Our scouting network

[joey55]

Re: Broomfield

Not sure this follows really. The Pleat era was also pretty much the entire Graham and Hoddle era (and a bit of Gross). Not many success stories in the transfer market over that period! And those that were, were very much established premiership players: Kanoute, Sheringham, Ziege, Keane, Poyet...Sherwood (at a push!). On the flip side, you've got Ben Thatcher, Perry, Leonhardsen, Rebrov, Freund, Richards, Postiga, Toda, Bunji, Redknapp, Acimovic, Blondel, Korsten.... I don't see much value there! To be fair, I'm not sure how much of that can actually be blamed on Pleat. Most of his supporters spent that era denying he had anything to do with most signings, apart from a grudging acceptance that Andy Booth on loan under Graham was properly his recommendation!

As for the players signed under Arnesen that had been 'followed' before - isn't that a bit of coincidence? We never signed that quality under Pleat for 6 years but he leaves and we do? Which just suggests to me that he was actually part of the problem. There is nothing to say those players would have signed had Pleat stayed. In fact, the opposite is true. Many others of a similar ilk had slipped through the net over the Pleat years despite the fact we were 'following' them. What is to say the same wouldn't have happened with Lennon, Huddlestone etc? I really couldn't give a toss about following. That should be par for the course for a club like Spurs. It is getting it done that is key and Pleat didn't. Except when the clubs we were meant to be competing with didn't want them, ie Etherington, Davies, Doherty, McEwan... can't think why they weren't interested! Hilarious, at the time, that we thought Pleat had landed a load of stars for the future for a knock down price.... and in the end, it was only thanks to Simon Davies that we didn't make a loss on them!

You have to remember where we were at the time. Also Pleat wasn't responsible for first team signings. He changed the emphasis of the club and we started looking to recruit mainly young, British talent. Prior to this I don't remember much in the way of a decent recruitment policy and it seemed to be down to the manager. Francis, Graham and Hoddle all seemed to by mainly older, established players who weren't that good and cost a lot in wages. It was Pleat that started scouting the lower leagues and looked for younger talent who wouldn't drain the clubs finances. In his only transfer window we signed Defoe and Brown. We had to pull out of a deal for Robinson at the last minute as FA rules prevented us loaning him back to Leeds. We were also linked heavily to Dawson and Reid, to the extent that Skysports announced we were signing Reid. The following summer we signed Carrick, Davenport and Davis. I think it's highly unlikely they were players Arnesen was looking at for PSV and fit perfectly with the change in emphasis we'd already seen. There was definitely a change in the way we recruit and scout that happened when Pleat was at the club. He was no super scout, but deserves credit for the changes he made.

 

[milo]

Re: Broomfield

To be honest that's virtually everyone to an extent. It's not that we pretend to see players we haven't, but we just aren't watching them anywhere near as carefully as our own players. Watching other teams is just so different to watching Spurs as we don't do it with the same nervous intensity. When watching Spurs we tend to notice virtually every little thing and analyze all parts of our players game. So when we watch Atheltic for example, we see Falcao score some great goals, but I bet most people wouldn't be able to give anywhere near the detailed analysis of his performance as we can for Defoe after one of our games. Often after one of our matches I can hardly remember anything about the contribution of some of the opposition players, but can talk for hours about what our players did. Last season I watched loads of Fulham, but was mainly watching Dembele as I was sure we'd be after him. I know his game so well, but despite all his goals I actually don't know much about Dempsey.

If you read the Lloris thread there are loads of posts that just don't seem in keeping with his statistics. I know statistics don't tell the whole story, but they can be very accurate at pointing to strong characteristics in a players game and even his over all performance level. I wonder just to what extent people have really watched him carefully. In my experience even the best known names in the game aren't particularly well scrutinised outside of their own fan base. If you read some of the stuff written about our best known players in recent years, such as VDV and Modric, on non Spurs forums and you'd honestly think they'd never seen them play. It's not as if most people haven't seen Modric and VDV plenty of times, but it's just not with the same level of intense interest Spurs fans do.

I'd agree with a lot of this, I think that many people overstate the amount that they have seen a player

 

[Gutter Boy]

Re: Broomfield

So, an unsubstantiated rumour then? No official announcement and his Linkedin page stills says he works for us.

 

[Mumorn]

Re: Broomfield

couldnt agree more, FM is a class tool to use. I hope our next striker has 20 shooting.

I dont think anyone in the game actually has 20 finishing

 

[DubaiSpur]

Re: Broomfield

I dont think anyone in the game actually has 20 finishing

Huntelaar, I think.

 

[Denmark Spur]

Re: Broomfield

Tottenham Hotspur part ways with chief scout from Harry Redknapp regime

Tottenham Hotspur have dismissed chief scout Ian Broomfield.

The decision to remove Broomfield as head of recruitment - jointly taken by new coach Andre Villas-Boas and the club chairman Daniel Levy - is part of a broader plan to modernise and improve the London-based Tottenham's sporting infrastructure. Broomfield had been one of the last survivors of the Harry Redknapp-led regime that Levy decided could take the club no further last season.

Formally appointed as Tottenham's chief scout in the summer of 2009, he quickly sacked predecessor Mel Johnson, who was forced to take action against the club for unfair dismissal. A former professional footballer who took up a career as a police detective before returning to the game full-time to scout for George Graham and David O'Leary, Broomfield had also scouted for Redknapp at Portsmouth.

Extravagant transfer market activity at Leeds United and Portsmouth were followed by administration at both clubs.

Broomfield's limited involvement in Tottenham's summer transfer business had seen the 61 year old inquire about positions elsewhere in England. Should the out-of-work Redknapp succeed in finding a new job in the Premier League, Broomfield will be favoured to renew their partnership.

Villas-Boas, himself a former scout, and Levy have yet to decide on Broomfield's replacement. Tottenham's academy made their co-ordinator of scouting, Paul Senior, redundant last month with the well-regarded Senior joining Charlton Athletic as the Championship club's head of recruitment.

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/foo...s-with-chief-scout-from-harry-redknapp-regime

 

[Mattilda Collywobs]

Re: Broomfield

At the end of last season, Ian expressed a desire to pursue his career elsewhere; our understanding being that he intends to develop a consultancy. Any suggestion this was instigated by Andre is wholly false, as is the suggestion his severance was acrimonious.

 

[milo]

Re: Broomfield

At the end of last season, Ian expressed a desire to pursue his career elsewhere; our understanding being that he intends to develop a consultancy. Any suggestion this was instigated by Andre is wholly false, as is the suggestion his severance was acrimonious.

Where did you get that from?

 

[P.D.]

Re: Broomfield

If Paul Senior is so highly rated then why did we get rid of him.

 

[Bullet]

Re: Broomfield

At the end of last season, Ian expressed a desire to pursue his career elsewhere; our understanding being that he intends to develop a consultancy. Any suggestion this was instigated by Andre is wholly false, as is the suggestion his severance was acrimonious.

Er... what is your current role at Spurs?

 

[Jordinho]

Re: Broomfield

Er... what is your current role at Spurs?

Group Operations and Finance Director of ENIC? 8-[

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

Re: Broomfield

I think that some older (and younger) posters find it frustrating when people comment on a player or generally on football based on their experiences in a computer game (however well researched) rather than first hand or in the real world.

Especially when FM's stats are actually decided by

a) a fan of the club and are often woefully incorrect (I remember a couple of years back having an argument on the SI forum because Curtis Davies had a higher potential rating than Ledley King, absolutely absurd!)
b) each club can only have a total of amount of points decided on where they finished the league the previous season, so in effect an underachieving team have their players stats dumbed down.

As for Broomfield departing. No real big surprise there is there? A new manager often wants to bring in his own coaching / scouting staff. People he trusts and can work with. I've heard rumours on the grapevine that AVB and Sherwood don't get on too. Hopefully that means AVB will win that battle and get the taco out of the club I love.

 

[metalgear]

Re: Broomfield

Group Operations and Finance Director of ENIC? 8-[

[h=3]Operations and Finance Director[/h] Matthew Collecott is Group Operations and Finance Director of ENIC having joined the group in 1998. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and worked for Price Waterhouse in Europe and Africa before joining ENIC, overseeing investments across the sports, entertainment and media group, specifically with Slavia Prague, AEK Athens and Vicenza Calcio. He is also Executive Director of a number of private property ventures.

:-k

 

[Superhudd]

Re: Broomfield

My brother told me tonight that my Nephew got offered his first trial... with Charlton. Got to remember he's only 7 hahaha

Edit - Just had a little look on the charlton site and it seems that he will not be joining the Youth team until the age of 9 should he excel, but they are taking him under there wing as it were and he will be looked at consistently over the next 2 years. See excert from site

Boys cannot officially join our academy until the age of nine, but we are well aware that young players can begin to show promise well before then, which is why we have set up a number of special development centres for seven and eight-year-olds which act as 'feeders' into our academy.

At these centres, situated in schools and leisure centres around London and the South East, coaches can keep an eye on the development of our very young boys and the more skilled ones will be invited in the academy once they reach the age of nine

 

[Superhudd]

Re: Broomfield

Had his trial Friday, got told today that he is now part of Charlton U-8s setup.

Starts once a week practice every Friday now, but still plays for his Sunday team.

Me and my brother cannot stop laughing, we both think we were better at his age. Its a bit exciting.

 

[Mumorn]

Re: Broomfield

Had his trial Friday, got told today that he is now part of Charlton U-8s setup.

Starts once a week practice every Friday now, but still plays for his Sunday team.

Me and my brother cannot stop laughing, we both think we were better at his age. Its a bit exciting.

I know people who are professional footballers and they weren't even the best in the there year at school. They just wanted it more and were more dedicated. Good luck to your nephew, such a young age, anything can happen

 

[ArcspacE]

Re: Broomfield

Er... what is your current role at Spurs?

Jetset's PA

 

[AuroRaman]

Re: Broomfield

Jetset's PA

I thought that was Rossi

 

[Danners9]

Sometimes I wonder if scouting in general is a defunct industry. Full time scouting, anyway.

Clubs have part time regional scouts who watch games and report back. My assumption is they will do the same thing for a number of clubs and go with a brief in mind to look for certain things for a certain team, or watch players on a tip off from someone else before recommending them to someone next in line. The same thing with youth teams and district/county trial matches.

Pushy agents tout their client around from club to club, arrange trial trips to a country and a week at various clubs to get him a move. More of these and there is no need for scouts to go anywhere, the players come to you.

On top of that there are independent companies who compile footage of players and send the DVDs to clubs. My friend used to do this for the Belgian and French leagues, Spurs was an occasional client although I don't know who they were looking at - if anyone. It may have been potential Europa/CL opponents.

No doubt games like Football Manager have been used by teams, maybe not to sign someone based on a 20 season game as Spurs manager but as a guide to research further into the player. England has a problem whereby Brazilians or Argentinians have a language barrier (although they seem happy to go to Ru$$ia for a while) and a visa issue to overcome, as well as the common third-party ownership outlawed by the PL. It does mean losing out on talents to other leagues or having to delay signings of prospects for a year or so where a lot can change - injury, ownership %, development.

So many games are televised, if you go to the popular streaming sites you will see games from all over the world at all levels. There are very few players that are 'unknown' to clubs, but buying them is getting harder and harder.

There is a scene in the Moneyball movie where the old baseball scouts sit around with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill pleading their case and justifying their job.. stats can't see what we see, they don't have the judgment that we have, etc etc. Maybe but judgment is wrong as well, all signings are a risk. High performing players in low performing teams represent value and are worth following up, watching a game in isolation doesn't show that either. Wenger was tipped off about Vermaelen and sent his scouts to watch him so many times, often when he was a full back. The scouts said he was average or worse. Then they went back and saw him play at centre back and he was much better. If it was just on scouting they wouldn't have signed him.

I think what is more important than scouting now is having good relationships with clubs. As the wealth becomes concentrated at the top there will be others who need to sell year on year, being top of the list when chairmen need to make a call is valuable. Maybe more valuable than sending someone off to watch a game on a Saturday or Wednesday night.

Also, developing the recruitment network for the academy. Actual talent rather than just size and strength. Getting the prospects first, seeing things in a kid that others don't. This can be done through the schools I suppose.. no doubt Spurs do all these things, I just think the expectation placed upon a scouting network is more than it should be and the thinking is outdated.

 

[metalgear]

Re: Broomfield

Operations and Finance Director

Matthew Collecott is Group Operations and Finance Director of ENIC having joined the group in 1998. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and worked for Price Waterhouse in Europe and Africa before joining ENIC, overseeing investments across the sports, entertainment and media group, specifically with Slavia Prague, AEK Athens and Vicenza Calcio. He is also Executive Director of a number of private property ventures.

:-k

it was really him?