00:00This is Ollie Watkins. You know him, but the story of how his transfer managed to change a whole football club is even better.
00:06It starts here, Exeter City. A fan-owned club in England's lower leagues.
00:11They developed Watkins in their academy and sold him to Brentford for £1.8 million.
00:16But they included a 15% sell-on clause.
00:19So when Aston Villa bought him for a massive £28 million, that clever clause meant a £4 million windfall landed straight into Exeter's bank account.
00:27And it basically saved the club during the pandemic.
00:31So what did they do with the cash? Did they go spending it on crazy fees?
00:34No, instead they were smart and they invested it logically.
00:38They invested into turning their crumbling old training ground into a £3 million state-of-the-art facility, built to develop the next generation of talent.
00:45And the result? Two years later they were promoted to League One.
00:48And now they're competing with one of the smallest budgets in the entire division.
00:51And it's proof that long-term investment will always beat short-term wins.
00:55And that is how you build a legacy.
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