We won’t be short-changed again, says Livingston chief

Jan 14 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

GED NIXON has vowed that any transfers involving Livingston’s in-demand wonderkids will include sell-on fees for the future to protect the interests of the club.

The Lions Chief Executive knows clubs on both sides of the border are eyeing up the likes of Andy Halliday and Keaghan Jacobs but he has stressed players will only leave in deals which suit the club and are in the best interests of the players.

Livi should be in line for a whopping £1m windfall as transfer interest in former Almondvale star Graham Dorrans builds.

When the 22-year-old moved to the Hawthorns in the summer of 2008, the Lions inserted a 20 per cent sell-on clause as part of the deal.

And with Everton and Aston Villa pondering bids around the £5m mark for Dorrans, Livi would have been in line to bank up to £1m.

But they will net nothing from any future sale of their former hit-kid after ex-chairman Angelo Massone cashed in all the clauses in the deal for a one-off payment of a reported £50,000.

Livingston Chief Executive Nixon admits that kind of cash windfall would make the world of difference to the Third Division club and insisted a situation like that will never happen again.

He said: “The actual deal to sell Dorrans was a very good deal and was more than reasonably expected. Again it was a staggered payment deal over a period of time as the player developed.

“There was also a sizeable sell-on clause which, based on the valuations being placed on Graham now, would have netted Livingston a substantial sum.

“Unfortunately, when one of the trigger payments came available last season, the former chairman decided to do a deal which, unquestionably, was a bit short-term and he accepted what was a token sum to cancel out any future payments to the club.

“It is quite unfortunate when there is so much interest in Dorrans at such high valuations and it is to the long-term detrimental cost to the club.

“However, it is all hypothetical until someone actually pays that kind of amount for Graham and there will be no further benefit to Livingston FC now anyway.

“We do have sell-on clauses for Leigh Griffiths and Murray Davidson but not as much as I would have liked.

“But if these lads, who both have bright futures, continue to develop and move on, then Livingston will receive some benefit later on down the line.”

Another player who left Almondvale with a sell-on clause recently is Joe McKee, who moved to Burnley last summer and Nixon admits that the McKee deal will be the blueprint for transfers of any of Livi’s young starlets as interest in Halliday, Jacobs and Cammy McDonald grows.

“Unlike previous deals, where we inherited these clauses, we did this deal ourselves.

“We know where we are and there was the chance to realise some value for a promising young player whose contract was ticking down.

“We could have found ourselves in the situation at the end of the season where we’d have gone into a compensation route for his training.

“But it is our intention to keep things as amicable as possible with all parties, including the buying club, so we did a deal for more than the compensation would have been. And more importantly, as Joe develops the deal contains various triggers which allow us to benefit later.

“That includes a sell-on fee and that is the way we will look to do business if and when we sell players as we look to get the best deal possible for the club and for the player as well.”