Oliver McBurnie

I don’t see why your desperately trying to google stats to try and vindicate yourself when the fact is when he was here no-one gave a flying feck what he’d done at youth level. He played for City, he didn’t score any goals, no-one rated him as any good and nobody bothered their ass when he left. I think that’s a closer analogy to Omari Patrick. There’s no point trying to make out you had some insider knowledge all along that he would come good, because you didn’t.

 

We DID !! £250k PLUS £250k in add ons

 

Sorry, but that's just nonsense. You and your mates may not have rated him, but plenty did. He was a Scottish youth international and had been top scorer in a youth tournament when guesting for Man U. He was on the scouting radar of several clubs.
On the old Claret & Banter board there were many comments to the effect that he had obvious promise but was being thrown to the lions by PP when he clearly wasn't physically ready for the physicality of L1.
It was blindingly obvious to me, and others around me at VP, that his movement and control were outstanding. If you couldn't see that then it says far more about you than about him or the Swansea scouts that correctly identified him as a future star.

 

The poster who always used to come on here denying a sell on clause seems to have gone very quiet

 

My thoughts exactly. I distinctly remember he also had his own chant sung loud and proud by us. I think it was safe to say fans had taken to him pretty quickly because we could see something in him.

Oh Oli McBurnie, oh Oli McBurnie...

 

If you’re asking did I think here was a potential Premier League forward, the answer is NO (and I’m not sure where my mates come into this) and neither did you or anyone on the old website, or any of your mates for that matter. When he left there was no hysteria, no wailing or mourning. Nobody gave a shit. Everyone went “wow we managed to pocket £250k for that gangly, kid that couldn’t hit a barn door. Cool.” So please don’t try to reinvent the past.

 

Sorry, but that is bollocks.
I think most of us were surprised at the fee we got. But it's simply not true that no one rated him.
He scored for fun at every previous level he played at, so to say he 'couldn't hit a barn door' is laughable. He had very few clear cut chances in the first team games he played for us, because he spent most of his time with his back to goal being bullied by hulking centre backs that were three stone heavier than him.
If you couldn't see his potential then that's your problem. Plenty of us could, and said so at the time. So stop trying to tell other people what they did and didn't think.

 

All i remember is most people thinking wow, a premier league club has come in for one of our youth players, one who had some recent game time but had hardly set the world on fire. There was talk from behind the scenes that he had potential if played to his strengths though, something i have never heard attributed to Omari Patrick. I hope Patrick does make it but he won’t, his skilset is league 2 at very best.

 

It’s not bollocks. You’re delusional. Take your rose-tinted glasses off. Maybe you and YOUR mates could see Oli was destined for greatness. There were probably other visionary supporters like you out there. Yeah, we knew he was a Youth International for Scotland and did well in a Tourney with Man Utd. Which made it all the more disappointing when you watched him play and he didn’t look up to much. He was ineffective and ZERO goals. If he’d dropped into the Conference instead of getting picked up by Swansea I doubt much folk would’ve batted an eyelid.

 

He was 18 man just starting his career he had potential just needed time to develop

 

His spell at Yeovil suggests otherwise, but maybe Bowyer can get something out of him. Still wouldn’t be shocked to see him paid off in a month’s time

 

Cleverley and Delph were just 10% and we ended up getting little for Cleverley as he went on loan to Villa and then let his contract run down and joined Everton. Wisdom was about 15%. I would say getting 15% for McBurnie was a very good negotiation from Julian Rhodes.

 

Potential is one thing, but doing it on the pitch is another. At the time we needed someone to hit the ground running, and although he was thrown in at the deep end, he couldn’t perform to the best of his ability for us. It’s because he was still raw. Props to Swansea for spotting it, and tbh, I bet our staff knew he was going to be a quality player, but at that moment in time we didn’t have the resources to wait until he developed. Hence the sell on clause.
Every club has had this happened to them. Vardy being the prime example. Unlike us, not all of these clubs had the foresight to make a bit of money out of a player who had future potential, but wasn’t right for them at the time.
Look at Wells. We saw his potential (when Carlisle didn’t), made a bit of money out of him when he was on the way up, and now it looks like he’s going to drop down to Championship level this season. Could happen to McBurnie later on in his career or sooner.
The point I’m making is, that it doesn’t matter if some fans rated or slated him, what does matter that someone had the foresight to put a sell on clause in place in case the boy comes good.

 

Why are you getting so defensive about this? Nobody else rates Patrick, you’re on your own. No biggie.

I didn’t really need to search Google to back up my point. McBurnie had the talent as a boy. Many of us realised that. Clubs like Man Utd, don’t take notice if he doesn’t have something.about him.

I also disagree that many of us weren’t excited to see him develop. However, we will never be able to get the best out of young players. We don’t play in PL2 or equivalent and if they show any signs of talent, they’re fast tracked into the first team and put pressure on them from an early age. They should be allowed to develop and McBurnie never got that. But that doesn’t mean most fans didn’t see he had talent.

But Patrick is different. He’s already done less than McBurnie, showed no sign he will become a player and yet is a week older than the player you are comparing him against. Even if, like McBurnie, he needs to mature, we should have seen that by now from a 23yr old?

 

Swansea wanted less, Rhodes wanted more, they settled in the middle. Beginning to look like a great bit of business.

 

Sometimes you just miss having the poop button available.

 

patrick is crap the biggest asset for any footballer is heart need I say more

 

So McBurnie looks set to be announced shortly. Think the fact Swansea paid £250k up front plus a further £250k for a 17 year old with very limited football experience tells us everything. They clearly saw something.. Just because Stan who played for the Dog & Gun for a season and now has 2 pies and 10 pints on a Saturday thought he was crap is irrelevant.

 

You are bang right mate. When he was with us John Hendrie made the point that physically he was still a "baby", and not ready for first team football. Swansea saw something in him and took him on and also took time developing him through their age groups. They could afford to do that, we couldn't.
As it has worked out everyone now benefits from Swansea's patience and hard work. Swansea, City and McBurnie plus hopefully Chris Wilder and Sheffield Utd.