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Daniel Levy - Chairman
- Thread starter Howard Webb
- Start date
Bedfordspurs
Mark Falco
I agree
FSG have done what all the American owners seem to do, invest little and take profits out
Can't argue with the arabs at city and Abramovich but then both ahve more stable wealth than Lewis and more of it
Leicesters owners have been brilliant but ultimately they haven't invested in the team, but likewise they haven't taken out of the profits either. I love how they treat the fans though
I think the issue though Dubai is your judging owners in what cash they splash rather than what they materially achieve for the club
Grays_1890
Chris Jones
AC Milan are a mockery of a club in modern terms considering their higher platform they had and money, they have fallen off which makes their chairman worse than Lewis who has us on an upward curve with a lower platform (previous glories) and less investment.
I call it savvy and shrewd ownership that makes the good times sweeter, the day a Sheikh Mansoor comes in to Spurs I leave, bottom line for me.
I want organic success and an organic football club
I call it savvy and shrewd ownership that makes the good times sweeter, the day a Sheikh Mansoor comes in to Spurs I leave, bottom line for me.
I want organic success and an organic football club
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
This 100%.
Whiffler
Jermaine Jenas
Amen to that - or 'yes YES YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !'
StephenH
David Ginola
'A' rich guy putting money in would not make me stop supporting Spurs, but I would lose my enjoyment somewhat.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
Right on brother.
Glenda's Legs
Paul Walsh
Agree with the principle however I'm not sure I could ever actually walk away. But it would feel somewhat tainted, given where we are now.
But....
We are lucky now to have Lewis and Levy. It's taken a good few years to get the stability and the right formula. We are on the cusp of something great. And if the bottom falls out of the tv money or FFP ever gets taken seriously, we are in a very,very good position to survive that. However if I were a fan of a club that is never likely to reach even our heights - a Stoke, a WBA - I think I'd welcome a billionaire flashing the cash just to give me a chance to compete.
Doing it the organic way is easier said than done. Hence massive credit to Lewis and Levy for getting us to where we are now.
Grays_1890
Chris Jones
I would walk away because football for me is the key and as sad as it is I get enjoyment out of seeing my mate play non league (he is decent) just as much as I get going to watch the Premiership now because of the way the games going. Unfortunately my love (Spurs) are involved in what has become a an industry thats changed so so much in the last 10 years if not less for the worse in my opinion and I thats from a 35 year old and not Alf Garnett.
I would have no problem with a chairman coming in and spending money on the club, but a Sheikh Mansoor type, Ruthless, Using Club as a marketing platform for his airline, churning through players who could become legends (Kane would not have flourished at a Emirates Marketing Project - Think Dzeko on players being ruthlessly treated then moving on to be better) I would not want to support that, for me a football clubs an inclusive entity and we are in my opinion one of the last that retains that from the pitch to the fans - JUST. The Alli's, Kane's, Rose's and a unity that when I walk away from a game I feel like its everyone's club and we have not just gone out and taken short cuts for players like TOURE who suck money out a club and moan about a Birthday cake and go on strike, change TOURE with Sanchez, Costa etc etc etc.
Its not unambitious, its just that I am not driven by success because I am a Spurs fan regardless of success and my first point has been and always will be the club and if the club exists, is run well and is a nice place to spend time around and does it retain its heritage, then comes the football otherwise I would just stop watching Spurs and watch Madrid every weekend (it would be the same price point for me)
Spurs isnt a franchise in American sport and I dont buy the crap of moving with the times, I think the times have moved and we have proven that spending money beyond means does not guarantee success (only one team can win the league and its still 11 v 11) and there are some HUGE clubs that have gone close to going under because of it.
I look at Joe Lewis as a man richer than me, who put his head above the noise as a fan and Say - Thanks Joe for owning our club and as a fellow fan I will back you because I love this club unconditionally, Spurs is not about money and I don't pick my team off the shelf like a box of cereal.
Someone called me a happy clapper the other day and I say F-YOU, I chuck things at the tele, berate players and curse at games like the worst, but supporting Spurs was not about supporting a club based on price, it was not based on Glory hunting I was born into it and I love the club with all my heart and I can't hand on heart look at Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy especially as two fellow supporters which they are and say they do anything other than an excellent job, and I would not change it for the world.
I would have no problem with a chairman coming in and spending money on the club, but a Sheikh Mansoor type, Ruthless, Using Club as a marketing platform for his airline, churning through players who could become legends (Kane would not have flourished at a Emirates Marketing Project - Think Dzeko on players being ruthlessly treated then moving on to be better) I would not want to support that, for me a football clubs an inclusive entity and we are in my opinion one of the last that retains that from the pitch to the fans - JUST. The Alli's, Kane's, Rose's and a unity that when I walk away from a game I feel like its everyone's club and we have not just gone out and taken short cuts for players like TOURE who suck money out a club and moan about a Birthday cake and go on strike, change TOURE with Sanchez, Costa etc etc etc.
Its not unambitious, its just that I am not driven by success because I am a Spurs fan regardless of success and my first point has been and always will be the club and if the club exists, is run well and is a nice place to spend time around and does it retain its heritage, then comes the football otherwise I would just stop watching Spurs and watch Madrid every weekend (it would be the same price point for me)
Spurs isnt a franchise in American sport and I dont buy the crap of moving with the times, I think the times have moved and we have proven that spending money beyond means does not guarantee success (only one team can win the league and its still 11 v 11) and there are some HUGE clubs that have gone close to going under because of it.
I look at Joe Lewis as a man richer than me, who put his head above the noise as a fan and Say - Thanks Joe for owning our club and as a fellow fan I will back you because I love this club unconditionally, Spurs is not about money and I don't pick my team off the shelf like a box of cereal.
Someone called me a happy clapper the other day and I say F-YOU, I chuck things at the tele, berate players and curse at games like the worst, but supporting Spurs was not about supporting a club based on price, it was not based on Glory hunting I was born into it and I love the club with all my heart and I can't hand on heart look at Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy especially as two fellow supporters which they are and say they do anything other than an excellent job, and I would not change it for the world.
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Glenda's Legs
Paul Walsh
Great post. Would not argue with any of that.
afsoc4life
Vedran Corluka
True. I support the Spurs even though I am not English. Why? The club's philosophy reaching as far back as Bill was something that I bought into. That is all for me. If that changes, then I may as well become a Real fan. After all if it is all about winning trophies, they are up there.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
Excellant post my friend and one that sums up my view as well. As a supporter of this great club for over 50 years ( many of them as a season ticket holder) i hate the way the game has gone and if it was not for my love of this great club i would have packed it in.
However if we EVER go down the route of the Chelskis; Citys of this world and attract the Johnny come lately that insist of throwing vast amount of money ( just because they can and moan when it does not happen) that will be the day i pack it all in. I hope that day never comes because Spurs have been a major part of my life but i would hate our club to be a bored billionaires plaything.
Grays_1890
Chris Jones
I just stumbled on this article and it sums up alot of my views better than I could myself
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40654071
Even that kn0bj0ckey Sky Andrews sums up Spurs very well.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40654071
Even that kn0bj0ckey Sky Andrews sums up Spurs very well.
Denmark Spur
Michael Carrick
Levy took part in a question and answer session in New York today.
What is your view on other clubs' spending during this window?
"My view is that it's totally unsustainable. I'm not sure if that's the view of the other Premier League clubs, but certainly the prices that are being paid for other Premier League players I can't see it being sustainable in the long term.
"I think I am a custodian of this football club. This club has been around since 1882 and when I leave it will be somebody else. I think we have a duty to manage the club appropriately. I don't think that long term for any club it's sustainable to spend more than you earn. You can have periods where you do but over the long term you can't.
"I think that some of the activity that's going on at the moment is just impossible to be sustainable. You know if somebody is spending £200m more than they're earning then eventually it catches up with you. You can't keep doing it.
"We've managed the club, we think, in a very appropriate way. We've invested a lot of money in physical facilities for long-term growth. So we've got one of the world's best training facilities. We've invested over £100m in that facility.
"We're now investing in the stadium. The stadium is fundamental because with that we get more fans and more income and that's the way to clearly have a more sustainable business.
"At the same time the academy is important because we can produce our own players. We don't have to go and spend £20, £30m, £40m on a player and obviously that homegrown player has an affinity with the club that a player we buy doesn't. That's what the fans want to see. They want to have that passion. That's what you get with a homegrown player and that's why people love Harry Kane and sing that he's one of our own."
Does the new stadium impact the club's activity in the transfer market?
"I'd answer that in two ways. Regardless of the stadium project, today our position on transfers is that we have a coach that very much believes in the academy.
"Unless we can find a player who would make a difference he would rather give one of our academy players a chance so that's regardless of the financing of the stadium.
"Obviously when you're building a stadium of this magnitude in a UK context it all has to be privately financed. There's no state help whatsoever.
"It is a challenge and we have to find the right balance but it's not impacting us at the moment on transfer activity because we're not yet in a place where we've found the player who we definitely want to buy but can't afford to buy."
What do you make of the activity around football in China?
"The country have decided that they want to become a major soccer country and they ultimately want to win the World Cup. They're putting huge resources into it. Money in itself doesn't mean you'll get success.
"It's all about the grassroots. Their providing lots of pitches around China and they're looking to get engagement from professional clubs in Europe and how they can have better coaching.
"I think in the long term China will be a force to be reckoned with."
Do you worry about losing your star players to China?
"I think it's quite difficult for Europeans to go to China. I think it's a completely different culture and I think that's a big obstacle. I can understand why players towards the end of their career, the money being talked about and as it's their last opportunity.
"To a similar extent there's the US. That's why you saw the players at the end of their careers coming over here and they were being offered money that they perhaps wouldn't get in Europe."
http://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/news/daniel-levy-spurs-transfer-window-13384441
What is your view on other clubs' spending during this window?
"My view is that it's totally unsustainable. I'm not sure if that's the view of the other Premier League clubs, but certainly the prices that are being paid for other Premier League players I can't see it being sustainable in the long term.
"I think I am a custodian of this football club. This club has been around since 1882 and when I leave it will be somebody else. I think we have a duty to manage the club appropriately. I don't think that long term for any club it's sustainable to spend more than you earn. You can have periods where you do but over the long term you can't.
"I think that some of the activity that's going on at the moment is just impossible to be sustainable. You know if somebody is spending £200m more than they're earning then eventually it catches up with you. You can't keep doing it.
"We've managed the club, we think, in a very appropriate way. We've invested a lot of money in physical facilities for long-term growth. So we've got one of the world's best training facilities. We've invested over £100m in that facility.
"We're now investing in the stadium. The stadium is fundamental because with that we get more fans and more income and that's the way to clearly have a more sustainable business.
"At the same time the academy is important because we can produce our own players. We don't have to go and spend £20, £30m, £40m on a player and obviously that homegrown player has an affinity with the club that a player we buy doesn't. That's what the fans want to see. They want to have that passion. That's what you get with a homegrown player and that's why people love Harry Kane and sing that he's one of our own."
Does the new stadium impact the club's activity in the transfer market?
"I'd answer that in two ways. Regardless of the stadium project, today our position on transfers is that we have a coach that very much believes in the academy.
"Unless we can find a player who would make a difference he would rather give one of our academy players a chance so that's regardless of the financing of the stadium.
"Obviously when you're building a stadium of this magnitude in a UK context it all has to be privately financed. There's no state help whatsoever.
"It is a challenge and we have to find the right balance but it's not impacting us at the moment on transfer activity because we're not yet in a place where we've found the player who we definitely want to buy but can't afford to buy."
What do you make of the activity around football in China?
"The country have decided that they want to become a major soccer country and they ultimately want to win the World Cup. They're putting huge resources into it. Money in itself doesn't mean you'll get success.
"It's all about the grassroots. Their providing lots of pitches around China and they're looking to get engagement from professional clubs in Europe and how they can have better coaching.
"I think in the long term China will be a force to be reckoned with."
Do you worry about losing your star players to China?
"I think it's quite difficult for Europeans to go to China. I think it's a completely different culture and I think that's a big obstacle. I can understand why players towards the end of their career, the money being talked about and as it's their last opportunity.
"To a similar extent there's the US. That's why you saw the players at the end of their careers coming over here and they were being offered money that they perhaps wouldn't get in Europe."
http://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/news/daniel-levy-spurs-transfer-window-13384441
Grays_1890
Chris Jones
Hard to argue with any of that.
China was an interesting one he is right, the only ones that really go in at the minute are the Brazilians and they are slightly nomadic as it is.
China was an interesting one he is right, the only ones that really go in at the minute are the Brazilians and they are slightly nomadic as it is.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
China isn't as big an issue as it was at the start of the year, because they've slapped a 100% transaction tax on expensive footballing imports in a bid to curb the way clubs are throwing money around on players like Anthony Modeste and that Italian striker who had one half-decent season at Southampton (Pelle, I think?).
In the long term, their footballing infrastructure is what will make them successful, not Paulinho and Oscar and co.
In the long term, their footballing infrastructure is what will make them successful, not Paulinho and Oscar and co.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Sorry, mate, I forgot to reply to this one. I disagree that I'm judging owners by what they spend as opposed to what they achieve - otherwise I would have included the likes of Mike Ashley and Randy Lerner in my list of good owners, even though they transparently haven't been.
Generally, spending equals success, which can be best measured by trophies or relative performance (compared to one's peers). The owners I've mentioned as good have generally (although certainly not always) achieved success via spending. Ergo, they've been good for their clubs, that's all.
Sure. On a spectrum, maybe some are slightly lower in terms of their impact on their clubs, and some are somewhat higher. Maybe a 60:40 split?
I included Demin, yes, because he took his club from League Two to the Premier League in quick order - I suppose I haven't counted others trying to do the same, but I doubt there are many examples of that. League Two is generally not a level where rich owners bankroll teams to success - not enough glamour or marketing potential involved. You could look at failed examples further up the pyramid to even it out, of course, but I feel that would be a bit tangential to the point.
Well, your estimate is certainly reasonable - it is a guessing game after all, so it's worth as much as mine is. Generally, though, I don't think there are that many chances of an owner significantly worse for the club than Lewis has been - it definitely exists as a danger (one in four chance is still a pretty large estimate, after all), but it's balanced out by the chance of a good owner, and exceeded (for good or ill) by the chances of another hands-off owner looking to use us as an investment to sell on for a profit.
As for Levy, yes, ultimately that is a positive that came from Lewis - long years going against the grain on this particular forum have softened my rough edges and left me a bit more appreciative of the work he's done, even if I *still* don't think it's something phenomenal that no one else could possibly have done.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
So glad that we have a chairman who has got the long time good of the club at heart.
Chairman Daniel Levy has defended Tottenham's lack of transfer activity this summer and claimed the spending by other Premier League clubs is unsustainable.
More than £850m has been spent by top-flight sides in the transfer window, which ends on 31 August.
But Tottenham, who sold Kyle Walker to Emirates Marketing Project for £45m this month, have not made any signings.
"We have a duty to manage the club appropriately," said Levy.
"Some of the activity that is going on at the moment is just impossible for it to be sustainable.
"Somebody spending £200m more than they're earning, eventually it catches up with you. And you can't keep doing it."
Accountancy firm Deloitte said Premier League sides are on course to surpass the record £1.165bn they spent last summer.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said last week: "I'm used to clubs paying big for big players. Now everybody pays big money for good players."
Walker's departure aside, Spurs have retained the same squad that finished second to Chelsea in the league last season.
The club are in the process of building a new 61,000-seat stadium, which is expected to cost £750m and is scheduled to open next year.
Speaking at a Nasdaq Q&A in New York, Levy said: "Obviously when you're building a stadium of this magnitude and it all has to be privately financed - there's no state help whatsoever - it is a challenge.
"We have to find the right balance but I can honestly say it is not impacting us on transfer activity because we are not yet in a place where we have found a player that we want to buy who we cannot afford to buy."
Mauricio Pochettino's side, who are in the United States on their pre-season tour, beat French champions Paris St-Germain 4-2 at the weekend, with 17-year-old midfielder Tashan Oakley-Boothe playing 45 minutes.
Levy said: "Our position on transfers is that we have a coach who very much believes in the academy, so unless we can find a player that makes a difference we would rather give one of our young academy players a chance.
"The academy is important because if we produce our own players we don't have to spend £20m or £30m on a player.
"An academy player has that affinity with the club and that's what the fans want to see."
Chairman Daniel Levy has defended Tottenham's lack of transfer activity this summer and claimed the spending by other Premier League clubs is unsustainable.
More than £850m has been spent by top-flight sides in the transfer window, which ends on 31 August.
But Tottenham, who sold Kyle Walker to Emirates Marketing Project for £45m this month, have not made any signings.
"We have a duty to manage the club appropriately," said Levy.
"Some of the activity that is going on at the moment is just impossible for it to be sustainable.
"Somebody spending £200m more than they're earning, eventually it catches up with you. And you can't keep doing it."
Accountancy firm Deloitte said Premier League sides are on course to surpass the record £1.165bn they spent last summer.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said last week: "I'm used to clubs paying big for big players. Now everybody pays big money for good players."
Walker's departure aside, Spurs have retained the same squad that finished second to Chelsea in the league last season.
The club are in the process of building a new 61,000-seat stadium, which is expected to cost £750m and is scheduled to open next year.
Speaking at a Nasdaq Q&A in New York, Levy said: "Obviously when you're building a stadium of this magnitude and it all has to be privately financed - there's no state help whatsoever - it is a challenge.
"We have to find the right balance but I can honestly say it is not impacting us on transfer activity because we are not yet in a place where we have found a player that we want to buy who we cannot afford to buy."
Mauricio Pochettino's side, who are in the United States on their pre-season tour, beat French champions Paris St-Germain 4-2 at the weekend, with 17-year-old midfielder Tashan Oakley-Boothe playing 45 minutes.
Levy said: "Our position on transfers is that we have a coach who very much believes in the academy, so unless we can find a player that makes a difference we would rather give one of our young academy players a chance.
"The academy is important because if we produce our own players we don't have to spend £20m or £30m on a player.
"An academy player has that affinity with the club and that's what the fans want to see."
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
I do like this picture from the Graun, though - ( https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...aniel-levy-mocks-unsustainable-spending#img-1)....
....not because of Levy or the rest of the suits, but because of Poch hanging around smiling awkwardly in the back along with the rest of his staff in training gear. I imagine it's usually Levy that's the outsider when he goes to Hotspur Way all suited up, so it's only fair that Poch is occasionally made to feel like a bit of a sore thumb in Levy's world.
....not because of Levy or the rest of the suits, but because of Poch hanging around smiling awkwardly in the back along with the rest of his staff in training gear. I imagine it's usually Levy that's the outsider when he goes to Hotspur Way all suited up, so it's only fair that Poch is occasionally made to feel like a bit of a sore thumb in Levy's world.
Danishfurniturelover
the prettiest spice girl
I think Levy and Enic are doing it right but when he says the is no state help what so ever I think he is being a little unfair because it seems the state has relaxed some rules quite a lot for us. Not got a problem with that because Tottenham is a brick hole.