Tottenham announce appointment of Scott Munn as Chief Football Officer

Tottenham Hotspur just took a large step in modernizing its backroom staff and behind-the-scenes football operations. The club announced today the appointment of Scott Munn, a former City Football Group executive, as its Chief Football Officer, a new backroom staff position that will oversee all football operations at the club.

In the official release on Tottenham’s website, the club noted that Munn’s appointment is a necessary step after an internal review revealed the need for multiple changes in the way the club was being run.

As referenced in the Chairman’s statement (Financial Results 2021/22 - 10 February 2023) there has been an ongoing review over the past six months of all of our footballing activities. Changes have been made and further improvements continue to ensure future progress and competitiveness.

Scott, former City Football Group Executive, has extensive experience within sporting organisations having started his career with the Sydney Organising Committee for the 2000 Olympic Games and then transitioning into the National Rugby League, before joining the Australia Football League. Scott joined Melbourne City FC as Chief Executive Officer in 2010. In 2019 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of City Football Group China.

— Official statement, Tottenham Hotspur

Munn’s appointment does a couple of things. First, it at least partially addresses the current situation with Director of Football Fabio Paratici, who has voluntarily stepped back from his duties in the wake of FIFA banning him from world football for his involvement in two financial scandals while at Juventus. Gretar Steinsson and Andy Scoulding are currently taking on Paratici’s duties, but bringing in Munn would add an additional level of oversight and experience. It seems likely that if (when?) Paratici leaves the club that it would be Munn’s job to find and hire his replacement.

Second, it implies that chairman Daniel Levy fully intends to take a further step back from the club’s football-related activities. We’ve already seen evidence of this in years past with the appointment of Paratici, but this seems to be an even clearer hint that Levy is willing to focus on business and developmental operations as chairman, leaving the football to the football people. Munn’s appointment also suggests that the football-side operations will be given an overhaul and modernized, something that has been needed for years.

Levy even seemed to confirm this in the official release in quotes:

“Scott has a unique and broad experience of running sporting organisations at the highest level and will take responsibility for the leadership and management of our football activities to instil best practice both on and off the pitch.”

The Athletic, which broke the news just before the official announcement, noted that Munn’s responsibilities would include both the men’s and women’s teams, giving one person oversight over all aspects of Tottenham football. Munn formerly headed up City Football Group’s China division, and brings up a curious possibility — with Munn coming from a large football conglomerate organization, could it be possible that Spurs are looking to purchase another club in a different division, the way City Group has? There isn’t a whole lot of evidence for that at the moment, but it sure does raise some interesting possibilities.

At any rate, this is a very welcome change as far as I’m concerned. We’ve been banging the drum about how Spurs need more staff and a modernized approach to football operations for a while now. Tottenham can’t compete financially with the likes of City, Chelsea, Manchester United, and now Newcastle, so the club needs to be smart, nimble, and flexibile to punch above their financial weight. Munn’s appointment hopefully is a major step towards that actually being realized.