Daniel Levy - Chairman

[Finney Is Back]

People are often so desperate to not give Levy any credit that they fail to understand most of those decisions have a decent amount of the right thinking behind them

Jol - beginning of the modern version of Spurs trajectory, connected with fans, first set of elite players (IIRC), first time back in Europe
Ramos - Got a cup
Harry - a stopgap that turned out to be a stroke of genius, and if he didn't self sabotage himself whoring for the England job could have pushed on even further
AVB - Was a promising manager that stalled
Poch - Another promising manager, this one worked out
Jose - Impossible to evaluate because of Covid, everyone will say "you don't hire Jose unless you open the chequebook", the intention was there, except a few months later the club was losing a 100M+ of revenue.
Nuno - Hindsight says fans/media were the dumbasses here
Conte - Got back to CL, self destructed for personal reasons

Now, do I agree Jose/Conte broadly weren't aligned to our club culturally? yes, do I understand why the decision was made? yes

Some decent appointments (mixed with some really bad ones) but none of them given proper backing when the going got tough and some terrible lurches from one style to another....

Jol.... Levy didn't listen to Arnesen who said Jol should get the gig and instead brought in Santini. We then wasted the start of the season under Santini before Jol came in after 13 games and turned it around, we missed out on UEFA Cup football by just 2 points. Had Levy listened to the man that actually knew about football we likely would've been back in Europe a season earlier. Jol then got us successive 5th place finishes in the league to get us European football 2 years in a row (would likely have been three if Levy had listed to Arnesen) only for his position to be completely undermined only 2 games into the following season when John Alexander and Paul Kemsley were photographed in a Spanish hotel with Ramos who then claimed that we had made him a "dizzying offer" to become our manager.

In addition to the above I can't help but wonder whether Levy not listening to Arnesen here played a part in his departure to Chelsea? Imagine having Arnesen's proven football experience only to have your recommendation ignored by Daniel Levy?

Ramos - got a Cup, then got his best two players sold and completely inadequately replaced and then sacked when results went south largely as a result of that.

Harry - did an absolutely fantastic job at Spurs, lifted the whole club, but then got the sack anyway after finishes of 4th, 5th, 4th because Levy couldn't swallow his pride that an Englishman might want to manage his country. Another terrible decision.

AVB - disastrous failure at Chelsea, quite what it was about his failure at Chelsea that indicated that he would be a good option for us I have no idea. Did reasonably well in the first season (just one place worse than Redknapp) didn't get the players that he asked for and then was sacked after about a quarter of his second season.

Poch - best manager the club has had since ENIC took over. Wasn't the chairman's first choice but at least he was on the list. Did an absolutely remarkable job with finishes of 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th (and a CL final) with a fraction of the resources of the top clubs. Operated during a period when our chairman had allowed our recruitment department and budget to be cut to the bone. Unceremoniously sacked as soon as it looked like we might miss out on Europe for a season, something the man had more than earned. An appalling decision and a terrible way to treat the man who was mostly responsible for Levy's massive overspend on the stadium project not putting the club into serious financial trouble.

Jose - a terrible appointment. Showed how poisonous he was in his second spell at Chelsea and also at Man Utd. The chairman then compounded his terrible mistake in hiring him by making another one in firing him both far too late but then also just too early! (firing him just before the cup final was absolutely crazy and laid bare the fact that winning trophies was not anything like a priority for THFC!)

Nuno - perfection of a manager search over the summer that ended up with us getting about our 14th choice manager. Sacked as soon as 'Levy out/ENIC out" chants were very audible in the stadium. I love the way that you call the 'fans/media' dumbasses instead of concentrating on the man that makes the decisions at our club.

Conte - a good appointment that should've been made the summer that Nuno came in. Fact he didn't want the job in the summer but was fine to take it a few months' later suggests to me that the financial offer (and perhaps transfer budget promised) had changed in the interim. Why?

 

[Muttley]

Genuine question, how much more time should Levy get running the club? I understand it’s a hypothetical question and he’s not gonna sack himself, but does he deserve 1 more managerial appointment? 5 more years? Until the stadium is fully paid off?

I think there are 2 key factors here.

1) We net spent £100m in the 5 years up to the stadium being built. We are now averaging that per year, but a lot of the investment has been spent getting us back to par. In the next period, we really get to see whether the new financial model works.

2) We've only had the new model in place with a MD of Football Ops (Chief Footballer Officer) in place for 18 months. You have to let that model mature, but if Levy undermines it then he can go tomorrow as far as I'm concerned.

Realistically, the answer to your question is something like 5 years

 

[Finney Is Back]

Absolutely, didn't he even say that he wasn't planning on staying more than a couple of seasons, or was that Conte? I don't think many believed he would be good for Spurs in the long run, but he would get us a trophy. We knew and accepted that it wouldn't be pretty, but at least we would win something, right? The stick many used to beat Poch with in that last season, was just that he wasn't an experienced winner, he was "unable to go those last steps". Mourinho was all about exactly doing that. Or at least that was the narrative presented. And I think quite a few forget how many actually wanted Poch out at the end, or at least wanted a major change. He, much like Ange got a lot of flak as well for being too late with substitutions and running players into the ground.

And Jose may have inherited a great squad on paper, but the decline was there for all to see. I still believe there was something going on within the squad in Poch's last season, most apparent in the sudden decline of Eriksen. It looked like the hunger and belief had vanished, the team spirit which was so good prior to that wasn't really there. I still have an unfounded, but nevertheless nagging feeling that Kane had something to do with it. But I definitely agree with that appointing Mourinho was never about building anything, he was brought in to end the trophy drought.

Well most of them were absolutely knackered after a lot of them going to the very last weekend of the World Cup and then also going a full PL season and all the way to the Champions League final without a single player in the squad being refreshed (and losing an important one in Dembele). The reason for Eriksen's change has always been clear IMO. He had told the club he wasn't going to sign a new contract and wanted a move. The manager wanted to bring in Grealish to replace him only to be let down (again) by the recruitment team (or more pertinently one person).

Additionally when you have a manager openly saying that a (painful) rebuild is required it doesn't always go down great with the existing squad. He's been proven right since though hasn't he? We absolutely needed a rebuild and we've since cycled through a whole bunch of inferior (for us) managers rebuilding ever since.

 

[Baleforce]

Genuine question, how much more time should Levy get running the club? I understand it’s a hypothetical question and he’s not gonna sack himself, but does he deserve 1 more managerial appointment? 5 more years? Until the stadium is fully paid off?

As long as he wants, he has 99% of the influence on that decision.

We can moan about performances and have a minor effect on players and managers being kept or not.

There is only one thing we can do to get rid of him, buy the club off him.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Genuine question, how much more time should Levy get running the club? I understand it’s a hypothetical question and he’s not gonna sack himself, but does he deserve 1 more managerial appointment? 5 more years? Until the stadium is fully paid off?

He's already been here about 4 years' too long I think. If Levy was managing Levy then he would've sacked him by now.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

As long as he wants, he has 99% of the influence on that decision.

We can moan about performances and have a minor effect on players and managers being kept or not.

There is only one thing we can do to get rid of him, buy the club off him.

It’s that simple
Chanting
Protesting
Screaming
Making signs
Wasteful use of time
He will go when someone shows him the money, and even then it will be a difficult thing for him to do
It’s why I don’t waste any energy on it other then joining the Kulu chant because its a great chant
Fans chat charges owners despite what some think unless they have several £B to take over

 

[Bedfordspurs]

He's already been here about 4 years' too long I think. If Levy was managing Levy then he would've sacked him by now.

A long time ago too

 

[Finney Is Back]

I think there are 2 key factors here.

1) We net spent £100m in the 5 years up to the stadium being built. We are now averaging that per year, but a lot of the investment has been spent getting us back to par. In the next period, we really get to see whether the new financial model works.

2) We've only had the new model in place with a MD of Football Ops (Chief Footballer Officer) in place for 18 months. You have to let that model mature, but if Levy undermines it then he can go tomorrow as far as I'm concerned.

Realistically, the answer to your question is something like 5 years

I still think we've got a patsy for our 'Chief football officer'. Just as bringing in a manager from Scotland doesn't smack of much ambition, bringing in a Chief Football Officer from Asia tells me the same.

 

[parklane1]

It wasn’t pretty and wasn't very good, not as I remember it anyway.
I can imagine if we rehired nuno and he served up what he served up today for the next season, because tbh they weren't very good and for better or worse our fans demand better.
But then I don’t think our fans really know what they want.

Especially those who fill social media with crys of [ we want yet another new manager].

 

[Yiddo]

Spurs fans are spoilt little children who expect the best and forget where they came from. Levy / Enic gets criticism and these fans never give credit for where they have taken the club. They seem to forget what the club was like before Levy and co turned up and if they had not turned up we could have quite easily have gone down the road of Leeds. It's pathetic how some of our fans are so shallow minded. I have given up trying to have a conversation with Levy out "fans" because they refuse to listen to the facts and just want to cry about the same old brick.

Levy out fans want a sugar daddy who want to spend billions and they want the club to turn into the teams they often cry about (City, Chelsea etc). They just won't admit it.

 

[glorygloryeze]

I still think we've got a patsy for our 'Chief football officer'. Just as bringing in a manager from Scotland doesn't smack of much ambition, bringing in a Chief Football Officer from Asia tells me the same.

I disagree, slightly here. I think both appointments show that those with experience in our arena (i.e. PL and top level European leagues) know the real deal about how we operate and as such don't fall for the bs anymore, and hence we have to cast our net further afield

 

[Muttley]

I still think we've got a patsy for our 'Chief football officer'. Just as bringing in a manager from Scotland doesn't smack of much ambition, bringing in a Chief Football Officer from Asia tells me the same.

I disagree, slightly here. I think both appointments show that those with experience in our arena (i.e. PL and top level European leagues) know the real deal about how we operate and as such don't fall for the bs anymore, and hence we have to cast our net further afield

I think you have to see the best in people until they prove otherwise.

On that same theme, Munn must surely be better at football operations than Levy.

Whether it is good enough is the only question. I hope so.

 

[Bishop]

Genuine question, how much more time should Levy get running the club? I understand it’s a hypothetical question and he’s not gonna sack himself, but does he deserve 1 more managerial appointment? 5 more years? Until the stadium is fully paid off?

He's at -13 for me. I knew ENIC were poor football people after the closure of the 2010/2011 season.

 

[thfcsteff]

Some decent appointments (mixed with some really bad ones) but none of them given proper backing when the going got tough and some terrible lurches from one style to another....

Jol.... Levy didn't listen to Arnesen who said Jol should get the gig and instead brought in Santini. We then wasted the start of the season under Santini before Jol came in after 13 games and turned it around, we missed out on UEFA Cup football by just 2 points. Had Levy listened to the man that actually knew about football we likely would've been back in Europe a season earlier. Jol then got us successive 5th place finishes in the league to get us European football 2 years in a row (would likely have been three if Levy had listed to Arnesen) only for his position to be completely undermined only 2 games into the following season when John Alexander and Paul Kemsley were photographed in a Spanish hotel with Ramos who then claimed that we had made him a "dizzying offer" to become our manager.

In addition to the above I can't help but wonder whether Levy not listening to Arnesen here played a part in his departure to Chelsea? Imagine having Arnesen's proven football experience only to have your recommendation ignored by Daniel Levy?

Ramos - got a Cup, then got his best two players sold and completely inadequately replaced and then sacked when results went south largely as a result of that.

Harry - did an absolutely fantastic job at Spurs, lifted the whole club, but then got the sack anyway after finishes of 4th, 5th, 4th because Levy couldn't swallow his pride that an Englishman might want to manage his country. Another terrible decision.

AVB - disastrous failure at Chelsea, quite what it was about his failure at Chelsea that indicated that he would be a good option for us I have no idea. Did reasonably well in the first season (just one place worse than Redknapp) didn't get the players that he asked for and then was sacked after about a quarter of his second season.

Poch - best manager the club has had since ENIC took over. Wasn't the chairman's first choice but at least he was on the list. Did an absolutely remarkable job with finishes of 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th (and a CL final) with a fraction of the resources of the top clubs. Operated during a period when our chairman had allowed our recruitment department and budget to be cut to the bone. Unceremoniously sacked as soon as it looked like we might miss out on Europe for a season, something the man had more than earned. An appalling decision and a terrible way to treat the man who was mostly responsible for Levy's massive overspend on the stadium project not putting the club into serious financial trouble.

Jose - a terrible appointment. Showed how poisonous he was in his second spell at Chelsea and also at Man Utd. The chairman then compounded his terrible mistake in hiring him by making another one in firing him both far too late but then also just too early! (firing him just before the cup final was absolutely crazy and laid bare the fact that winning trophies was not anything like a priority for THFC!)

Nuno - perfection of a manager search over the summer that ended up with us getting about our 14th choice manager. Sacked as soon as 'Levy out/ENIC out" chants were very audible in the stadium. I love the way that you call the 'fans/media' dumbasses instead of concentrating on the man that makes the decisions at our club.

Conte - a good appointment that should've been made the summer that Nuno came in. Fact he didn't want the job in the summer but was fine to take it a few months' later suggests to me that the financial offer (and perhaps transfer budget promised) had changed in the interim. Why?

A great summary.

 

[thfcsteff]

Spurs fans are spoilt little children who expect the best and forget where they came from. Levy / Enic gets criticism and these fans never give credit for where they have taken the club. They seem to forget what the club was like before Levy and co turned up and if they had not turned up we could have quite easily have gone down the road of Leeds. It's pathetic how some of our fans are so shallow minded. I have given up trying to have a conversation with Levy out "fans" because they refuse to listen to the facts and just want to cry about the same old brick.

Levy out fans want a sugar daddy who want to spend billions and they want the club to turn into the teams they often cry about (City, Chelsea etc). They just won't admit it.

Not always true.

The dialectic is key for me. As in...

Levy/ENIC have done fantastic things for the club in terms of off the pitch growth and strength as a business and have continually made poor choices in the football side of things.

Again, not opinions. They're facts. Only an obstinate fool would deny the incredible work Levy has done in building this club to the position of global strength and power it currently sits in. Only an apologist would deny how many times he has personally made the wrong decision on football matters.

 

[thfcsteff]

I still think we've got a patsy for our 'Chief football officer'. Just as bringing in a manager from Scotland doesn't smack of much ambition, bringing in a Chief Football Officer from Asia tells me the same.

I would love to know the true story behind Slot's 11th hour reversal. He was pretty much on his way from what I knew, and then suddenly, he wasn't. I always thought he must concluded that he would not get the sort of support or managerial freedom he believed necessary, but it was suggested here that we refused to pay the get out clause fees for him and his staff?

 

[Yiddo]

Not always true.

The dialectic is key for me. As in...

Levy/ENIC have done fantastic things for the club in terms of off the pitch growth and strength as a business and have continually made poor choices in the football side of things.

Again, not opinions. They're facts. Only an obstinate fool would deny the incredible work Levy has done in building this club to the position of global strength and power it currently sits in. Only an apologist would deny how many times he has personally made the wrong decision on football matters.

What decisions has he made mistakes on that would be classed as facts with proof and not just fans assuming? It's all assumptions as to what he was and wasn't involved in as non of us were there.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I would love to know the true story behind Slot's 11th hour reversal. He was pretty much on his way from what I knew, and then suddenly, he wasn't. I always thought he must concluded that he would not get the sort of support or managerial freedom he believed necessary, but it was suggested here that we refused to pay the get out clause fees for him and his staff?

As I was told it was £15m fee we wouldn’t pay
Heard that from 2 Dutch guys and also randomly in a bar last season at the Chelsea away game with some lads form Twente
No one apparently expected them to force it as they had an agreement
So he signed the new contract with a lower fee
Could all be gonads of course

 

[thfcsteff]

What decisions has he made mistakes on that would be classed as facts with proof and not just fans assuming? It's all assumptions as to what he was and wasn't involved in as non of us were there.

I cannot disagree with what you've said, because essentially, you are factually correct. I do think we can employ a certain sense of patterns v conclusive reasoning in many of the trends established.

What are conclusive facts are the failures of his actions with regards to positive results in the following:

Sacking Poch
Hiring Mourinho
Hiring Conte

None resulted in us being better.

I fully accept there is plenty of context to be added to these and all his decisions, and that we do not have a conclusive grasp of the facts surrounding any.

But in terms of raw facts, I think it's safe to make that statement re: those three.

 

[thfcsteff]

As I was told it was £15m fee we wouldn’t pay
Heard that from 2 Dutch guys and also randomly in a bar last season at the Chelsea away game with some lads form Twente
No one apparently expected them to force it as they had an agreement
So he signed the new contract with a lower fee
Could all be gonads of course

It could, there again maybe not mate. One thing is for sure; he was coming, and then he wasn't, and it was sudden!