with long term planning the academy is supposed to provide options over time.
this is the other footballing issue that we need to look at - a dearth of talents coming through the system.
its hard to judge young talents but I think we lost something when we lost McDermott and did not replace him adequately. Under McDermott we saw likes of Harry Kane, Harry Winks, Danny Rose and Andros Townsend get effective first team introductions.
Investing in the football development architecture is a dark art and if Levy and henchmen can't get the first team right, I don't expect them to do better with youth.
Levy speaks well here about how the vision post-McDermott :
https://www.football.london/tottenh...m-academy-restructure-john-mcdermott-18762984
“We have taken considerable time to review our staffing structure over the past few months following John McDermott’s departure to join the FA, in order to clearly identify roles and responsibilities in each area of the Academy moving forward," he said.
“We have a proud record of producing Academy players that can step up to our First Team and we believe Dean is the right person to ensure our player development principles and philosophies – intrinsically linked to our identity as a Club – will continue to evolve and be implemented as we move forward into the new season and beyond.
Not exactly close to the vision right now but it seems we have taken a cheaper option with internal succession.