View: Tottenham Academy offered clarity with new senior appointment
Tottenham have officially announced that Simon Davies will take over as academy director.
The club made the official announcement on their website (20 June) and it follows the news last week that Dean Rastrick had left his role as Academy Manager.
Davies has been promoted from within the club after joining Tottenham as Head of Methodology for the Academy last year and brings a wealth of experience to his new position.
He captained the 1992 Manchester United youth team, now known infamously as the class of ’92, and began his coaching career as a youth coach at Chester City.
Following this, Davies joined the Manchester City Academy in 2010 in what would become an eight-year stay with the club, during which he worked at various levels within the Academy, including a spell with the Under-23s alongside Patrick Vieira.
He would eventually take charge of the Under-23s himself before becoming head of coaching for the Academy.
In the summer of 2019, Davies joined Vincent Kompany at RSC Anderlecht as the Belgian’s assistant coach before Kompany made the switch to Burnley and Davies joined Spurs’ academy set-up last summer.
It is another change within the club following such a turbulent season which has seen the loss of a Director of Football and the recent appointment of yet another new manager.
Davies will be hoping to bring a bit more stability to his new position and help to drive the academy forward and it will be key for the 43-year-old to develop a positive relationship with Spurs’ new head coach Ange Postecoglou.
A key reason behind the Australian’s appointment was his understanding of the importance of an academy and the link between it and the first team and this is something Postecoglou will look to successfully develop alongside Davies.
The Under-17s and Under-18s won trophies last season while the Under-21s will compete in the new-style Premier League 2 next season and there is therefore plenty of opportunity to build on what Spurs already have.
This, alongside talented players such as Mikey Moore, who just committed his future to Tottenham, presents a real opportunity for Davies to hit the ground running and have a positive influence on the club’s academy.
Tottenham fans will hope they are finally turning a corner and will now begin to see more of their own integrated into the first team.