The Pitch: Mason Melia deal must end deliberate deflation of Irish transfer market

Based on current market valuations – Evan Ferguson (€40m - Transfermrkt) – the Melia deal could be worth as much as another €5.94m (£4.95m) to St Patrick’s Athletic, should the player be sold by Tottenham, due to an additional 15% payment clause.

Here you have a deal reflective of the market value which determines the true worth of Mason Melia, based on a mutual financial analysis and agreement between the two clubs, the agent and the player’s parents – acting on his behalf.

It’s no different to buying a house, if you as the seller agree with the prospective buyer and the estate agent as to the actual value of the property in monetary terms.

But that’s not what happens generally in the trading of Irish players, at least before the Mason Melia transfer – the richest direct payment for a LOI club in history.

There are examples of other exchanges from Ireland to the UK - Roy O’Donovan (€500,000) and Liam Scales (€600,000) – but these are exceptions to the rule.

Before Mason Melia the Irish transfer marketplace operated on a daft set of principles where you have an interested suitor from, say, the Premier League who comes in and is not expected to pay for a player.

A small compensation package is agreed and a bonus deal based on a future transfer is agreed, usually around 10-20% of the subsequent fee.

If we go back to the housing comparison, you agree that someone else should have your house, and you arrange for them to pay a fraction of what the property is worth, but know that if the new owner decides to sell on in the future you will get a slice.

Unless you’re in dire negative equity, it makes no sense.

So how has the Irish market become such a benevolent trading floor for overseas ‘investors’?

That’s down to the agents – who lack the financial intelligence to put a price on all of their assets, and who in some cases have keep the market deliberately deflated due to relationships with UK clubs.

The parents too must shoulder some blame, unwitting as it may be, but ultimately they must be more responsible for achieving a fair price on behalf of their child and getting the very best advice available.

Roy Keane always said you don’t need a good agent, you just need a good accountant, and I’ve met more agents through the years with no financial qualifications, just a sharp suit and an ability to dazzle starstruck parents.

There are good ones, and Clive Clarke is an exceptional case, a savvy dealbreaker who also happens to be an uncle to young Mason.

Clarke, along with St Patrick’s Athletic's Director of Football Ger O’Brien, created an environment and a price on the player, putting in place vital pieces to achieve a correct monetary value - not for a future prospect, but a current asset.

For anyone occupying any market outside of football the idea that you place value on a product is a basic fundamental, but within the game the opposite has been the case.

The solution is simple – make sure the player has a professional contract, which then allows the club, the agent and the parents to demonstrate that there is a valuable asset in play, and one which they’ve gone to the bother of fixing a price.

The Pitch understands that Mason Melia had a three-year deal in place with St Patrick’s Athletic, which consequently let potential suitors know from the outset that if they wanted to buy, there must be a cost.

The problem is that many agents talk the player and parents out of signing or demanding a LOI contract, by convincing them that a signed agreement is in some-way a demonstration that that player is now out of reach.

It certainly didn’t put Brighton and Hove Albion, Bologna and ultimately Tottenham off, in fact it elevated interest in Mason Melia who was deemed good enough to have a determined price attached.

As a result of the deal, he will not go into the Tottenham academy when he turns 18 next year, and instead goes into the club as a full professional on a paid contract.

Otherwise, players with no pre-determined value will follow the paths of countless others to be subsumed into a new academy structure, where they begin the journey again of getting noticed and achieving professional terms.

And who can blame the English clubs for hoovering up all this free talent?

Probably the best run club in the Premier League sees the talent here, with Brighton and its owner Tony Bloom operating a conveyor belt of Irish youth over to the south coast, with Evan Ferguson, Aaron Connolly, Andy Moran, Mark O’Mahony and Jamie Mullins amongst the many making the transition.

Such moves to English sides have worked well for Irish clubs, with Shamrock Rovers earning €3m through the future exchange of Gavin Bazunu from Manchester City to Southampton and Bohemians (€1.7m) for Matt Doherty’s move from Wolves to Tottenham.

The bigger challenge now is to educate parents and the players themselves, that as exciting as a move to an academy in England is, it could be so much better if they go with value attached.

Parents need to challenge agents, advisors and their clubs more, starting with a critical assessment on the current value of their child as an asset and not some unit of potential, somewhere down the road.

The €2m paid for Mason Melia by Tottenham is certainly not enormous money for a club with annual revenue of €630m but it is a significant price paid, and one which means Spurs has a vested interest in that player returning additional value.

Time will tell on how Mason Melia gets on in England, but he is going over with a huge advantage through an added value achieved thanks to normal marketplace economics.

Super Bowl LIX smashes audience records, justifying Tom Brady salary 

The history books will tell us that Super Bowl LIX was all about the Philadelphia Eagles emphatic victory over the Kansas City Chiefs – devastating what would have been a first ever three-in-a-row for a team in the competition’s 59-year history.

The dazzling sporting event from the New Orleans Caesars Superdome was the most watched Super Bowl in history according to Nielsen, and the largest television audience for a single network telecast.

The 127.7m audience represents another year-on-year growth trend which traditionally moves upwards annually – the exception being 2021 when less than 100m watched the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs, down by 7 million on 2020.

For Fox, the record breaking watch was something of a validation for its extraordinary $375m contract for match analyst Tom Brady, who whatever your view of his performance, helped bring in the big numbers.

LOI continues to grow in value  

A significant marketing and broadcasting deal for the League of Ireland and for Newstalk comes this week with news of Off The Ball’s exclusive national radio deal with the League of Ireland.

It will see the broadcaster air 30 live broadcasts of SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division matches across the upcoming season, with a minimum of 15 fixtures to be broadcast on Newstalk radio, featuring live commentary throughout as well as post-match analysis.

Heading up the coverage for Off The Ball will be Nathan Murphy and Stephen Doyle, who will share commentary duties across the season.