I’d be fascinated to know what Levy has spent on Non Disclosure Agreements in the last sixteen years. I’m sure he has an itemised spreadsheet with them all listed somewhere.
When Spurs captured Paul ‘Mitch’ Mitchell from Southampton it was seen as somewhat of a coup. Whilst Saints sold half their team, it was the boy Levy that executed a rather more sophisticated raid; instead opting to swoop the men that constructed that eye-catching side.
Whilst it’s unlikely that Mitchell will be revealing what went on during his time at Tottenham anytime soon, in truth the fact that Mitchell resigned (and chose to do so for maximum impact just days before the season started) tells us all we might need to know.
Head of Tottenham’s elite potential identification David Webb left the club last week.
The highly respected Ian Broomfield did not have his contract renewed in December.
Tottenham’s head of player identification Rob Maczenzie also quit in August, days after Mitchell’s resignation.
Scouting at Spurs has been ‘fluid’ under Levy, to put it mildly. Broomfield has left before. Steve Hitchen appointment isn’t his first time at THFC either.
What’s troubling is that there isn’t just an ebb and flow in an imperfect world at play here. Recruitment at Spurs is a raging sea that occasionally plateaus out thanks to the law of averages when someone good gets bought who didn’t cost the earth.
The inclusion of what any reasonable person would view as an unbelievably onerous notice period of 16 months only adds to the circus that is our transfer dept.
It now turns out that Levy has folded, and is now allowing Mitchell to skip the remaining YEAR of notice period and has been granted gardening leave in which he is free to talk to prospective employers.
I wonder how many showers it will take to get the prison smell out of his pores.
Of course the truth is Spurs doesn’t actually have transfer department, something Paul Mitchell, Ian Broomfield, Steve Hitchen and Rob Maczenzie could all testify to (if they were allowed to).
There’s rarely continuity, even under under the reign of each manager.
Pattern emerging? Yup, that’s because there’s one man calling the shots. One man micro managing every damn activity at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, right down to the noise the lifts will make.
Window dressing is what passes for a transfer infrastructure at THFC. If this isn’t the case, then can you even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to guarantee a zero net spend, season after season after season?
So halfway through a season, we not only have no lucid transfer plan, but worse yet a commitment from the guy that denied us a lucid plan not to deviate from endless search for muck which has most recently produced Sissoko, Clinton Cards and No’Cluedo.
We’re building the most expensive stadium this side of Watford and as ever, the footballing side of the business is a flying by the seat of your pants operation.
Levy has either been dreadfully unlucky at hiring the right people (which is awkward to comprehend as he has form for re-hiring head scouts he’s previously fired) or, the scouting and transfer environment at Spurs is simply too toxic to permit continuity.
