Trevor Birch

[Nine while nine]

Let's hope Hitchen and Jose work well together as he will be relaying first team affairs in that committee

I thought it was telling that, when Jose was interviewed about the Doherty signing in the clip below, he said he wanted to thank Mr Levy, 'Steve', the player and his agent in that order. It's obvious that Hitchen played a big role in that transfer and that Jose was grateful to him for helping to get it across the line.









Ok, I'll be honest. When I first heard the interview, I did sit there a while thinking 'Steve? Who the fuck is Steve?', but when the penny did finally drop, I thought it noteworthy that Hitchen got a namecheck. First name terms too.

 

[blodge99]

Whilst he was living down here in West Wales, his family were still up in London.
He apparently has a huge book of contacts both in the football and finance worlds. Guessing, we heard he was looking to come back to London and saw a great opportunity to add someone of his experience to the make up of the football operations side of the club.
He did an amazing job at Swansea, and probably saved them from going under.

 

[Spurrific]

Not going to lie, bit of a shit way to find out I hadn’t got the job

 

[SpursSince1980]

I'd honestly be scared of a Amazon sale, still don't know if Bezos would put money into the team. On the one hand he has infinite money and wants to have a big fuck you to the NFL for not letting him in or he just buys the team to just owns a team and is a kroenke, we shall see what happens if he does buy us

Amazon would not buy a sports team. Bezos may. And Amazon may feature prominintly in terms of sponsorship, but the company itself does not and would not do that.

 

[curlacious]

I thought it was telling that, when Jose was interviewed about the Doherty signing in the clip below, he said he wanted to thank Mr Levy, 'Steve', the player and his agent in that order. It's obvious that Hitchen played a big role in that transfer and that Jose was grateful to him for helping to get it across the line.









Ok, I'll be honest. When I first heard the interview, I did sit there a while thinking 'Steve? Who the fuck is Steve?', but when the penny did finally drop, I thought it noteworthy that Hitchen got a namecheck. First name terms too.

 

[Strikeb4ck]

Do you all think Amazon buying the naming rights to the stadium is possible?

 

[SpursSince1980]

Do you all think Amazon buying the naming rights to the stadium is possible?

If someone like Bezos was to buy the team, then yes. Were that not to be the case, and they were interested in the naming rights, then that deal would have already taken place. It would have tied directly into them releasing All or Northing. And they are one of a few small handful of companies that would probably give Levy what he wants.

Conversely, they may also be waiting for the shirt sponsorship to expire or to buy out the rights from AIA. Therefore being both the stadium and shirt sponsor. Who knows?

What should also be considered is their evaluation of the club in terms of it's international brand recognition. Which is high, but has taken a significant hit with being out of the CL. And to compound this problem, our hands are tied, in terms of transfers. So, could be a while before we are in the CL again. That may also influence their decision making. Hard to say.

 

[Metalhead]

Seems we're really taking squad depth seriously this year. We're even signing a backup chairman.

Looking forward to the formation of the BSoTB.

 

[Pochemon94]

the sale prob wont happen but I wish I could be in the negotiation room of Levy and Bezos, it would be watching the immovable object vs the unstoppable force lol

 

[RichieS]

I think the club are at a moment where there are some very significant financial decisions to be taken - in particular, restructuring the finance on the stadium and other debt and the completion of the Northumberland Development Project. Birch is very experienced in these areas and I would expect his addition will allow Levy to step away from some of these. I very much doubt his role is preparing for a sale or to sort out any financial distress - I don't think the club is in any financial difficulty and a sale in the next 18-24 months is unlikely given the current economic climate.

The stadium debt has already been restructured - the announcement was made about a year ago iirc. Came out at 30-odd million a year for 20-something years. Nothing too drastic so I agree that finanical difficulty is highly unlikely.

Anyone know the difference between a Technical (Performance) Director and a DIrector of Football?!

 

[King of Otters]

Sounds like he should be anchoring the News at 10.

 

[The Legend of Tanguy]

The stadium debt has already been restructured - the announcement was made about a year ago iirc. Came out at 30-odd million a year for 20-something years. Nothing too drastic so I agree that finanical difficulty is highly unlikely.

Anyone know the difference between a Technical (Performance) Director and a DIrector of Football?!

From the descriptions, it appears as if Director of Football Operations (Birch) will assist Levy with the overall finances, management of club assets, transfer negotiation, and just generally the business side of the club's operations. Technical Performance Director (Hitchen) is in charge of scouting, internal player analysis (First Team and Academy), transfer target identification, and youth recruitment. Although I think it could be possible that Birch is here to begin facilitating a club takeover, it's more likely that he's here to take some of the burden off of Levy, who seems to have an impossible number of responsibilities to manage.

 

[Sweech]

It's a closed league, doesn't have to do with them hating them more it's more of a lot of them are old money and he isn't, American sports is all about the "Boys club" mentality and the owners especially in the NFL are wayyyyy more into you gotta be one of them than any other sport in America.

There’s also a big song and dance you often need to do in American sports ownership to essentially woo the league chairman and all the other owners before purchasing a team. It’s the same in the NFL, NHL, and NBA (I assume MLB as well but baseball is boring as fuck so I don’t know). Where I’ve seen many potential owners come in who think they can just slam down some money and get a team and it never works.

Quite different in football team ownership though obviously where coming in and slamming down some dosh is all you need to do. Unless you’re a state that pirates games like we saw with Newcastle.

 

[HedgieSpur]

Joe Lewis is a gazillionaire. He just prefers to spend his money on yachts, art, wall street statues and a community he built in Orlando.

...and pissing almost a billion away on buying shares in a bank prior to its collapse of course...

 

[Sweech]

Wouldn’t be surprised if this type of appointment is also to help Levy with getting his sponsorships over the line. Obviously we have an opening for a stadium sponsor and the shirt sleeve sponsor that Levy has yet to find a suitor for.

 

[yankspurs]

There’s also a big song and dance you often need to do in American sports ownership to essentially woo the league chairman and all the other owners before purchasing a team. It’s the same in the NFL, NHL, and NBA (I assume MLB as well but baseball is boring as fuck so I don’t know). Where I’ve seen many potential owners come in who think they can just slam down some money and get a team and it never works.

Quite different in football team ownership though obviously where coming in and slamming down some dosh is all you need to do. Unless you’re a state that pirates games like we saw with Newcastle.

It is the same with MLB.

 

[whitesocks]

I really don't like the sound of this appointment.
Not that we are going bust (Lewis wouldn't allow that), but he might be here to balance the books in a way that we are not going to like.

 

[Pochemon94]

It is the same with MLB.

yup in the MLB it seems like you almost have to have an old "superstar" (Jeter/Rodriguez/Magic Johnson) to be the face even though they would own like 1-5% of the club.

 

[yankspurs]

yup in the MLB it seems like you almost have to have an old "superstar" (Jeter/Rodriguez/Magic Johnson) to be the face even though they would own like 1-5% of the club.

Agreed but it depends on the star. A-Rod actually withdrew from the Mets as the owners would never approve him(well, also because his group was outbid by Cohen).

 

[Cavehillspur]

Clearly been brought in to sanction a deal for Messi..