FC Boro

Reports over the weekend linked former Boro favourite and now Peterborough forward George Boyd with a £6m move to Tottenham. Boyd has been arguably the Posh’s best player in their first season in the Championship so far and his recent form is thought to have alerted Premier League clubs to making an offer. Peterborough’s director of football, Barry Fry has since cooled the rumours by stating he has received no offers for either Boyd or Craig Mackail-Smith, but it’s unlikely that will be enough to stop the rumours if Boyd continues his superb form.

“I have had no contact from Harry Redknapp about Boyd or Gordon Strachan about Mackail-Smith so there is nothing in those reports.” Fry on reports linking Boyd with Tottenham

Of course if Boyd does go onto make a multi-million pound move to the top flight then it’s thought that Stevenage are entitled to 40% of whatever the fee is. With the money that is being suggested at the moment, it could mean Boro receiving a seven figure sum for a player they got for nothing after he was released as a youngster from Charlton Athletic. Boyd moved to the EFCO scheme at Broadhall Way and was given his chance in the first team by Graham Westley.

Although Boyd was an emerging talent back then, it wasn’t really until the 2006/2007 season when his career started to gather pace. Mark Stimson saw his potential and moved him from the left wing to an attacking midfield position partnering Steve Morison in Boro’s attack and Boyd excelled in the more central role.  He was involved in all of Boro’s attacks, linking well with Dobson, Morison and the experienced Steve Guppy. His superb form that season earned him a move into League 2 with Peterborough who paid a record £260,000 for his services plus the well known 40% sell-on clause if he ever got his ‘big’ move into the Premier League.

However, there are now some questionmarks over whether Boro will actually receive the windfall they’re expecting to. Rumours are gathering that if a Premier League club do end up making an offer for Boyd, then it’s likely that Fry will negotiate an increased ‘loan’ fee and sell off Boyd for a smaller sum, allowing Posh to keep the ‘increased’ loan fee and just give Stevenage 40% of the lower transfer fee. It sounds like a typical Barry Fry business deal to me.

Hopefully Phil Wallace and Boro thought of this when they agreed to sell him to Peterborough back in 2007 because it will be gutting if Boro lose out on £2m +. In some ways it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. There should be something in the rules that protects the smaller clubs when it comes to transfer deals like this. Fry will go down in my estimations if this ends up being the case as it wasn’t that long ago that his club nearly went out of business and were begging for money to stay afloat. Sky’s ‘You’re the Manager’ comes to mind!

Whatever happens, January could be an interesting month if the ‘White Pele’ carries on the way he’s playing and earns himself a big move to the top flight.