMTM begin?

IIRC correctly Danny Mcguire was their first player and they were introduced by GH

There isn't a problem with GH and SMTM

I don't see any reason why all junior players should get the same money - if you are so rigid you will miss out on the really talented ones.

GH is obviously a tough negotiator but he is nobody's fool - young talent should be the life blood of the club.

Talent cost a premium regardless of what industry you are - RL can not be immune

I think once they get to 18 19 you should start paying more based on talent, but before then I think Leeds are doing the right thing by offering an even wage, it helps weed out the players the players who have the drive to improve to the ones who think that everything is owed to them because of their talent.

How many players have Leeds missed out on because of money, who went on to be top player? the only one I can think of is McLorum

We will never know - I assume Leeds will be in for most talented youngsters so how many do they lose because of not being willing to offer competitive monies who knows we only know about those that start in the system and then move on we never know about those that never even hit the system

Conversely we have seen a lot of players leave for money and not go on to do anything, and we have seen loads who look world beaters at youth and academy level and never get close to the same level in SL.

We can't pay the most for every player with the talent because we will end up with a huge amount of money and SC space wasted, we can't be completely uncompetitive because we wont sign the players we need to. All the club can do is trust its own judgement.

Agree Smokey. If I could be bothered I'd love to list the many academy lads feted for stardom who have done precisely squat - at Leeds and elsewhere. That doesn't mean you don't hope for them to become great, or be ready to step in once you're convinced they're going to make it. But throwing money at 16 year olds is basically entering a lottery with far more losing numbers than winning ones..

As I said GH is nobody's fool - he will pay what he feels is required to secure said player - free market economics