Daniel Levy - Former Chairman

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

You can put what ever context you like on Levy's leaving but I've found in most senior jobs people reach a point where they can't take the job any further forward.

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

You can put what ever context you like on Levy's leaving but I've found in most senior jobs people reach a point where they can't take the job any further forward.

Absolutely and TBH I thought DL had hit that time, but I certainly would not have given him a summer transfer market if it was the plan and I wouldn't also want to cause a Middle Eastern vacuum which almost certainly seemed to be the case this season, especially as decision making went absolutely out the window

 

[lurker of old]

If anything, Tottenham supporters have been exceptionally patient.
I'd agree. Managerial churn, the fiasco of the MGW and Eze "non-deals" - and yes they were highly embarrassing- the 17th place, and firing the man who has just won a major Trophy, it all pointed to a Chief Exec out of his depth. If DL could have accepted a non-executive Chairman role, he would be an asset - but that isn't him.

 

[Jurgen the German]

But then you can’t also claim if someone won a game that they didn’t…. it’s all revisionism to suit an argument, agenda or view

We got the points we got
West Ham got what they did

I realise that. But your initial post highlighted poor officiating as a potential reason for costing us points, but every team (other than Arsenal) can point to that.

 

[Gutter Boy]

You can put what ever context you like on Levy's leaving but I've found in most senior jobs people reach a point where they can't take the job any further forward.

5 years is optimum for senior leadership roles, 10 is always too long

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I realise that. But your initial post highlighted poor officiating as a potential reason for costing us points, but every team (other than Arsenal) can point to that.

No
My post was a counter to ifs, buts and maybes
There are reasons why things did and didn’t happen
What matters is… what happened

 

[glorygloryeze]

Absolutely and TBH I thought DL had hit that time, but I certainly would not have given him a summer transfer market if it was the plan and I wouldn't also want to cause a Middle Eastern vacuum which almost certainly seemed to be the case this season, especially as decision making went absolutely out the window

I don't think they actually planned to remove Levy when they did, but i think his actions eventually lead to a 'final straw' moment and they decided to act after the window closed...they certainly felt he had made relations with some key figures in the business world untenable (and no i don't mean Stephen Parrish or the like, though that would no doubt have added to the 'cons' list)

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

I don't think they actually planned to remove Levy when they did, but i think his actions eventually lead to a 'final straw' moment and they decided to act after the window closed...they certainly felt he had made relations with some key figures in the business world untenable (and no i don't mean Stephen Parrish or the like, though that would no doubt have added to the 'cons' list)

Did they? Who?

I haven't seen anything that suggests that, so keen to hear what you know?

 

[Jurgen the German]

You can put what ever context you like on Levy's leaving but I've found in most senior jobs people reach a point where they can't take the job any further forward.

That’s a sensible opinion. America only allows presidents to serve two terms. Even the best football coaches reach a point where the players stop listening to their ideas.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

5 years is optimum for senior leadership roles, 10 is always too long

Long enough to get a big payout and find somewhere else to mesh up.

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

5 years is optimum for senior leadership roles, 10 is always too long

Becomes difficult when it comes to owners though, proven with our own scenario. Lets not kid ourselves, Levy was blue eyed boy of the Lewis family when he turned their initial investment into a fortune. I don't buy that two failed attempts in the market called the end for them, especially when one was way out of our hands. They could have done that a dozen times in the last 15 years

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

I think people are massively over egging this for impact IMO. The world is full of deal that happen like this every summer, maybe not so much in the MGW case but even he has come out and said he was joining till he wasn't and it was the impact of his personal situation that caused the u-turn, nothing we did at all.

Eze, yeh we can be accused of fumbling about it, but he always had his heart set on Arsenal that summer, the idea we could have signed him a year before Palace looked like they wanted to is something that wasn't exactly reality at the time either, the strongest we were ever linked was last summer and his agent played a blinder on the whole deal (which is his job). He was approached by Arsenal earlier in the window, so the only thing we could maybe be accused of being guilty of was wasting our own time on the deal, but then we got Simons, thats the business

I wasn't embarrassed by either deal, I think fans who are grown men act like teenagers with online links and Romano stories which they wouldn't in normal life about anything else and look to lash out when they realise it isn't the reality, I find that more embarrassing than a football club missing out on a player in a sport that is effectively a snake pit of disingenuous cnuts. I have often thought people need to grow up with all that sh1t TBH

To be clear, I’m not talking about losing out, or getting gazumped. Losing on Semenyo for example is no where near as embarrassing. Those sorts of deals do indeed happen all the time. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but it’s not embarrassing.

For different reasons, both the MGW and Eze deals were completely embarrassing. Or said better, displayed a lack of competence on the part of the club, which likely stemmed from an attempt to be too clever by half to get the ‘best possible deal’, which is a distinctly Levy trait.

There was weirdness around what constituted the release clause in the MGW deal. It wasn’t just that his wife was pregnant. It was that he thought we’d supposedly done a really clever thing to get a bargain price for a player that was worth way more. And we fudged it. Maranakis completely won. And not before allowing it to be shared publicly that we basically thought we had the deal wrapped up. It was completely ridiculous. The only time I’ve ever seen anything like it is when Arsenal bid 1 pound over Suarez’s supposed release clause and Liverpool just refused. But Arsenal hadn’t gotten themselves to the point where it was being reported the deal was done.

And on Eze, we could have moved earlier. ‘He always wanted Arsenal’ is in the same category as MGW’s wife being pregnant for me. It’s just not a proper excuse for a serious club that is serious about challenging properly and competing for the top players. I think we as fans have got so used to missing out on attainable players because of the limits that DL imposed on us that we just assume these things can’t be done. But they can. The top clubs make it work, and they certainly don’t let themselves get into the embarrassing situation of having the deal there to be done and the chairman on the other side almost gleefully selling the player to our biggest rivals. It has echoes of the Grealish deal. Too clever by half, and we allow the facts to change around us and we lose out. Clubs moving decisively just get the deals done. They don’t allow something like Havertz getting injured to become a factor.

Outside of these two deals. I do still think the timing is instructive. The whole Gibb River review obviously had to be going on with DL’s knowledge and approval. Either he thought he was a dead man walking, or he thought he had a role in this new era for the club, and probably agreed that it needed restructuring. It just doesn’t make sense that they thought he was gone, and allowed him to be influential across the whole transfer window. And then shot him immediately after it closed. I think they got firm proof in their minds with whatever happened in the summer which confirmed to them DL was going to hold us back if he remained. Not be an asset.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

If we spend months being linked with Gibbs-White and Eze and end up with neither, many supporters will see that as a recruitment failure regardless of the behind-the-scenes reasons.

.....and instantly making their view redundant?

ie.Just more post truth nonsense

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

There was weirdness around what constituted the release clause in the MGW deal. It wasn’t just that his wife was pregnant. It was that he thought we’d supposedly done a really clever thing to get a bargain price for a player that was worth way more.

I think you are purposely missing some of the facts around it, yes we went for him on the basis of his clause, if we hadn't its unlikely we would have at all, so yeh it was opportunist, but the fact he didn't come in the end was pressure and personal life, the guy has literally said it himself several times, so that just can't be ignored.

As for being embarrassed, like I say, why? Because the club that actually owned the club kept their player under some duress? Come on now

And on Eze, we could have moved earlier. ‘He always wanted Arsenal’ is in the same category as MGW’s wife being pregnant for me. It’s just not a proper excuse for a serious club that is serious about challenging properly and competing for the top players.

Again, Eze literally made the statement, the approach from Arsenal came before ours, we are a serious club, but we ain't Arsenal, like we were not Chelsea when the Willian deal fell through, but equally we are a bigger club that RB and we took Simons, so I am ok with the whole food chain of football and how it works, some find it embarrassing because its our rivals, I couldn't really care, we have pulled rank on clubs and others have pulled rank on us.

Lets also be clear about what we know about the club, the Lewis family has the power, thats without any doubt, they could have provided guidance on funds to make both deals more attractive at any time, if us fans felt the pinch when them deals were happening, don't tell me the powers that be didn't not know and what did they do? Of course they were happy with Levy acting like he did, because by and large he did it within the constraints of the finances and budgets afforded to him. Its easy to come out after and say "well we are smashing the glass ceiling on the wages and what we spend for quality" but then where were they then? Thats where the revision and swallowing of BS happens IMO.

I am willing to give this structure a chance, but on the basis they have changed their tune because it is the same owners there have always been and this season the slept walked into oblivion by making no decisions till the end when it nearly backfired on them, that wasn't on DL and it wasn't a good looking start.

We are not the first club to miss out on targets, we won't be the last. Its the game

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

What is clear with Eze was we had several chances over two seasons to buy the player. Each time we came sniffing, we ended up trying to lowball. If Havertz hadn't got hurt the Goons would never have gone for him. One of the main reasons Parrish got tinkled off last summer and finally played us was because of the unsettling we'd done not just with Eze for a couple of seasons but Zaha before him.

....look, if we had signed him he would not have been in Budapest on the 30th May 2026!......

Let's praise everyone who did their very best not to get this deal done. Paid off massively

 

[Jurgen the German]

.....and instantly making their view redundant?

ie.Just more post truth nonsense

A phrase I see repeated often on this forum is: “Ah well, we don’t really know what happens behind the scenes, in the boardroom, dressing room, or at the training ground, so we can’t comment.”

The reality is that we’ll never be privy to every detail of what goes on inside a football club. As supporters, we can only judge based on what is reported, along with the results and outcomes we see.

I must admit, I find it strange how difficult some people are finding it to let go of Daniel Levy. He had many good qualities, which I’ve highlighted before, but he also had flaws. Most of those flaws were on the football side of the club, and they held us back at times. More importantly, the overall trajectory on the pitch has been downward for a good six or seven years.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

I'm not sure what "gratitude" is supposed to look like in this context.

Football supporters don't generally exist to show affection to owners or chairmen. Their relationship is with the club, the team, and the badge. Owners and executives are judged on the job they're doing, not celebrated unconditionally.

Were Spurs fans ungrateful when they embraced the stadium project despite years of disruption? Were they ungrateful when they continued filling the ground, buying tickets, merchandise, and supporting the team through managerial changes, rebuilds, and periods of decline? Because that sounds like a pretty patient and supportive fanbase to me.

The reality is that Daniel Levy has received plenty of credit over the years for transforming the club's infrastructure and finances. The stadium is regularly praised, and many supporters acknowledge that Spurs are in a stronger commercial position because of his stewardship.

But gratitude doesn't mean immunity from criticism.

After 25 years in charge, fans are entitled to ask questions about the football side of the club. That's not a lack of appreciation; it's accountability. If supporters can't question decisions after a quarter of a century, then what exactly is the standard?

I'd genuinely ask: what would sufficient gratitude look like? Endless praise? No criticism? Acceptance regardless of results? Because that's not how football works at any club. Chairmen and owners are judged by outcomes, just as managers and players are.

I get the gist of what you're saying....

But let's get it right, this bloke got verbal dogs abuse for season after season. Inside the stadium and out. At the level of hatred. That's a fact.

You make the art of questioning and criticism sounds so polite

I've always thought there has been a disconnect (two tier policing) between the fans quick response to defend a player when he is getting abuse/criticism, and yet DL had it for years and I don't remember anyone saying the crowd need to dial it down/cut it out (except when it ventured into racist tropes). Maybe fans thought it was justified? Or more likely, needing someone to blame, and he was the last resort for that?

I wonder what that feels like?

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

must admit, I find it strange how difficult some people are finding it to let go of Daniel Levy.

Is that true? Surely the same could be put the other way, like those who can't let Frank go without him being hated.

I just think people are discussing the past as they see it TBF

 

[Jurgen the German]

I get the gist of what you're saying....

But let's get it right, this bloke got verbal dogs abuse for season after season. Inside the stadium and out. At the level of hatred. That's a fact.

You make the art of questioning and criticism sounds so polite

I've always thought there has been a disconnect (two tier policing) between the fans quick response to when a player is getting abuse/criticism, and yet DL had it for years and I don't remember anyone saying the crowd need to dial it down/cut it out (except when it ventured into racist tropes). Maybe fans thought it was justified? Or more likely, needing someone to blame, and he was the last resort for that?

I wonder what that feels like?

Maybe I’m remembering it incorrectly, but I don’t recall there being a huge amount of criticism or hostility until around 2021, when the stadium reopened after Covid, a few months after Mason took over and fans gradually started returning. By that stage, ENIC had already been in charge for more than 20 years. I’d say that’s a fair amount of time to give any chairman and ownership group.

Before Covid, I don’t remember ENIC and Levy receiving anything like the level of criticism they did in the years that followed. In fact, from the Redknapp era through to the Pochettino years, the club and fanbase were largely united.

I don’t condone abuse, but I do understand criticism. Levy became the lightning rod because he was the one constant throughout numerous managerial changes and constant turnover in the playing squad.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Is that true? Surely the same could be put the other way, like those who can't let Frank go without him being hated.

I just think people are discussing the past as they see it TBF

Numerous posters have voiced dissatisfaction of VV, Lange and the owners. I don’t disagree with the sentiment, but the underlying message seems to be “it would be so much better if we just brought Levy back”.