Levi Ives

[PhilGull]

Someone needs to show him John Bostock's CV, having already made first team appearances for Palace at the age of 16 he turned down a contract and signed for Spurs, five years later after not making a single first team appearance he was released and now plays in Belgium. There are no guarantees but there is a good chance he could have played Premier League football by now.

As for Levi, if he is serious about a career in football then staying with us and playing first team football is surely the only option, certainly better than playing in some academy league. If of course he just sees football as a means to and end and a way to make some money, then fair play, go get the biggest contract you can lad.

[Mattpuma]

Seems like another case of bad advice from agents. The lad has played 1 game for Torquay United and now thinks he has made it. To be honest he didnt look that good to me. Too slow and bad positional sense. Not at even Cruises standard at the moment. How many of our previous youth players were going to be the next big thing but ended up nowhere. Saul Halpin wowed the Derby staff apparently but couldnt get a first team spot here.
If I was advising the lad I would say sign a deal with the club who brought you up and get your head down and work hard. Then if you are good enough in a few years then you can get a move to a bigger club and all that brings.
Hard work brings rewards not hype and agents.

[hector]

Other teenagers who played for Torquay United and were billed as the next big thing...

David Byng
Jimmy Smith
Johnny Morrison
Troy Doughlin

Levi Ives may be better than those but he is no Lee Sharpe. Perhaps his dad has fallen for the hype.

[bobby93]

I read this story on BBC then clicked through to another one from less than two months ago. He was directly quoted (and okay, I know the pitfalls of believing everything you read) as saying youth team football wasn't challenging enough for him. To me, this renders Hargreaves' comments as irrelevant as he's obviously not thinking about staying in the youth team for a while before stepping up. It's pretty obvious he (or his Dad) thinks he's good enough to play first team football and would rather do this elsewhere.

I don't know him personally obviously, but the way this has been reported coupled with his comments on youth team football lead me to believe that he isn't afraid of upsetting people.

I thought he looked a good prospect when I saw him. Whatever he decides in the long run I do hope that he doesn't end up on the long list of young players that moved on too soon.

[arcadia]

Seems like another case of bad advice from agents. The lad has played 1 game for Torquay United and now thinks he has made it. To be honest he didnt look that good to me. Too slow and bad positional sense. Not at even Cruises standard at the moment. How many of our previous youth players were going to be the next big thing but ended up nowhere. Saul Halpin wowed the Derby staff apparently but couldnt get a first team spot here.
If I was advising the lad I would say sign a deal with the club who brought you up and get your head down and work hard. Then if you are good enough in a few years then you can get a move to a bigger club and all that brings.
Hard work brings rewards not hype and agents.

Are you of this world Levi has had good advice, the only thing wrong with the situation is the system
Torquay should be compensated properly by the club that he signs for and there should be a sell on clause. The agent is doing the best job for the boy and himself.(Not TORQUAY)
For you to say he's not of Cruises standard you are quite right he's far better than him. The only reason that Hargreaves has not played him more is because he's on international duty most of the time.

[Mattpuma]

Haha. Oh yes agents are all about getting the best for their client. Agents make money by moving players on irrespective if it is right for the long term future of the player.
How you can say he is better than Cruise I do not know. The lad has played ONE game of adult first team football. He may well go on to be far better than Cruise but as of now he still has a lot to learn. As for the International duty you mention that is boys football. When he plays for the full team you will have a point. None of us fans can claim to know what a brilliant player he is as he simply hasnt been tested in first team football.

[supergulls]

Are you of this world Levi has had good advice, the only thing wrong with the situation is the system
Torquay should be compensated properly by the club that he signs for and there should be a sell on clause. The agent is doing the best job for the boy and himself.(Not TORQUAY)
For you to say he's not of Cruises standard you are quite right he's far better than him. The only reason that Hargreaves has not played him more is because he's on international duty most of the time.

With international duty being every 6 weeks on average at best sometimes longer that's clearly not the case

[arcadia]

Haha. Oh yes agents are all about getting the best for their client. Agents make money by moving players on irrespective if it is right for the long term future of the player.
How you can say he is better than Cruise I do not know. The lad has played ONE game of adult first team football. He may well go on to be far better than Cruise but as of now he still has a lot to learn. As for the International duty you mention that is boys football. When he plays for the full team you will have a point. None of us fans can claim to know what a brilliant player he is as he simply hasnt been tested in first team football.

This is where you fall down, at this age the lad is you can see that he is a different class and it takes experience to spot this and I expect you will come back and say you have this. Hargreaves knows he's better and that's why I guess Cruise is not on a long contract. Cruise has improved going forward but defending will always be a problem for him.

A player going missing every few weeks is disruptive to the squad as a player has to be dropped every few weeks.

[Mattpuma]

Oh no I dont claim to know everything about football and as I stated he may turn out to be an excellent player but the fact remains that many young players show promise and never fulfil it. My point is that he should get his head down and work hard and then he will have the best career possible. An instant move to a bigger club may gain him more cash in the short term but may not be best for his career development.

[yellowchipmonk]

lets all be very realistic, he is already on the radar of several better outfits, you would do the same, don't sign, get a better offer and let us go to a tribunal and get virtually nothing in return.

That is the sad world of football, but I don't begrudge him for not signing, would you....?

[ferrarilover]

The extra couple of hundred grand that we'd get for him A) is pennies to the sort of club that will buy him and B) would be eaten up by the legal and other fees of contesting a tribunal valuation.

Screwing us over for the sake of signing a contract would be a shitty move on his part. We don't know why he hasn't signed the deal. Maybe we offered him £25/week. Maybe he just doesn't want to sign it yet. Who knows. Not me.

Matt.

[arcadia]

The extra couple of hundred grand that we'd get for him A) is pennies to the sort of club that will buy him and B) would be eaten up by the legal and other fees of contesting a tribunal valuation.

Screwing us over for the sake of signing a contract would be a shitty move on his part. We don't know why he hasn't signed the deal. Maybe we offered him £25/week. Maybe he just doesn't want to sign it yet. Who knows. Not me.

Matt.

I do agree with you and he should honour the club but what player does now - a - days.

[Glostergull]

[quote="ferrarilover"]The extra couple of hundred grand that we'd get for him A) is pennies to the sort of club that will buy him and B) would be eaten up by the legal and other fees of contesting a tribunal valuation.

Screwing us over for the sake of signing a contract would be a shitty move on his part. We don't know why he hasn't signed the deal. Maybe we offered him £25/week. Maybe he just doesn't want to sign it yet. Who knows. Not me.

Matt.[/quote]

If I remember correctly the last player poached got us only 40K. not a couple of hundred. So where do you think we are going to earn £100.000 to £200,000. if that was the case i would say. go on go with out blessing. We will be lucky to get 20k or him

[ferrarilover]

If he goes under a kiddies contract, we get whatever the FA tell us we can have for him (well, whatever) which will be about £4.50. If he's under a grown up deal, he's subject to the usual rules relating to transfers and we can hold out for a couple of hundred grand (provided we don't send Chuckles into the negotiating room).

Matt.

[RussianGull]

From what I read in the WMN, Hargreaves wants Ives to train with the pro squad so maybe if he breaks into the 1st team ahead of Cruise he and his father will re-evaluate their decision to turn down a contract. Regardless of whether he makes the bench or not I'd like to see him taken on some of the away trips so he can accustomed to travelling to away games and being around the first team squad.