Angry Palace chairman Jordan blasts tribunal decision to allow Bostock to move to Spurs for 'scandalous' fee

The frequently outspoken Jordan’s overwhelming emotion was one of disappointment and he questioned the governing bodies’ commitment to youth development and the academy system in this country.

The fee for midfielder Bostock, 16, could rise to £1.25million depending on appearances, but it falls well short of Palace’s asking price of an initial £2m rising by a further £2.5m.

John Bostock will move across London, from Crystal Palace to Tottenham

‘For a tribunal to reward a purportedly bigger football club in Tottenham to take one of the most gifted young English players in the country for a sum of £700,000 is nothing short of scandalous,’ said Jordan, who sent manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Phil Alexander to the meeting at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

‘You get players like Aaron Ramsey, who has gone for £5m from Cardiff to Arsenal because that is the UK transfer market.

‘The tribunal, in my view, are supposed to reflect the conditions of the transfer market place. And they came up with a figure of £700,000 for a player who has captained his
country at Under 17 level, who is perceived to be one of the best youngsters in the country and is being chased by Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea.

‘We had a £900,000 offer from Chelsea when he was 14 which we turned down. It’s beyond me and it makes me question why I bother with football.

‘I have an academy who have produced a world-class footballer for someone else and got paid two-and-sixpence for it. We weren’t unrealistic - we didn’t try to be clever and
put a value of £5m on the player.

'We simply said this is what the player is worth, these are the reasons why he is worth it and all we wanted was a fair and equitable outcome.’

In the wake of England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008, Jordan questioned the wisdom of tribunals allowing elite clubs to poach young talent for knockdown fees only to put them in their reserves.

He said: ‘We have a national team who can’t qualify for the European Championship and we have a shortage of players of the required standard to compete in world football.

'One of the reasons the Premier League is the best in the world is because it is made up of 50 per cent foreigners. So when big clubs buy our own younger players and don’t
use them, how the hell does that benefit the national game?

‘I don’t feel it sends out a good message to people who pump millions into youth development. A significant amount of money we could have got from the disposal of
John Bostock would have been ploughed back into youth development.

'And what’s going to happen to our young players when they are stockpiled in the butter mountains of the Tottenhams and Chelseas of
this world?’

Bostock became the youngest player to pull on a Palace shirt when he made his first-team debut against Watford at 15 years 287 days last October. And Jordan insisted the player’s future would have been better served if he had continued his
development in Palace’s first team rather than opting for a place in Tottenham’s reserves.

‘The most disappointing thing is we had a player we nourished and cherished for nine years,’ he said.

‘He’s a player who cited his desire to be the youngest ever to play for Palace, which he achieved, and to be the youngest captain of Palace.

‘He was looked after for a long time with bespoke training specifically for his development. It was John Bostock’s year next season at Palace and we weren’t going to sign central midfielders because we wanted to clear a path for him.

‘He’d have got into our team this year and established himself as a first-team player at a big club. I’m not so sure that’s going to happen for him now.'