John McDermott has left his role as Tottenham’s Head of Academy Coaching and Player Development to take up a role with the Football Association, Spurs have confirmed.
He will join the FA as Assistant Technical Director, so it seems he will be overseeing senior players as well as young footballers coming into the England set-up.
In 15 years at Tottenham, McDermott oversaw the development of a number of youngsters who went on to become first-team players, including Harry Kane and Harry Winks.
In a statement on the club’s website, chairman Daniel Levy thanked McDermott for his decade-and-a-half of service and revealed the search is already underway for a replacement.
“It is now vital that we take the necessary time and attention needed to identify the right expertise to move our academy forward, reflecting just how important a role like this is to our club. This process has already commenced and we shall provide an update in due course,” Levy said.
Mauricio Pochettino received plenty of praise during his tenure for bringing through several young, English players, but McDermott obviously also deserves credit for the work he did with the club’s academy.
Regardless, his exit has been met with indifference among some Spurs supporters, some of whom appear to believe more high-quality youth prospects should be produced. Others were more concerned by McDermott’s departure.
See some of the most notable fan reactions from Twitter below.
Other than Kane who was ? when leaving the acedemy what has he produced? Lightweight tippy tappy footballers. Good riddance he can take Winks with him
— Spursgotlevyd (@spursgotlevyd) March 20, 2020
Ouch!!
— Trevor Lloyd (@Trevorlloyd92) March 20, 2020
About time we had a change in the youth development side
Not really been good enough for a few years
The rest of the apparent top 6 way ahead of us— Alex (@alexcoys2020) March 20, 2020
Oh FFS. I hope we have some kind of plan.
— ap (@otheranthony) March 20, 2020
Our academy has been shit so not sure it’s a big deal
— TomBytner (@TomBytner) March 20, 2020
Noooo
— Pra (@thfcpra) March 20, 2020
The mass exodus begins #joseout
— Ryan (@thrashmetalryan) March 20, 2020
Good luck to him. Been a wonderful servant.
— Nick (@NickTheBiz) March 20, 2020
That's really not good.
— Jill Lewis (@jilllewis33) March 20, 2020
Really not as bad as some people think imo
— george b. (@honest_spurs) March 20, 2020
The only player worth talking about that has made his way into the first during JMcD's time, is Kane. Probably not such a bad thing that he's leaving, providing we can upgrade.
— D (@_Dkay86) March 20, 2020
