Spurs academy director Simon Davies turns down Wales opportunity

Tottenham academy director Simon Davies has turned down an offer to become an assistant coach to Craig Bellamy for Wales, football.london understands. On Tuesday, Bellamy was confirmed as the new head coach of the Welsh national team on a contract until 2028, replacing Rob Page in the hotseat.

Now looking to build his backroom team ahead of his first game in charge of his country against Turkey on Friday, September 6, Bellamy had looked to lure Davies from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It perhaps comes as no surprise to see the 44-year-old make a move for former Wales international Davies as the pair do know each other from their time working together at Anderlecht in 2019.

However, Davies has elected to remain in north London as academy director. Firstly joining the Lilywhites in the summer of 2022 as head of methodology, last June it was confirmed that he would become the club’s academy director.

A very exiting time at the football club at present with players such as Mikey Moore, Jamie Donley and Tyrese Hall coming through the system to catch Ange Postecoglou’s eye, Davies will be hoping that a number of Tottenham’s academy players can make the step up to the first team in the not too distant future. Speaking on the club’s ‘Off The Shelf’ podcast back in February, the academy director opened up on his role, the talent currently in the academy and his relationship with Postecoglou.

“With Ange we spoke this morning. We have roughly a biweekly meeting but we speak in between ad hoc,” explained the former Manchester United player. “Obviously he is busy with all the first-team stuff going on but he always gives you that time. That’s what I mean by the class of the man and the impact he’s had around the place.

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“It has to be a close relationship but my job as well is I’ve got to make sure the players are good enough and they are around it right now. It is tough and the reality is our young players have got to be better than what’s in the first team. It’s the same around the country. There’s no God-given right to get in our first team, it’s a tough point to achieve in your career but the manager I know for sure will give opportunities as and when the time is right.

“You talk about the lads getting around the bench, part of that is because they have merited it and part of that is because of the injuries. There’s always that factor there, but they’ve got to do it consistently. It doesn’t just come because you’ve done it for a month, you have to do it consistently just for the next 20 odd years. That’s the level.

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“The talent will take them where it’s going to take them but we have, in my opinion, got some top talent in the academy coming through. I’ll always want more of it and I’ll always be asking the question of just making it an even tougher environment for our young players coming through and get even more quality in there from outside because we’re doing a good job in the rules and parameters in which we work within as every Premier League academy does. We are in the ballpark, we are in the right ballpark but I’ll keep pushing.”

You can listen to the episode in podcast format by heading right here or you can watch the show on YouTube by going here.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham featuring lots of chat on pre-season so far, click here for in depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

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