Steve Hitchen: Newcastle tipped to ‘beat Everton to deal’ after Tottenham news – pundit
Noel Whelan has tipped Newcastle United to rival Everton for the appointment of former Tottenham recruitment chief Steve Hitchen.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, insisted both the Magpies and the Toffees need proven Premier League experience behind the scenes.
As reported by the Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke on Thursday (3 February), Hitchen is in pole position for the director of football post at Everton following his exit from Spurs on Wednesday.
The report claims Newcastle also made an approach for Hitchen, who was Spurs’ technical performance director, following their takeover.
With Hitchen currently on gardening leave, Whelan suggested the Magpies and the Toffees could battle it out for his appointment.
Whelan told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “When someone has done a job and had a certain role for an amount of time, it is no different to a player having a career and having that experience.
“Somebody will want to bring somebody in with that amount of knowledge. He knows how to go about in that position running a football club and what teams need.
“People like that will always be in demand. There are not too many out there that have that wealth of experience that he has.
“You have got Everton. There are lots of changes going around in their backroom at the minute and upstairs.
“The same at Newcastle. They could probably do with a little bit more experience there as well. Their owners have never had a football club before.
“This could be something that they pursue come the summer. And beat Everton to a deal.”
Hitchen worked as a scout for Tottenham between 2005 and 2010 before joining Liverpool.
He returned to Spurs in 2017 to fill the void of Paul Mitchell.
In other news, Kieran Maguire has detailed a £295million domino effect at Newcastle United.