Daniel Levy - Chairman

[Rossi22]

It seems Chairmen/owners are rated on how much money they pump into the club, pure and simple. If Levy went out and pumped in £300m into the club tomorrow then he'd be considered great.

Money Money Money Money Money Money Money Money Money

Dolla Dolla
Dolla Dolla

Ching Ching
Bling Bling
Cut the Chatter
You ain't talking money
Then your talking don't matter

 

[DubaiSpur]

It seems Chairmen/owners are rated on how much money they pump into the club, pure and simple. If Levy went out and pumped in £300m into the club tomorrow then he'd be considered great.

Money Money Money Money Money Money Money Money Money

Dolla Dolla
Dolla Dolla

Ching Ching
Bling Bling
Cut the Chatter
You ain't talking money
Then your talking don't matter

Chairman doesn't own the club, in this instance. So the amount of....erm...'dolla' he puts in shouldn't really count, should it?

 

[jts1882]

It's covering old ground and I don't want to get into it here but if it wasn't for personal reasons, then it was for footballing reasons and that makes the decision crazy.

Its not an either or choice like that. That is setting up a false choice between two unlikely explanations. Neither of which seems the most likely prime reason. It seems far more likely that it was 'Arry's contractual situation that was the trigger and main reason.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

Depends on your idea. I think the template Levy has always wanted is a Head coach and a Director of Football above him. with signings to be mostly young so they can appreciate in value etc and unearth talent.

Redknapp goes against all those those Footballing principles that Levy has. And also he has a big Gob he cannot keep shut.

Well regardless of the reason, getting rid of your best Manager for 21 years and replacing him with one who flopped at a rival will either go down as genius or ridiculous.

 

[jts1882]

Chairman doesn't own the club, in this instance. So the amount of....erm...'dolla' he puts in shouldn't really count, should it?

Levy does own the club along with Lewis. Unless things have changed as Enic have increased their stake, Levy owns just under 30%, Lewis the rest.

 

[Rossi22]

Chairman doesn't own the club, in this instance. So the amount of....erm...'dolla' he puts in shouldn't really count, should it?

It shouldn't, but it does. If it doesn't make money then it doesn't make sense.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Levy does own the club along with Lewis. Unless things have changed as Enic have increased their stake, Levy owns just under 30%, Lewis the rest.

I was under the impression that things had changed when Enic were making their recent acquisitions and Levy's stake was reduced?

 

[africanspurs]

good chairman.

does all the hiring and firing. has the vision , has the plan, has the model

will mak mistakes but in the end we are perrenial european team. well dony done done Mr Levy

 

[jts1882]

I was under the impression that things had changed when Enic were making their recent acquisitions and Levy's stake was reduced?

I haven't seen anything one way or the other since Enic went private. They owned about 30% of Spurs then, giving Levy 10% of Spurs. Its possible Lewis has provided all the additional money and taken a larger share, hence my qualification. Even still its reasonable to assume Levy owns between 10 and 30% of Spurs.

 

[Jurgen the German]

It seems Chairmen/owners are rated on how much money they pump into the club, pure and simple. If Levy went out and pumped in £300m into the club tomorrow then he'd be considered great.

Money Money Money Money Money Money Money Money Money

Dolla Dolla
Dolla Dolla

Ching Ching
Bling Bling
Cut the Chatter
You ain't talking money
Then your talking don't matter

No that's not true. Most Spurs fans admire the club's policy of only spending what money the club has, but we have definitely shot ourselves in the foot by not bringing players in during the last two January transfer windows. It's not like we Levy is going to plunge the club into debt and end up doing a Leeds by spending £25-£30m by going after players that we need i.e. a new striker.

We have a new manager in place this season, and yet we are less than two weeks away from the start of the season and we still have only 1 proven premier league striker on our books as a result of the club's policy of leaving deals to the last possible moment.

 

[Grays_1890]

Is Levy a good Chairman? Yes. Is he a great Chairman? No.

He is one of the best in the Premiership in terms of sustaining a working business model alongside a moderately successful football club. But his business model will never make us a successful club unfortunately (and that isn't his fault, we just live in a world where football has become a Billionaire playground).

Sacking your best manager for the last 21 years because you don't like him personally and then replacing him with one who made himself look like a total fool at one of your rivals the previous season will either go down as one of the most brilliant Chairman decisions in history.......or one of the worst.

To rival those two views:

If Levy manages to keep this club in and around the top 4 whilst moving us into the new training facility and also pulling off our move into a new stadium then I think his model has worked perfectly. The I suppose the plan evolves where the wages on offer can increase based on the extra revenue through the gate at the new stadium. I know this is looking a long term plan but it’s the right way to run a club and also fits perfectly with the new rules coming into the game. As much as we all hate Arsenal, rivalry aside they are probably one of the best run clubs in world football when you look at income v outcome and being run as a business, people scream from the rooftops for them to spend but they will not compromise the long term plan which is to be self sufficient and have the ability to invest long term once the stadium is paid for. I hate to say it but I see them being a long term force in the Premiership but thankfully we seem to adopt the same model

I understand the second point but on the flip side Chelsea paid 14m for his services and gave him less than a season, so you could argue that Chelsea were foolish in their actions? I know this argument has been mentioned numerous times but we obtained one of the highest sort after managers 12 months ago for the grand sum of nothing when last year he would have cost the earth. Also its easy to listen to the like of Lampard and Terry on why things didn’t work (who trusts them anyway) but when you listen to the others that played under him you only hear glowing references??

I think we take for granted what’s been achieved at Spurs, I am not talking about pub banter rules but when you take into account the size of our club in terms of capacity and limited income, compared to the majority of the league and lack of sugar daddy funding like many....we are an absolutely fantastically run club.

 

[Wriggly]

Agree with most of that. He is a good chairman, possibly very good, but not great. He has made too many football mistakes for the latter, although he can still redeem himself. If he delivers the new stadium and we are regulars in CL by 2020, then he could go down as a great chairman.
I disagree with the last paragraph. Its a huge assumption that he sacked Redknapp because they didn't get on. Like him or hate him, thats not the Levy we know. You'd have to assume that Levy has suddenly become emotional rather than hard-headed business man. Based on what we do know of Levy, Redknapp and Stretford, it seems much more probable that the issue was forced and Levy took the rational decision with the future in mind. That said, I'm sure he was happy to get rid of Redknapp, he was probably singing in the shower afterwards, but I find it hard to believe it was his prime motivation.

Where were we as a club before Levy ?

 

[jts1882]

Where were we as a club before Levy ?

Recovering from the damage done by Scholar. I don't think many people appreciate how much damage Scholar did and how much entering the money era of the PL in such bad shape set us back. I don't like Sugar, but have to give him credit for rescuing us from serious trouble and getting us back in secure financial shape. Levy took it on from there and got us back to where we should be. We were one of the "big five" in the 80s and now back to being one of a different five/six. Its what you'd expect for a club with our revenues.

So when I say good, possibly very good, its not a critical position. He has made mistakes on the football side, in sacking managers and in not supporting them fully, but he seems to have learned and be getting better. His biggest task is handling the stadium issue and, as I said, this provides the opportunity for him to go down as a great chairman.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

"A club of our revenues..." How much of those revenues do we have Levy to thank for? We have the smallest stadium in the top 7 by a distance.

Which suggests to me Levy has managed to create a product that can drive high ticket prices
He has arranged lucrative sponsorships
He has maximised profit through strict regulation of our finances (such as the dreaded wage cap...)

All in all, personally, I think Levy played (plays?) a huge part in our high revenues - Im not sure they would be such without his input over the last decade.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

Where were we as a club before Levy ?

Financially stable, having won a league cup within the previous three seasons, and in the semi final of the FA Cup IIRC.

 

[africanspurs]

Financially stable, having won a league cup within the previous three seasons, and in the semi final of the FA Cup IIRC.

more inclined to agree with wriggly. financial stability and odd cup run doesnt equate to consistent success we have experienced under levy

what we did in the 80s doesnt really apply to what we are doing now as the face of football, financial landscape etc has changed dramatically

 

[Jurgen the German]

"A club of our revenues..." How much of those revenues do we have Levy to thank for? We have the smallest stadium in the top 7 by a distance.

Which suggests to me Levy has managed to create a product that can drive high ticket prices
He has arranged lucrative sponsorships
He has maximised profit through strict regulation of our finances (such as the dreaded wage cap...)

All in all, personally, I think Levy played (plays?) a huge part in our high revenues - Im not sure they would be such without his input over the last decade.

No doubt he's up there amongst the best in the league.

It is a collective effort though. We have benefitted financially from Levy's shrewd handling when it comes to the financial side. We've also managed to get lucrative sponsorship deals because of Levy's negotiating skills, but also down to success on the pitch, for which the players and previous managers deserve credit for also.

 

[africanspurs]

No doubt he's up there amongst the best in the league.

It is a collective effort though. We have benefitted financially from Levy's shrewd handling when it comes to the financial side. We've also managed to get lucrative sponsorship deals because of Levy's negotiating skills, but also down to success on the pitch, for which the players and previous managers deserve credit for also.

puchasing policy, the hiring and firing, the overall business model (branding / media exposure/ merchandising/ etc etc etc) ...levy and his cohorts . defo should take the big slice of the pie

 

[jts1882]

"A club of our revenues..." How much of those revenues do we have Levy to thank for? We have the smallest stadium in the top 7 by a distance.

Which suggests to me Levy has managed to create a product that can drive high ticket prices
He has arranged lucrative sponsorships
He has maximised profit through strict regulation of our finances (such as the dreaded wage cap...)

All in all, personally, I think Levy played (plays?) a huge part in our high revenues - Im not sure they would be such without his input over the last decade.

Thats my point about only giving Levy a good or very good grade. We had high revenues when he took over. In the first Deloitte report (around 1995) we were ahead of Arsenal (just) and Chelsea. We are one of only (I think) nine clubs to have been ever-present in their list. The others are regular CL participants. Levy has strengthen our financial position a little and presided over improved performance on the field without overspending. That last bit is important as many clubs overspent and got into trouble and we had to compete with them as well.

Levy also inherited the small stadium problem. I've seen people criticise him for not having done anything on this, conveniently ignoring the progress on the NPD project. A big part of his final grade will depend on this.

more inclined to agree with wriggly. financial stability and odd cup run doesnt equate to consistent success we have experienced under levy

what we did in the 80s doesnt really apply to what we are doing now as the face of football, financial landscape etc has changed dramatically

We've move from midtable to regular top five. There was a nice graph showing this in one of papers a while back (I'll try and find it).

No question the financial front has changed in many ways. But matchday is still a big element and our strong support has allowed us to stay more ir less where we were. The PL money is fairly evenly distributed. The big changes are the CL money and sugardaddies. But overall we have held our position financially (around 5th), but fallen further behind the richer clubs (United, Arsenal).

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

I think you do Levys work on our finances a disservice to be honest. Im not sure another chairman would be able to get is as many £££ as he does with the club as it stands (and stood, dont forget we were midtable medocre when he took over)