Tottenham news: Ex-coach reveals how Harry Kane was transformed behind the scenes
Tottenham implimented a “Dutch-style” philosophy in their academy which helped develop key stars like Harry Kane and Oliver Skipp.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Saul Isaksson-Hurst, a long-standing former Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal coach of 18 years and who now runs his own business coaching Premier League stars, discussed the “different methodology” that was applied at Spurs from 2006.
Isaksson-Hurst was a key figure in developing Tottenham’s young stars between 2006 and 2012, but under the direction on John McDermott, who was head of academy coaching for 15 years from 2005, a focus on “ball mastery and one-v-ones” was implemented.
During McDermott’s tenure in north London, the likes of Kane, Harry Winks, Danny Rose and Andros Townsend came through the ranks of the academy.
Tottenham implemented “ball mastery” to develop key stars
Isaksson-Hurst noted how Spurs were attempting to “do something different” with their youngsters to other English clubs at the time.
“It was an interesting time at Tottenham and this is what happened,” he told the Inside Track podcast.
“John McDermott, who’s now England’s technical director, was the head of the academy.
“Chris Ramsey as well, who was recently at QPR – two people who tried to do something differently.
“We had a different methodology and coaching style – more aligned to the Dutch-style that was based around ball mastery and one-v-ones.
“There were some really good players coming out of that.
“Obviously, Harry Kane came out of that batch.
“I spent a lot of time with the younger age groups.
“Oliver Skipp, for example, was a young player I worked with a lot at under-eights, nines, 10s and 11s.
“It was helping those guys with their ball mastery and one-v-one ability.”
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