Tottenham’s former head of academy and development, John McDermott, has already begun his new role as assistant technical director at the FA.
The 51-year-old spent the last fifteen years at Tottenham and helped to forge a strong and consistent academy during that time.
The likes of Harry Kane, Harry Winks, Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb, Jake Livermore, Andros Townsend, and Japhet Tanganga all made the successful transition from youth team to first-team under his watch.
Spurs have not yet announced a replacement for McDermott and Football.London’s Alasdair Gold has revealed that the club are in no hurry to do so as they want to get in the right man.
He wrote: “It’s going to be a big change for Spurs, with McDermott having been an integral part of the north London outfit’s academy for 15 years, overseeing the emergence of numerous talented academy products and a stream of England internationals.
“Tottenham are not rushing the process in finding McDermott’s replacement, well aware that is a time when academy products will have never been as important but also have to be of the highest possible quality due to the level the club is expected to perform at.”
Gold also revealed that the club want to appoint someone who will not just be able to work together will Jose Mourinho but also have a long-term vision beyond the Portuguese coach’s time at Spurs.
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“Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will have to find someone who can work closely with Mourinho but also have a view on the big picture beyond the Portuguese’s era”, he said.
“Step into the club’s £30million Hotspur Way training complex in Enfield and you’re entering a dream for coaches, with sprawling, pristine pitches, state-of-the-art recovery and gym areas and a structure in place at every age level.
“Everything is in place to guide even the youngest of players along the path to the first team.
“The new person at the helm will oversee the final stages of the academy careers of exciting players like Dennis Cirkin, Malachi Fagan-Walcott, Harvey White and J’Neill Bennett, make decisions on the future of the older players currently out on loan and help develop the next set of players to catch Mourinho’s eye.
“With the current financial problems facing football, club’s academies will come to the fore more than ever.
“Just as important as the players being recruited into the academy are the coaches who will help develop their talent and keep them on their journey.”
The journalist also revealed that the likes of Ryan Mason, U23s coach Wayne Burnett, and academy performance manager Dean Rastrick, remain in high regard at Spurs.
He added: “The club have high hopes for 28-year-old Ryan Mason and his development through the coaching levels and he was given the club’s U19 UEFA Youth League side to manage while working with U18s boss Matt Taylor, just ten years his senior, with that group of players.
“U23s coach Wayne Burnett, another decade on in age at 48, provides that vital step between the development squad and Mourinho’s first team, which Troy Parrott and Japhet Tanganga have benefited from in recent seasons.
“There is also the club’s academy performance manager Dean Rastrick, who has worked alongside McDermott for years with an overall brief, having joined Spurs a decade ago.
“Rastrick is highly-regarded and popular within the club and is well placed to be among those considered to replace his long-serving colleague, with former Arsenal man Steve Morrow also linked to the role and there will be plenty in the frame for a job that is right up there in the world of academy football.
“Whoever does succeed McDermott has big shoes to fill at a time when all eyes will be on academies, but at Tottenham, the new person will have everything in place to succeed.”
Spurs Web Opinion
There is no doubt that whoever replaces John McDermott will have huge shoes to fill at Spurs. One only needs to listen to the way some of our academy graduates talk about him and his influence in their development to know how big of a miss he will be. The fact that we still haven’t appointed a replacement for McDermott despite announcing his departure back in March tells you that the club are being extremely cautious in making the appointment.
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