- Aug 30, 2012
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From a post on reddit.com/r/coys, by Jayesar (http://www.reddit.com/r/coys/commen...than_byrne_is_joining_swindon_town_on/caz17ao)
So basically, are we possibly using Swindon as a development club, where we can send more players than we should be able to?
So Kevin MacDonald is the manager of Swindon, someone who was rumoured to be a target for Spurs youth manager when Liverpool poached ours. He opted to move to Swindon, but it shows that THFC clearly rate him as a developer of youth.
So, it seems that spurs would try very hard to loan to Swindon as they rate the manager. Also, to help the players fit in (and to simplify monitoring) it would also be nice to loan them as many players as possible. Of course, that is our perfect world, they probably won't want to develop all our youth players only to send them back, what is in it for them?
Well, WindyCOYS (http://windycoys.com/2013/07/spursswindon-loan-links/) postulated this some time ago:
[Players] being tied down to a season-long loan means that he can’t be recalled and sent to a Championship club in January should he naturally progress, due to FA rules. This has lead to talk of a sneaky work-around. Could Spurs have actually sold the players – i.e. transferred their registration – with a buy-back clause of £1? I guess we will find out in [last] January.So, rumour was that Spurs and Swindon set up an unofficial partnership. We loan them (and sell them with £1 buyback clauses) a large number of players - getting around the 4 player max rules. We are even nice enough to loan them players who could be playing at a much higher level to help them get promoted and in return they develop our youth. Essentially Swindon becomes "Spurs B in the Championship". They get promoted, we get developed youth.
Now, someone like Luongo or Pritchard could EASILY land a championship (or higher) loan, and now we see them off to Swindon. Sounds like we are scratching their back here. If they get promoted, could they return the favour?
In the last 6 months we have seen Parrett and Byrne join full time as well as Hall on loan. Now Pritchard/Luongo (well above 3rd div level) are on the way too and the original rumours say that Mason (who was loaned to Ligue 1 in France last season!) is on the way too, oh, and Swindon have officially targetted Ceballos.
By my count that is 5 players confirmed moved to Swindon, 2 of those could be punching far higher. Conspiracy predicts that in a shock move someone like Mason or Ceballos will also end up at Swindon, which will give them a serious side to go for a promotion tilt.
So basically, are we possibly using Swindon as a development club, where we can send more players than we should be able to?