The Steve Hitchen thread

[rez9000]

Hope this is OK to start, mods.

I have to confess to some ignorance over the situation with Steve Hitchen. I've seen him described in various terms and much of what's been said has been quite negative around him.

Other than a few bits on AON, I've know very little about him, when he was hired, what precisely his job is supposed to be and what his job actually is - the difference between job title and job function essentially. I also don't know why he's being given such negative reviews by us (that's not me saying he should or shouldn't, only that I don't know why he is).

So, a thread to discuss this individual and hopefully some education for those of us who hear his name, but can't even picture his face, nor explain to an outsider what precisely he does (or doesn't as the case may be) for the club.

Discuss.

 

[VegasII]

Fat egg

 

[Shadydan]

 

[rez9000]

Fat egg

Explain.

NOW!

No, seriously, I don't get it.

EDIT: Nevermind. Thanks, @Shadydan

 

[dontcallme]

From my limited reading he was part of our scouting team in the early 2000s and left us with Comolli to go to Liverpool.

He went on to do scouting jobs for QPR and Derby. During those periods none of the clubs did particularly well in the transfer market.

I haven’t watched the Amazon doc but have heard people say he doesn’t come across as very knowledgeable.

So from the outside it seems strange for us to have him as head scout. His history and resume don’t scream out that he is a mastermind and nothing suggests he has earnt the position.

 

[Shadydan]

I haven’t watched the Amazon doc but have heard people say he doesn’t come across as very knowledgeable.

Based off a 20 second clip and 3 words, cue all the Spurs fans losing their shit

 

[wrd]

That documentary has done nothing but add a few quid to the coffers and bring a shit ton of negativity to people involved in it. Was not worth it in the slightest.

Look I'm bias just like everyone else, I'm guilty of seeing a name like Luis Campos and reading 2 articles that he's the scoutmaster general and wanting him to be DoF because Hitchens looks better suited to being on storage hunters, I admit that.

However Hitchens is judged on a couple of clips from a shitty documentary where editing is the star of the show and allows you to create compelling narratives, I think judging him on that documentary is unfair, the same as I think judging any of our players from that monstrosity of a documentary is unfair.

If people have more of an insight on the job Hitchens has done then I'd love to hear it, genuinely. I can only judge on our transfer windows and I'm admittedly left underwhelmed. I think we did a good job in terms of looking at the right kind of players when we were looking at De Ligt, De Jong and a few others but we seem to be caught in scouting excellent players out of our reach, where as Leicester seem to unearth absolute gems that are obtainable such as Perreira, Kante, Ndidi, Fofana. So do all the Red Bull teams, to an extent so do Dortmund. What are those teams doing that we aren't.

 

[Hercules]

Steve Hitchin is very highly regarded in the game, and has superb connections.

 

[PrettyColors]

Pushing so hard for Bergwijn (for 30 million) and being at least partly involved in the Doherty signing does not give me too much confidence in the guy.

 

[Black]

We looking for someone else to blame for Jose's fuck up ?‍

 

[PLTuck]

Hates his job.

Loved by Levy.

confused.com

 

[Keith Morris]

Steve Hitchin is very highly regarded in the game, and has superb connections.

Hi Steve

 

[Shadydan]

Hates his job.

Loved by Levy.

confused.com

He never actually said that

 

[PLTuck]

He never actually said that

Yeah I know. Just thought I'd join in the SC thing of talking total bollocks for a cheap dig at a man whose job I know nothing about.

 

[Hercules]

Hi Steve

Hi ?

 

[Keith Morris]

Hi ?

In truth, it is an interesting debate this one, as you say...credentials and networks are decent yet we end up with lo celso over Fernandes. I know us fans see it fairly simply as either the managers fault, or chairman’s or scout, I guess an accumulation of all for us at Spurs currently

 

[funkycoldmedina]

In truth, it is an interesting debate this one, as you say...credentials and networks are decent yet we end up with lo celso over Fernandes. I know us fans see it fairly simply as either the managers fault, or chairman’s or scout, I guess an accumulation of all for us at Spurs currently

LoCelso was Poch's choice, Fernandes was the back up option. Scouting only takes it so far if the manager has a strong preference for a particular player.

 

[Shadydan]

In truth, it is an interesting debate this one, as you say...credentials and networks are decent yet we end up with lo celso over Fernandes. I know us fans see it fairly simply as either the managers fault, or chairman’s or scout, I guess an accumulation of all for us at Spurs currently

You do realise that Hitchen isn't the reason why we picked Lo Celso over Fernandes don't you.

This is partly the reason why people like to blame those at the club for something according to a set narrative because they either don't know the true story or they refuse to believe it.

 

[danielneeds]

Pushing so hard for Bergwijn (for 30 million) and being at least partly involved in the Doherty signing does not give me too much confidence in the guy.

We were scouting Aarons for ages and the word was Hitchen and our scouts loved him. Jose and Mendes were clearly the ones pushing the Doherty deal, and to be fair i never thought it would go as badly as it has.

 

[Metalhead]

We looking for someone else to blame for Jose's fuck up ?‍

It's not a bad thread tbf. I know little about him but Hercules' response was somewhat reassuring.