Steve Hitchen

[DubaiSpur]

What does he do?

Rims Levy to perfection, as I understand it.

That bit in the documentary just summed him up to a tee for me. 'I hate January', from a man whose job is literally to buy players in either January or the summer.

He's in his role because he's Levy's yes-man and gives the little c*nt a majority on that incompetent three-person 'transfer committee' of his. But make no mistake, he's an utterly useless deadweight.

 

[Daisuk]

The club has been in general on an upward trend so what exactly isn't working?

Our scouting and recruitment system has been sub par for a long time. We sign far too many expensive players that don't end up performing particularly well. There will always be an element of gamble when signing a player, of course, but if you look at the ones we've recruited and whether or not they've actually developed at Tottenham or not, very few have. Even the more established players we sign don't perform particularly well. This can happen, of course - but when it keeps happening again and again, you've got to be able to ask questions of the system. What isn't working? Are we not developing players well enough, or are we just recruiting the wrong players?

 

[Daisuk]

Here's a list of our "major" signings since 2015, for instance. I'll put the ones that have actually come good in bold, and acceptable ones in italics:

Yedlin
Wimmer
Trippier
N'Jie
Son
Alderweireld
N'Koudou
Wanyama
Janssen
Sissoko
Foyth
Gazzaniga
Llorente
Aurier
Moura
Sanchez
Gedson
Clarke
Lo Celso
Sessegnon
Bergwijn
Ndombele
Bale
Vinicius
Rodon
Højbjerg
Doherty
Reguilon

There's still time for a few of these to come good, of course - but we need a system to accommodate them. So many of these have had 2+ seasons, yet they just don't seem integrated in the squad. Why did we sign Vinicius as a backup striker if we weren't prepared to pay up for him? Seems like it was just a punt all along - so why even bother? Why didn't we use a young striker in his stead? Just the odd example - but the list is littered with weird signings.

 

[Modric THFC]

The guy that looked at our squad, saw the trouble we have fitting in 25 for europe, because of Dier and Davies not qualifying as Association trained.
And then went out and got two more in Rodon and Doherty.
No other Premier League club that is regularly in Europe have two players that have played their entire senior career in England but don't qualify as association trained.
Thanks to Hitchen's due dilligence we have four.

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

Here's a list of our "major" signings since 2015, for instance. I'll put the ones that have actually come good in bold, and acceptable ones in italics:

Yedlin
Wimmer
Trippier
N'Jie
Son
Alderweireld
N'Koudou
Wanyama
Janssen
Sissoko
Foyth
Gazzaniga
Llorente
Aurier
Moura
Sanchez
Gedson
Clarke
Lo Celso
Sessegnon
Bergwijn
Ndombele
Bale
Vinicius
Rodon
Højbjerg
Doherty
Reguilon

There's still time for a few of these to come good, of course - but we need a system to accommodate them. So many of these have had 2+ seasons, yet they just don't seem integrated in the squad. Why did we sign Vinicius as a backup striker if we weren't prepared to pay up for him? Seems like it was just a punt all along - so why even bother? Why didn't we use a young striker in his stead? Just the odd example - but the list is littered with weird signings.

Wanyama was just “acceptable”? He cost fivepence and was utterly reliable as part of one of our best ever midfield partnerships. You aren’t very easy to please, are you?

 

[DubaiSpur]

Wanyama was just “acceptable”? He cost fivepence and was utterly reliable as part of one of our best ever midfield partnerships. You aren’t very easy to please, are you?

He was also only fit for a year until both his knees exploded. On the face of it, we brought him in on a five year deal, he had a magnificent first season, and then he had two seasons of basically being semi-injured or fully injured until we sold him.

You have to say, while it was a good signing, it wasn't out of this world. Just one of those things.

 

[SpurMeUp]

How do fans know what role Hitchen has played in our signings?

For example, he could just execute a manager and levy’s wishes. He could have a folder of players who no one was interested in.

Truth is we don’t know how in/competent he is. Still, no reason not to brick on him from the ‘I’m clued up because I’ve watched an Amazon doc’ crew


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[SpurMeUp]

Here's a list of our "major" signings since 2015, for instance. I'll put the ones that have actually come good in bold, and acceptable ones in italics:

Yedlin
Wimmer
Trippier
N'Jie
Son
Alderweireld
N'Koudou
Wanyama
Janssen
Sissoko
Foyth
Gazzaniga
Llorente
Aurier
Moura
Sanchez
Gedson
Clarke
Lo Celso
Sessegnon
Bergwijn
Ndombele
Bale
Vinicius
Rodon
Højbjerg
Doherty
Reguilon

There's still time for a few of these to come good, of course - but we need a system to accommodate them. So many of these have had 2+ seasons, yet they just don't seem integrated in the squad. Why did we sign Vinicius as a backup striker if we weren't prepared to pay up for him? Seems like it was just a punt all along - so why even bother? Why didn't we use a young striker in his stead? Just the odd example - but the list is littered with weird signings.

You’re honestly asking why we didn’t pay up front for a failed striker? You’d prefer we were stuck with a player who cost tens of millions, rather than the smart way we covered ourself?

Most reports had Vinicius down as a Mourinho buy. So all credit to the club on limiting our risk.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[Daisuk]

Wanyama was just “acceptable”? He cost fivepence and was utterly reliable as part of one of our best ever midfield partnerships. You aren’t very easy to please, are you?

He was fantastic for that one season, our player of the season that season, and he cost us next to nothing, so sure, we can mark him as a hit. But he only lasted one season!

 

[parklane1]

Are you defending Hitchen.? If so, why?

Defending no one, just saying fans will always find someone to blame its what they do.

 

[Gutter Boy]

 

[DubaiSpur]

How do fans know what role Hitchen has played in our signings?

For example, he could just execute a manager and levy’s wishes. He could have a folder of players who no one was interested in.

Truth is we don’t know how in/competent he is. Still, no reason not to brick on him from the ‘I’m clued up because I’ve watched an Amazon doc’ crew


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

Instead of all these imaginary scenarios of him being a frustrated superscout with a folder of great players in his desk, I prefer to think about what he actually said, on camera, attributable to him, directly. Said to the tealady for some reason.

'I hate January'.

For a man whose job revolves around four months - January, June, July, August - to declare that he hates doing his job for 25% of the time he's supposed to actually do it is just ass-kissing Levy to a degree I can barely fathom.

Bad enough he buys dud after dud. That he's a Levy mini-me who also kisses up to the boss is just proof of him being an incompetent promoted well beyond his actual ability.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

Rims Levy to perfection, as I understand it.

That bit in the documentary just summed him up to a tee for me. 'I hate January', from a man whose job is non-figuratively to buy players in either January or the summer.

He's in his role because he's Levy's yes-man and gives the little c*nt a majority on that incompetent three-person 'transfer committee' of his. But make no mistake, he's an utterly useless deadweight.

He can still dislike the January window, whether it's "literally" his job or not. There are parts of my job I don't like, even though they are, "literally", my job.
January is generally a difficult time to get in decent players, I'm not surprised he doesn't like it. I suspect it's not an uncommon opinion amongst his peers.
As for the transfer committee, well, neither you nor I nor any of us actually know the workings.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

He can still dislike the January window, whether it's "non-figuratively" his job or not. There are parts of my job I don't like, even though they are, "non-figuratively", my job.
January is generally a difficult time to get in decent players, I'm not surprised he doesn't like it. I suspect it's not an uncommon opinion amongst his peers.
As for the transfer committee, well, neither you nor I nor any of us actually know the workings.

Ssshhh. Don't put a lid on @DubaiSpur's seething.

I genuinely love his posts. The venom.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Instead of all these imaginary scenarios of him being a frustrated superscout with a folder of great players in his desk, I prefer to think about what he actually said, on camera, attributable to him, directly. Said to the tealady for some reason.

'I hate January'.

For a man whose job revolves around four months - January, June, July, August - to declare that he hates doing his job for 25% of the time he's supposed to actually do it is just ass-kissing Levy to a degree I can barely fathom.

Bad enough he buys dud after dud. That he's a Levy mini-me who also kisses up to the boss is just proof of him being an incompetent promoted well beyond his actual ability.

'I hate you'. Doesn't make you any less of a poster or person or does it? A phrase does not define someone's job competence.

All Hitchen was saying is I have my butt worked by Levy over January. Would you prefer Hitchen sipping Capochinos in the club Jacuzzi over the Jan?

 

[Lilbaz]

'I hate you'. Doesn't make you any less of a poster or person or does it? A phrase does not define someone's job competence.

All Hitchen was saying is I have my butt worked by Levy over January. Would you prefer Hitchen sipping Capochinos in the club Jacuzzi over the Jan?

Tbf everyone hate the january transfer window. The summer window you plan for, you have specific targets, clubs are willing to do business. January is a desperation window. Things have gone wrong either through injuries or players not being up to scratch leading to poor performances on the pitch. It is a scramble to find clubs willing to sell, it's only a month long and prices can be extortionate as clubs will have difficulty replacing anyone they do sell.

 

[DubaiSpur]

'I hate you'. Doesn't make you any less of a poster or person or does it? A phrase does not define someone's job competence.

All Hitchen was saying is I have my butt worked by Levy over January. Would you prefer Hitchen sipping Capochinos in the club Jacuzzi over the Jan?

A) Imperfect analogy imo, because the logical counterpoint to that is that 'I hate January' doesn't mean January is any less important as a window, not that it doesn't delegitimize Hitchen.

B) I can believe he gets done over by Levy in January - everyone wanting ambition from the club gets done over by Levy, sooner or later. What infuriates me is how much he's trying to rim Levy with his 'I hate January' stick, because it's the perfect thing for Levy to hear - means he doesn't have to spend, after all. This is a man willing to admit to hating 1/4th of the time available each year to prove he's not just a spineless suckup - doesn't scream 'visionary Director of Football' to me.

C) I don't hate you mate - far from it.

 

[DubaiSpur]

He can still dislike the January window, whether it's "non-figuratively" his job or not. There are parts of my job I don't like, even though they are, "non-figuratively", my job.
January is generally a difficult time to get in decent players, I'm not surprised he doesn't like it. I suspect it's not an uncommon opinion amongst his peers.
As for the transfer committee, well, neither you nor I nor any of us actually know the workings.

His peers being, who, the lookouts on the Titanic? Because he certainly doesn't belong with other Directors of Football worthy of the name, imo.

And I would disagree anyway. I suspect a proper DoF sees every window as an opportunity to shape the squad, add something new, keep the team going, ship out deadwood, keep the squad in flux so no one gets comfortable.The ones who dislike January are the chairmen, since they have to pay more to get players over the line. Well, the chairmen like Levy, anyway.

If the DoF is echoing the chairman...*our* chairman's position of not liking January because it doesn't have 550,000 weeks in it to haggle 25p off the fee, I don't think he's doing his job properly.

 

[SpurMeUp]

A) Imperfect analogy imo, because the logical counterpoint to that is that 'I hate January' doesn't mean January is any less important as a window, not that it doesn't delegitimize Hitchen.

B) I can believe he gets done over by Levy in January - everyone wanting ambition from the club gets done over by Levy, sooner or later. What infuriates me is how much he's trying to rim Levy with his 'I hate January' stick, because it's the perfect thing for Levy to hear - means he doesn't have to spend, after all. This is a man willing to admit to hating 1/4th of the time available each year to prove he's not just a spineless suckup - doesn't scream 'visionary Director of Football' to me.

C) I don't hate you mate - far from it.

No one hates anyone! The points were: 1. A statement doesn’t determine someone’s ability. 2. You want Hitchen working his butt off in the transfer window. It shouldn’t be a breeze. If it were you’d have a greater logic for questioning levy’s reign.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[DubaiSpur]

No one hates anyone! The points were: 1. A statement doesn’t determine someone’s ability. 2. You want Hitchen working his butt off in the transfer window. It shouldn’t be a breeze. If it were you’d have a greater logic for questioning levy’s reign.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

1. Fair enough.

2. See above mate - you should be looking forward to the January window as a DoF, it's a chance to change your squad up, do your job. Is it harder than in the summer? Sure. But you shouldn't *hate* it.

I have something similar in my job, in the sense that my team generally has two major periods in the year where we play a central role in proposing policies, programs and investments and ensuring they're approved by Cabinet and the House and put into effect. Are they hectic, frenetic pains in the ass? Absolutely.

But I make the point to my analysts that this is what the rest of the year is for - all the negotiations, preparations, consultations and foresight work is so that, in these two periods, we can ensure that Canada's strategic interests are advanced - twice a year, we can help shape Canada. If you're not energized by that, maybe you should think about whether a role at a unit with those responsibilities is for you.

I'd put the same thing to Hitchen - your role involves two periods of the year where you can show what you'll do to make Tottenham better. if you hate one quarter of the time available to you to bring players in and improve the squad, sod off or at least have the grace to go back to being an U-23 scout, or at a similar level where you aren't expected to deliver.