Oxford United and Middlesbrough are rarely the focus of much attention in Lanarkshire but the transfer of Marvin Johnson has been welcomed by Motherwell fans as the club is expected to collect a huge windfall thanks to a well placed sell-on clause.
Marvellous Marvin cost us around £25k from Kiddiminster in the final minutes of the January 2015 window. He soon impressed with the pace on the wing and capped it with 11 goals in 64 appearances.
He submitted a transfer request and was sold to Oxford a year ago for a fee rumoured to be around £650k. It was good business even taking into account the 10% sell-on fee we had to pay to the Harriers. But such was Oxford’s determination to sign Johnson that they had to agree a 25% payment to Motherwell on any future sale, reports suggest. That clause is set to deliver big time, possibly netting in excess of £500k.
The Oxford coach Michael Appleton said of the deal a year ago, “Like all contracts, there’s all sorts of things in it. There are certain bits that have to be met, but ultimately we had to get to a place where Motherwell were happy.”
Motherwell is now owned by the Well Society and the agreement with Les Hutchison, and to a lesser extent John Boyle, is that repayments of their loans in the next few years will come only from transfer income (40% to Hutchison, 20% to Boyle with the remaining 40% remaining with the club). This boost to our finances will make a significant dent in those burdens.
The cycle of finding talent, developing and selling is an important part of the plan to ensure the club’s financial stability. The harsh reality of the post-Bosman era is that players can choose to leave their clubs when their contractual obligations end and no compensation is due.
We should acknowledge the smart work of our negotiators for the agreement struck when Johnson left. We’ll follow his fortunes with Middlesbrough and wish him all the bet.