Daniel Levy's Planned Scouting Reshuffle at Spurs Will Not Address Main Issues

Another day, another changing of the formula at Tottenham. On Friday it was reported that chairman Daniel Levy—a man seemingly loath to let any change in approach play out for any longer than strictly necessary—has decided to once again overhaul the club’s scouting department, after continued frustration over the poor results of the club’s recent transfer spending.

As the Daily Mail reported:

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Daniel Levy will begin a major restructuring of Tottenham’s scouting and recruitment procedures after their poor start to the Barclays Premier League season.

The Spurs chairman is planning the overhaul to help manager Mauricio Pochettino’s short-and long-term transfer activity.

Levy is planning a shake-up to ensure the proper procedures are in place to scout and recruit talent after spending the £86 million from Gareth Bale’s sale last summer.

Spurs are still recovering from that chaotic spending spree last summer and Levy wants to make sure there is a system of accountability in place after last season’s blame game. 

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Spurs’ ill-fated transfer spending last summer does not need much recounting, with the club buying seven players—Erik Lamela, Etienne Capoue, Paulinho, Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Christian Eriksen and Vlad Chiriches—who, by and large, failed to offer any real return on that investment (Eriksen being the obvious exception).

A difficult season saw Andre Villas-Boas dismissed, while the club finish a relatively distant sixth in the Premier League, well short of pre-season prognostications. The poor performances of the new players was not the sole reason for this, but they certainly played a significant role.

The Daily Mail also notes that two senior members of the club’s analysis and scouting department have either left or are due to leave in the coming weeks, giving Levy a convenient opportunity to make some changes to a department he clearly feels has not been delivering the desired return over the last 18 months.

While the way the income from Gareth Bale’s sale was spent remains the focus of the inquisition, this summer’s signings have not fared much better. Ben Davies and Michel Vorm are yet to feature much in meaningful games (although Davies in particular was arguably signed with the longer-term in mind), while Federico Fazio and Benjamin Stambouli have yet to make a positive impact.

Eric Dier might have been the only success of the summer acquisitions, although he too has suffered a dip in form in recent weeks (again, perhaps something to be expected considering his age and inexperience).

With the likes of Sandro, Jake Livermore and Michael Dawson being sold this summer, Tottenham actually made a slight profit on their transfer spending (per Transfermarkt’s estimations), a realisation of Levy’s pledge in April that the club would not attempt another overhaul of the playing squad before this season.

“Whilst this season's performances and results have not lived up to expectation, we believe our squad has potential and it is important that we all now show commitment and teamwork to get the best possible finish to the season," the Spurs chairman said back then in a statement.

"Our focus therefore is to continue to invest in and develop the squad, [but] we shall not look to a summer of major upheaval, rather to strengthen in key positions—to play the style of football for which we are famous."

What has changed since the transfer window closed, then, to make Levy feel a reshuffle of the scouting department is now required?

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The club’s chief scout is currently Ian Broomfield, who rejoined the club for his second spell in the role this year. He joined Tottenham along with Harry Redknapp in 2009, leaving in 2012 after Villas-Boas replaced the Englishman and the backroom staff was overhauled.

He joined up with Redknapp once again at QPR, before announcing his intention to depart in March this year when Arsenal made an offer.

“The opportunity to work for Arsene Wenger at one of Europe’s top clubs, like Arsenal, was too good to turn down,” Broomfield was quoted as saying at the time (per the Mirror). “I appreciated my time at QPR with Harry, but this is an exciting challenge which I’m looking forward to.”

Barely a day later, however, circumstances had changed. Broomfield ended up returning to White Hart Lane as chief scout—with media reports suggesting Levy had made him a lucrative offer after discovering his agreement with the Gunners was only a verbal one. Whatever the case, the chairman clearly admires Broomfield if he wanted to hire him for a second time.

What he also wants, perhaps, is a greater structure around Broomfield.

The Mail’s report suggests Levy does not have a problem with the results of the recent scouting per se (although he would have liked to have seen more success in that department), but rather the confused chain of command and delegation of responsibility that leaves it difficult to analyse which specific departments are falling short when the new signings struggle to perform on the pitch.

Levy seemingly wants a greater connection and clearer dialogue between the various departments—coaching, scouting, analysis, youth team and finance—so all know their responsibilities and any failures, in this case with transfers, can be investigated and analysed more easily to work out which links in the chain are failing.

After all, the problem with the summer recruitment in the wake of Bale’s departure was not necessarily the quality of the individuals identified and signed, but the lack of joined-up thinking between the scouting department, the director of football and the coaching staff.

When they were plotting ways to replace Bale, did anyone ask Villas-Boas about his preferred tactical setup, and what attributes would be particularly helpful in those roles?

Or was the Portuguese simply delivered a collection of new players deemed “good” by the coaching staff, and asked to incorporate them into his system as best he could?

"I’m not sure if I can make it public,” Villas-Boas cryptically said last December (per the Daily Star), after being asked if he wanted the seven players that were signed in the summer. 

"We have worked hard to build a strong team and we have a strong team and we are happy with the signings."

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The sense, just over a year down the line, is a lot of square pegs were bought when there were a number of circular holes needing to be filled. This is perhaps what Levy is looking to avoid in the future—he does not want another situation where the manager, director of football (Franco Baldini) and other departments are all singing from different hymn sheets.

What a reshuffle will not change, of course, is Levy's own place within the hierarchy. Football teams need stability to improve and succeed, something Levy seems to find it very difficult to permit. It is easy to overlook that every managerial sacking has ramifications down the chain—Broomfield leaving the club soon after Redknapp did, for example, and only returning after Villas-Boas had departed.

Levy's trigger-happy figure causes as many issues as any perceived weakness in the scouting department. That might be the one trait that really needs to change before Spurs see improvements in the quality of their recruits.