Paul Mitchell and recruitment in the future.

[GetSpurredOn]

On both the media reports I read, it said Jackett and Millen were friends of McDermott, so maybe makes sense he'd be bringing in trusted people to surround him if he is moving to DOF type role. Was McKenna ever replaced?

 

[kmk]

I believe McDermott, Jackett and Millen were together at Watford during their playing days.

 

[punkisback]

Our recruitment of foreign youth and established PL players has been a joke. Pleat has done well with his British Youth for us, but we if we want to be signing the next Suarez or Mane we need to improve on our foreign scouting.

 

[danielneeds]

Our recruitment of foreign youth and established PL players has been a joke. Pleat has done well with his British Youth for us, but we if we want to be signing the next Suarez or Mane we need to improve on our foreign scouting.

It really hasn't been a joke. We make mistakes but so does every club.

 

[EQP]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...o-liverpool-to-sign-luis-suarez-a7572371.html



How Tottenham's new chief scout Steve Hitchen helped Liverpool to sign Luis Suarez
Hitchen was instrumental in the January 2011 signing of the Uruguayan striker who went on to change football history


Tottenham Hotspur’s new chief scout Steve Hitchen was the most important man in one of the most important signings in English football this century.

When Hitchen worked for Liverpool in 2011 he masterminded the signing of Luis Suarez from Ajax for £23m. Suarez scored 82 goals for Liverpool and nearly delivered the 2013-14 Premier League title, winning both PFA and FWA player of the year awards, before leaving for Barcelona for £65m.

It all started in the mid-2000s when Hitchen was in his first spell at Tottenham Hotspur, working as a part-time European scout based in France, a big part in the signings of Luka Modric, Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto. Damien Comolli, who arrived as director of football in 2005, was impressed by Hitchen’s knowledge, contacts and work-ethic. So Comolli gave Hitchen more responsibility and a more international role.

Hitchen saw a brilliant 19-year-old Suarez playing for Groningen in the 2006-07 season but after just one year there he was signed by Ajax. But Hitchen kept a close eye on the player as he started to impress at the biggest club in Holland.

In November 2010 two things happened. First, Comolli, who left Spurs in 2008, started a new job as Liverpool’s director of football strategy, bringing Hitchen with him as part of his new scouting team. Then, during a match between Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, Suarez bit opponent Otman Bakkal on the shoulder.

Hitchen had followed Suarez’s career very closely and during his seven-game ban Hitchen went to Amsterdam to watch him train. He reported back to Liverpool on Suarez’s attitude and fitness during his enforced absence from the team. Crucially, Hitchen learned before anyone else that Ajax were putting Suarez up for sale in the January 2011 transfer window, giving Liverpool an advantage on every other team hoping to sign him.


Damien Comolli worked with Hitchen at Liverpool (Getty)
“Steve was the main reason why we signed Suarez,” Comolli told The Independent. “He knew Suarez very, very well from his time at Spurs. And he got the intel that Ajax had made Suarez available for transfer. Nobody else knew that. It gave us a head-start. That is typical of Steve.”

What has always stood out to those who know Hitchen is his honesty in judging players, rather than sitting on the fence, as well as his ability to get information through his network. He was an expert in the French lower leagues very soon after moving there, despite not speaking the language.

“Steve is very dedicated and committed with a great work ethic,” Comolli said. “He is incredibly well-connected and his network is very, very good. So he is the centre of a web of information. He is very popular in the scouting community, if you speak to scouts from anywhere in Europe, they all know Steve.”


Tottenham continue to move from strength to strength (Getty)
Hitchen started work at Spurs on Monday, leaving Derby County where he was joint director of recruitment, having previously worked for Queens Park Rangers. Hitchen returns to Spurs in a new chief scout role which is part of a major restructuring of how Tottenham sign players after a turbulent few months.

Paul Mitchell, the head of recruitment and analysis, handed in his resignation last August and is serving his notice period. Rob Mackenzie, who was head of player identification, left in August to join Derby, working alongside Hitchen for the last six months.

So Tottenham are building a new structure, with Hitchen filling the new chief scout role. He will report to the three-man football committee of chairman Daniel Levy, manager Mauricio Pochettino and academy manager John McDermott.

Pochettino stressed the importance of backroom recruitment (Getty)
Pochettino confirmed that the appointment of Hitchen was “a club decision” which he was part of. Given how Spurs’ title rivals all spend more money than Tottenham, Pochettino said that they must continue to be “creative” with their recruitment under Hitchen.

“Recruitment is always important,” Pochettino said. “We have talked a lot about that with Daniel. We are in a position where it is difficult to compete with the big clubs that in the last five to ten years have invested a lot of money every season. That is why we need to be creative, smart and clever. Not too clever because when you try to be too clever it’s not good. But it’s important to be creative.”

 

[Lilbaz]

JJ, I asked Trix this but maybe you can help. He said we have maybe changed the way "numbers were crunched". Without invading ITK or giving us the who's and why's, do you have any idea what this means in general terms, I just find this very interesting ?

Does this mean, for example, we are changing/upgrading technology to some new data analysing software ? or even reverting to less technical data analysis ?

Yep we're going from fm16 to fm17.

 

[mill]

I wonder if we ended up with sissoko because we tried to be 'too clever'

 

[dagraham]

I wonder if we ended up with sissoko because we tried to be 'too clever'

I'm not sure the word clever can be used in any context regarding the signing of Sissoko.

 

[JJetset]

Hitchen returns to Tottenham

Football

Posted at12:19

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino confirmed the club have re-appointed Steve Hitchen as chief scout. Hitchen began work on Monday, resuming a role he previously performed under Harry Redknapp, but the appointment is not linked to Paul Mitchell's position as head of recruitment.

Mitchell tendered his resignation in August but is still serving a 16-month notice period at Spurs. He is due to stay until the end of the year but is unlikely to serve the full term as the club expect to find a replacement before then.

Hitchen worked under former director of football Damien Comolli at White Hart Lane and followed the Frenchman when he left for Liverpool in 2010.

His most recent role was as joint-director of recruitment at Derby alongside former Tottenham scout Rob Mackenzie, but he departed when Nigel Pearson was sacked as manager in October.

This isn't true as Mitchell has gone.

 

[Rob]

Hitchen was instrumental in the January 2011 signing of the Uruguayan striker who went on to change football history

Tottenham Hotspur’s new chief scout Steve Hitchen was the most important man in one of the most important signings in English football this century.

What? Was this originally from the Liverpool Echo?

 

[bubble07]

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/02/1...rs-his-opinion-on-tottenhams-newly-appointed/

Nice praise for our new scout from Mr Comoli

 

[Hercules]

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/02/1...rs-his-opinion-on-tottenhams-newly-appointed/

Nice praise for our new scout from Mr Comoli

Kudos+ditto

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Our recruitment of foreign youth and established PL players has been a joke. Pleat has done well with his British Youth for us, but we if we want to be signing the next Suarez or Mane we need to improve on our foreign scouting.

Yeah such a joke that we've ended up second in the league...

 

[Trix]

What? Was this originally from the Liverpool Echo?

Coming soon to a bookshop near you...."Football Facts, by Mark Lawrensen".

 

[allpaths]

Really like the sound of Hitchen, especially if he's an expert on french lower leagues there's a lot of untapped raw talent to be found.

It's really important to get our recruitment/scouting network right, because i think it's the one area poch isn't sufficiently good at, probably because he's so dedicated to actual coaching the players at the club currently.

 

[Mullers]

Yeah such a joke that we've ended up second in the league...

But that wasn't really because of our foreign youth and established PL player recruitment and that's what he is criticising.

 

[Shadydan]

Our recruitment of foreign youth and established PL players has been a joke. Pleat has done well with his British Youth for us, but we if we want to be signing the next Suarez or Mane we need to improve on our foreign scouting.

I really don't understand what you're complaint about?

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Get German Football ‏@GGFN_ 49s49 seconds ago
Tottenham Hotspur will look towards Wolfsburg's Olaf Rebbe as they search for a Director of Sport, per @Sky_SvenT. More follows.

 

[spursfan77]

Get German Football ‏@GGFN_ 49s49 seconds ago
Tottenham Hotspur will look towards Wolfsburg's Olaf Rebbe as they search for a Director of Sport, per @Sky_SvenT. More follows.

Seems they've bought a few players we've been previously linked to (then again, we are linked to a lot of players!)

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/vfl-wolfsburg/transfers/verein/82

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Ralf Rangnick would be an interesting proposition if we were looking for a sporting director/DOF.

The RB model is very much in tune with ours from a recruitment perspective and to s degree a playing one.

They like to buy young and develop and play a high tempo high press kind of football.