According to Alasdair Gold, Tottenham Hotspur’s new hire, Simon Davies, has been hired to help bridge the gap between the academy and the first team to make progression easier.
The north London side have undergone a rebuild, not only in the first-team squad but in the backroom staff as well as they have hired a number of new staff to key areas under Fabio Paratici, as they look to improve under Antonio Conte.
One new signing that might have flown under the radar is Davies, who has been hired as the new head of coaching methodology and according to Gold will be used to ‘sync up’ the academy style of play and the first team in order to make it easier for prospects to come through.
Gold said: “Simon Davies has come in with the title of head of coaching methodology. From what I understand that role is to kind of bridge the gap between first team and the academy and work essentially with academy manager Dean Rastrick, I guess just making it all sync up.
“I suppose a lot of clubs will look at the likes of I suppose Ajax are a great example, of I hate to use the jargon, but a synergy between the first team and the academy and having it makes the progression from academy to first team easier, I guess, if everyone is playing in a certain way has a similar ethos and, and yeah, so he’s going to help that.”
TIF Thoughts on Gold’s comments…
Spurs have struggled to bring through a lot of top-level talents from the academy to the first team, only the likes of Oliver Skipp, and Japhet Tanganga have recently been able to push themselves into the first team in the last couple of seasons.
Will Davies transform Spurs?
No
Yes
We have seen the likes of Harry Kane come through but he is the only world-class talent that has graduated from that academy. However, there is hope for the club as they have the crop of Dane Scarlett, Alfie Devine, and Harvey White in the academy and this is why the hire of Davies is so important.
Being able to sync up the academy and the first team will allow the young prospects to get a taste of how Conte’s side plays and what is expected of them so when they do get a chance they can hit the ground running, rather than play catch up. This hire has the potential to transform Spurs and their future trajectory.