Swindon, Roda JC, Coventry

Tottenham Hotspur could once again start a feeder system, it's something we have looked at on several occasions and we began a partnership with Swindon Town at one point, which was short lived.



Back in 2013 Tottenham held talks with Dutch club Roda JC about becoming a feeder club but the talks fell through and led to nothing. We were I understand in advanced talks over them becoming a nursery club, Chelsea have a similar arrangement with Vitesse Arnhem.

This nursery club arrangement is common in Italy and also occurs in Spain where a young player bought is often immediately loaned out to get first-team experience. Chelsea are the main Premier League club using the loan system in this way, their current keeper, Thibaut Courtois, spent 3 years at Atlético Madrid before returning to Chelsea as a top class goalkeeper. Atlético paid £1.06 million (US$1.56m - AUS$2.15m - €1.40m) for the privilege of turning into the keeper he is today.

We had a tie-up with Swindon Town several players go there on loan, we released some they took and they signed others, most notably Massino Luongo, who was surprisingly sold to Swindon in September 2013 for  £424,000 (US$647,002 - AUS$845,258 - €589,471). This summer he was sold on to QPR and thanks to a 40% sell-on clause Spurs picked up another £1.2 million (US$1.83m - AUS$2.39m - €1.67m).

I had hoped when Steffen Freund was appointed International Technical Co-ordinator to look after our loan players overseas, that this area would expand and we would see further deals to create a nursery club network, however it seems it was more to shunt him out the way.

The Swindon Town tie-up didn't last, there were concerns about the club losing it's identity and restricting it's growth should they achieve promotion so with the architects leaving it finished. Ryan Mason is our legacy of that arrangement, from League One to England in a season, what a sales story.

Lower league clubs in this country struggle financially, player contracts have to be shorter and there is a great movement of players. Coventry City have had their troubles, especially with the owners of their new stadium. Now they are in it and looking to hold discussions with Tottenham to explore the possibility of a mutually beneficial arrangement.

It is important when we send players on loan to gain first team experience that they have to fight for a place, that they get not just regular football but that the football is played in the manner in which we want then to learn. We need sides who want to play football rather than takes a more direct robust approach.

Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray, himself a former player, has told the Coventry Telegraph that he is seeking talks with Tottenham to take our Development Squad Under-21 players on season-long loans, only from any one club are permitted.

“Premier League clubs have got huge Under-21 development squads and that’s why I am going to have a meeting with the people at Tottenham to see if I can build some sort of relationship with them and look to potentially blood one or two of their young players if we can and if it suits us. 
“It’s a football club with a pedigree that demands it’s players play a certain way. They have to be able to handle the ball and play and not be embarrassed by the football, and I think that’s a good match with us because I like footballers like that as well. 
“If we can do something, great.”

It is important any informal partnership is not over done as it probably was with Swindon. They have a side knocking on the door of promotion now but hopefully with Coventry it will just be a couple of players each season so that retain identity of their club and don't become Tottenham Development Squad Reserve XI.

There may be players Tottenham want to let go from the Academy i the future that would benefit Coventry so there is the potential for them to gain some technically good young players. It's an arrangement that can have benefits on both sides if it is handled correctly.

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