“Folk with better memories than me can probably think of examples of players who might have drawn a fee but the option wasn’t exercised in case this scenario occurred.”
Just thought of an example, though might be wrong as to whether this actually happened…
Presumably we had an option on Rob Jones? Surely we would never have risked another year of a record signing’s wages by exercising an option given his performances for us? An example where the option wouldn’t be exercised and the player allowed to leave on a free transfer, even if he went on to play well elsewhere, as Jones did.
