Steve Hitchen leaves THFC

[Snarfalicious]

Club statement – Steve Hitchen | Tottenham Hotspur

We can confirm that Technical Performance Director Steve Hitchen has left the Club.

www.tottenhamhotspur.com

Did he burn down the stadium before he left or something? Very brief statement considering we were all aware of who he was.

 

[Guernman]

Well I'm concerned about the timing of this. If he had gone the moment Paratici came in, it would have been harsh but understandable.

However, it seemed that Levy valued him and wanted to keep him on board. Clearly it hasn't worked, the concern is if it is Hitchen leaving in frustration and the timing would certainly support that.

Yet again, Paratici has returned to Italy and specifically his old club for his deals and we have ignored any premier league or championship talent. Since we have to assume that this was the area Hitchen would have been involved in, it doesn't fill me with much confidence.

If this was a question of Paratici replacing him with a more structured scouting team it would have been done differently. It feels worryingly like Hitchens saying I've had enough of this and now we have to rely on Paratici replacing an important figure in an area where he has shown no particular knowledge.

 

[Deleted member 29446]

40 odd words after 10+ years of service. We're becoming experts at the brief outro haha

Kinda embarrassing from the club imo.

 

[robotsonic]

Goodnight bald prince.

Can see why he would want to go and try something new since having FP all up in his remit, and a couple of clubs short of someone to run their acquisitions.

 

[Delboy75]

Pretty sure me bumping his thread started the process ?

Oh and Matt law is absolute tw*t. 100 years experience wtf is he talking about.

 

[arunspurs]

Well I'm concerned about the timing of this. If he had gone the moment Paratici came in, it would have been harsh but understandable.

However, it seemed that Levy valued him and wanted to keep him on board. Clearly it hasn't worked, the concern is if it is Hitchen leaving in frustration and the timing would certainly support that.

Yet again, Paratici has returned to Italy and specifically his old club for his deals and we have ignored any premier league or championship talent. Since we have to assume that this was the area Hitchen would have been involved in, it doesn't fill me with much confidence.

If this was a question of Paratici replacing him with a more structured scouting team it would have been done differently. It feels worryingly like Hitchens saying I've had enough of this and now we have to rely on Paratici replacing an important figure in area where he has shown no particular knowledge.

OR Hitchen has got another gig , say at Everton and has put his papers....

Regardless, it was anyway bit odd to have two who were essentially sporting directors

 

[sausage]

Well I'm concerned about the timing of this. If he had gone the moment Paratici came in, it would have been harsh but understandable.

However, it seemed that Levy valued him and wanted to keep him on board. Clearly it hasn't worked, the concern is if it is Hitchen leaving in frustration and the timing would certainly support that.

Yet again, Paratici has returned to Italy and specifically his old club for his deals and we have ignored any premier league or championship talent. Since we have to assume that this was the area Hitchen would have been involved in, it doesn't fill me with much confidence.

If this was a question of Paratici replacing him with a more structured scouting team it would have been done differently. It feels worryingly like Hitchens saying I've had enough of this and now we have to rely on Paratici replacing an important figure in area where he has shown no particular knowledge.

Bit glass half full. I'd say the timing certainly supports him rocking up and hating January windows at Everton, too.

The reaction of the club hints to me that maybe they aren't very pleased about it (especially if it has anything suss to do with giving them Dele for free)

 

[rossdapep]

I've just re-realised one of my 'irrational dislikes'

The 'over x years of experience' has never made sense.

Besides if someone had experience from over 100 years, it's likely out of date

Pretty sure me bumping his thread started the process ?

Oh and Matt law is absolute tw*t. 100 years experience wtf is he talking about.

 

[the lad]

Poor Steve, I hope he doesn’t hate February now too.

 

[HodisGawd]

Did he jump or was he pushed?

The club has just burned assets worth £100m. If you were in Levy's shoes you'd think someone's head should roll for that, right?

 

[felmani26]

Pretty short statement, no mention of him scouting for over 100 years for us.

He was credited for scouting Danny Blanchflower, Jimmy Greaves and Dave Mackay - give the man some respect please guys!

 

[sausage]

I've just re-realised one of my 'irrational dislikes'

The 'over x years of experience' has never made sense.

Besides if someone had experience from over 100 years, it's likely out of date

Just think how many years experience Watford gained when they hired Hodgson and Lewington.

They're gonna win the bloody league

 

[yankspurs]

Kinda embarrassing from the club imo.

Much like the Ndombele & Gio statements & the fact they both ticked off the club, I would guess something happened between him & the club as well leading to his departure & absurdly brief statement.

 

[rossdapep]

Thinking out aloud.

I wonder if Conte has seen some of Hitchen's scouted options and felt that the quality was poor/not up to scratch.

Some scouts/sporting directors targets don't always align with certain clubs.

For example, if Luis Campos was to take his targets to Manchester United it may not work because United need players that are further in development.

I do wonder if Hitchen is very very good at establishing developing talent, just not for a team who have ambitions and objectives of titles and CL football. He may suit a club who are looking to unearth talent and allow them time to develop.

Of course, sporting director's remit changes when they move clubs but they may have more difficulty identifying players who are the more 'complete' package.

 

[Wig]

Did he burn down the stadium before he left or something? Very brief statement considering we were all aware of who he was.

Does make you wonder about the circumstances about his departure, for them to be so brief. They could at least have made a compilation video of all his Spurs highlights like they do for our long-serving players

 

[mil1lion]

Personally feel that Paratici is already doing a better job and being more proactive. He seems to be better at getting good deals which suits us with our limited budget. Hitchen was most known for his knowledge of French football where we've done our worst business. Not concerned by the news but we do need to overhaul our scouting network overall. We do need to get back to homegrown talent too so hopefully the new scout we got recently knows that market well.

 

[Delboy75]

I think it’s pretty obvious he’d been sidelined to pretty much making the tea. He’s had another offer and thought it’s better than doing the tea run. Who in their right mind would offer him a job looking at last few years is beyond me. So it is probably Everton.

 

[the lad]

Did he jump or was he pushed?

The club has just burned assets worth £100m. If you were in Levy's shoes you'd think someone's head should roll for that, right?

I will have nightmares thinking about being in the shoes of the one trophy man.

However you are totally correct another bald head should roll for burning £100 million of the anchor tenants money.

 

[Ginmela]

I heard hes got an audition as The Thing in the fantastic 4

 

[slartibartfast]

As others have said either he was responsible for all those shit signings and wasted millions or he wasn't doing his job.
Either way thats now Poch, Hitchen and Levy out of the way when it comes to transfers so theres nobody left of the old guard to blame.
LoCelso, Bergwijn, Ndombele, Sanchez, Gill, Doherty, Rodon, Sess, thats a mahoosive chunk of wasted cash and thats not all of them.
You can't have a scouting restructure and keep things the same.

You are the weakest link. Goodbye.