Bristol City need not fear Spurs or West Ham swoop for £25m midfield starlet due to Goldeneye talent spotter

Peter Braund is a former Manchester United scout who specialises in finding European talents.

The former Hannover 96 chief scout now works for Tottenham Hotspur and after taking in the England U19s game against Sweden U19s played in the Skytteholms IP stadium, Stockholm, last November, he noticed Robins midfielder Alex Scott, who played that game in central midfield.

A fine display that included winning the penalty for the first goal and assisting the second for Chelsea defender Levi Colwill would not have gone unnoticed. And so Braund was present at Ashton Gate last week to take in Nigel Pearson’s side’s 2-1 win over Reading and again keep a close eye on Scott.

Bristol World understands that Spurs are very interested in the 18-year-old midfielder but they join a long, long list of admirers that also includes West Ham and other Premier League sides.

Brighton and Wolves representatives were present watching the loss to Coventry on Tuesday night, while Leicester and Everton were credited with an interest according to reports this week.

The Robins best young talents will undoubtedly attract big interest this summer.

Scott, who grew up supporting Spurs, has even been acclaimed as being ‘the best 18-year-old’ that some City supporters have seen play for the club in recent weeks on social media.

An uncanny first touch and ability to glide through midfield and win free-kicks are rare commodities.

Assistant manager Curtis Fleming suggested this week that he is looking forward to working with the midfielder again next year, but he also admitted that money talks. Especially for a club looking to recover big losses in the last financial accounts and who may face an EFL points deduction for breaking the profitability and sustainability rules next season.

The bids could come high in the summer, but Bristol City will be in control with the player contracted until 2025 and as Fleming asked yesterday, “where is he going to play consistently well?”.

Indeed Scott has played more minutes in the league this season than any other player his age. Only Coventry’s on-loan Chelsea player Ian Maatsen - who scored the opener on Tuesday night’s 1-2 loss to the Sky Blues - has played more minutes of players under 20 years old in the Championship.

The club may decide to keep or cash in on Scott, and they may have decisions to make too on Han-Noah Massengo and Antoine Semenyo with both attracting interest and out of contract in a year (though Semenyo has an optional extra year).

But Bristol City supporters should not fear the sale of Scott or one of their other young stars.

With club legend Brian Tinnion promoted last year to the position of academy director when then academy chief Gary Probert moved to Ipswich Town, the Robins made a smart move.

A large part of Bristol City’s successful incorporation of youth this season has been thanks to Tinnion’s eagle eye and weighty contacts book.

City had five starters from the academy in the first XI when they beat Reading last week at home. Another three were on the bench. And Tinnion is crucial to the operation.

A long career in the game and excellent networking has helped the former Newcastle United and Bradford City left-sided midfielder, fourth in Bristol City’s all-time record appearance makers with 551 appearances, become a key cog at the Robins academy.

This writer has asked whether the contribution of ‘Tinns’ is even more now than when he was playing and scoring that goal at Anfield, which kitman Scott Murray will tell you was from an offside position.

Tinnion, who celebrated his birthday this week, is not alone in his work, and is aided by head of academy recruitment Damian Butt and assistant academy manager Gary Davenport. And the trio, and other academy staff, have worked tirelessly to bring in and promote young talent.

The excellent Alex Scott arrived in BS3 after Tinnion was tipped from Guernsey FC boss Tony Vance, with the Green Lions manager present with Tinnion as Scott hit a perfect hat-trick on trial to seal a deal within minutes of the first half.

And fellow Guernsey FC midfielder Ben Acey may be another exciting talent, when he arrives at Bristol City in the summer, treading the same path as Scott.

Meanwhile, athletic centre-back Duncan Idehen, who was outstanding in the U23s’ 4-0 win over Millwall on Tuesday, was spotted by Tinnion too. When academy players Owura Edwards and James Morton went on loan to Grimsby Town, with manager Ian Holloway’s relationship with the then Bristol City loans manager being key, Tinnion travelled north to keep an eye on those players and eyed Idehen.

And there are many, many more examples. The upcoming defender Callum Wood - who returned to Bristol City after a successful loan spell at Bath City recently - came via a recommendation from Paul Michael, then manager of Cinderford Town.

While centre-back Robbie Cundy, now in the senior squad picture, was spotted by Tinnion when the Robins legend built a partnership with local Bath City, which has since seen some 15 players loaned between the National League South side and their West Country big brothers just down the A4.

Saikou Janneh was another to be watched playing for Bath City’s development team and picked up as Tinnion drives up and down the motorways covering loanees and watching potential young recruits.

Although Antoine Semenyo came as a recommendation from SGS College head of football Dave Hockaday - and included then City CEO Mark Ashton pushing an interest after he had previously worked with Hockaday as a first-team coach at Watford - that goes down as another Tinnion and academy success.

Tinnion’s network includes clubs near and far, such as Derry City and Gloucester City, while Darrell Clarke, Gary Johnson, Mike Flynn and Steve Cotterill have taken young Robins, with relationships built.

The 54-year-old’s excellent eye for young talents goes back years and includes his time as manager of Bristol City.

“The biggest and best part of it [being City manager in 2004/05] for me was that I introduced seven academy players in that 18 months,” explained Tinnion to this writer a couple of seasons back. “And all of them went on to play at a higher level and were successful.

“Leroy Lita I played first season, 28 goals, off to the Premier League to Reading. I played Scott Golbourne who has had a brilliant career.

“I played David Cotterill, who’s had a really good career... Cole Skuse, who played here for 10 years.

“I played Joe Anyinsah, who went to Charlton in the Championship. Ryan Harley, who went on to Swansea...

“That is the big plus part for me. I managed to get those lads playing because I knew them. I was working in the academy from 28 years of age, as I was running a team on a Sunday morning. I had Cotterill and them when they were 14 years of age.

“So to see them at 16 or 17 and get them playing was the plus side of the management side for me,” explained Tinnion of his time in the Robins dugout that sadly and memorably ended with a chastening 7-1 loss at Swansea City.

Even three years ago Tinnion extolled the virtues of some 12 young Bristol City players playing out on loan in the league that he thought would display their talents. He has not been wrong with plenty of youth involvement now.

Indeed, David Cotterill explained that Tinnion was a club “legend” to us a few years ago when discussing how the then manager had given him his debut.

North East native Tinns used to play football and cricket with Paul Gascoigne and came through in the same FA Youth Cup winning Newcastle United side of 1985 as world class midfield talent Gazza.

And Tinnion was not bad himself either, beginning at left-back and playing further forward at Bristol City, with several good partnerships down his flank with Micky Bell and others. He called time on his career in 2005, but that may have been extended were it not for the step into management.

But his impact on the club is undiminished and arguably heavier. At the least, it is well judged, just like those long passes over to Murray down the right.

With Tinnion’s sharp eye, the help from the other academy staff, local talent coming through in Ayman Benarous, Sam Bell and Tommy Conway, there may well be another Scott-like diamond in the ranks or to arrive to come through and replace any outgoing departures.

As Bath City manager Jerry Gill told us recently, giving some insight on the loans and attention to detail: “Brian does the hours. Brian is always out watching games and he’s got a genuine - and it is a genuine - care for individual players. And that’s probably the biggest thing I can say.

“Brian has an important role at Bristol City but he really cares for individuals, whether it’s James Morton coming back from a long-term injury and finding out what level he’s going to play, or Antoine Semenyo who is currently playing in the first team and has got player of the month in the Championship.

“The same care will be for James as it will be for Antoine. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”