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Tale Of Two Chairmen
Tale Of Two Chairmen
Thursday, 28th Jul 2005 00:00

A Tale Of Two Chairmen

Swans chairmen Huw Jenkins was looking at the bargain basement figures while he set off for London whilst Torquay chairman, the similarly outspoken Mike Bateson was dreaming of a Ferrari in return for the player who spent a season at Plainmoor as they battled in vain against relegation from League One.

And in the end it was Bateson who emerged with the biggest smile on his face with the Swans potentially facing a payment of at least £75,000 before the end of the season.

The trubunal set the fee as follows

  • £35,000 in two installments

  • £25,000 after20 league games

  • £25,000 after 40 league games

  • £25,000 if the Swans are promoted and Akinfenwa plays in at least 60% of the games

  • A 15% sell on clause.

"I'm obviously disappointed at the tribunal's findings,'' explained Jenkins, ''especially when you consider the fact that Bayo was only with Torquay for one season and the derogatory contract offer they made him."But on the positive side, I'm very pleased that we have finally got a very good player who I am sure will prove his worth 10 times over.''

The fee is most definitely on the high side for a player who had just one season with the Gulls but then again we only have to look at the initial payment for the true transfer fee - the rest of it is purely based on the success of the move.

Some Torquay fans have been critical of the performances of the man who scored 14 goals for them last season whereas others clearly did not want to lose his services.

From my own point of view there were some good touches last weekend in my only viewing of the guy to date but how much can you judge one way or another based purely on 45 minutes of football in a friendly?

Time will tell on whether the player turns out to be value for money but with a record of goals in a side that struggled last season, at £35k is it worth the gamble to start with? I think so

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