• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Daniel Levy - Former Chairman

When the news broke yesterday I said to Mr GL “ I can’t believe what’s just happened, Daniel Levy has stepped down” and he said “you must be happy”.
Me :?????
He said “ I thought all Spurs fans hated Levy”.
Which actually made me quite ashamed for not even knowing that he thought that and for the impression given to fans of other clubs. I still don’t believe there is anything other than a minority of fans (not necessarily an insignificant minority, but a minority all the same) who feel that way but it’s the voices of outrage that get the most media coverage.
I now have a West Ham fan spreading the word that not everyone is happy with the latest developments!

It’s a real shame, but I think it’s the last few years post Poch that got him into this reputational territory. Before that, he had some detractors, but I think most people saw the good and bad and on balance could see what an unarguably phenomenal job he had done.

Post Poch and post stadium opening, I think he was still doing his best for the club, but I think some of the decisions weren’t as strong as they could have been. And that’s where the groundswell started. I think that groundswell still caricatures him unfairly, but boiled down to its simplest terms, every Spurs fan wanted to push on post the stadium opening, because we had everything in place to be a top club. We just needed the team. And there was an open question as to whether we would get there under Daniel. Unfortunately some people expressed that doubt in really macaronic terms.

I too am really heartened that people that really know the man are speaking up for him in the media today. I see a fair bit of myself in his personality - I hate being the centre of attention, could probably advocate for myself better a lot, but I believe in doing the ‘right things’ not because you want the public credit, but because it’s the right thing to do. And Daniel clearly believed a lot in family and community. The people that really know him, and got to experience it deeply and first hand, will have seen what he is really like. And it is right that they will go to bat for him when he probably won’t go to bat for himself in the same way.
 
When the news broke yesterday I said to Mr GL “ I can’t believe what’s just happened, Daniel Levy has stepped down” and he said “you must be happy”.
Me :?????
He said “ I thought all Spurs fans hated Levy”.
Which actually made me quite ashamed for not even knowing that he thought that and for the impression given to fans of other clubs. I still don’t believe there is anything other than a minority of fans (not necessarily an insignificant minority, but a minority all the same) who feel that way but it’s the voices of outrage that get the most media coverage.
I now have a West Ham fan spreading the word that not everyone is happy with the latest developments!
There seems to be an inverse correlation between intelligence and hatred of Levy.
Many of those loud empty vessels shouting from the rooftops haven't 2 brain cells to rub together.
 
From the Guardian article, Pleat has said it , Redknapp has said but according to so many Levy haters he was always interfering.

Importantly, I have never known Daniel interfere with the business of the manager. I worked there as the director of football, had two spells as caretaker manager and spent 14 years as a scouting consultant and never has he interfered with selection or tactics. I’ve had chairmen who would ask: ‘Why is so-and-so not playing this week?’ But Daniel was never like that.

Why would they know better than a random guy on X?
 
  • Like
Reactions: DTA
It’s a real shame, but I think it’s the last few years post Poch that got him into this reputational territory. Before that, he had some detractors, but I think most people saw the good and bad and on balance could see what an unarguably phenomenal job he had done.

Post Poch and post stadium opening, I think he was still doing his best for the club, but I think some of the decisions weren’t as strong as they could have been. And that’s where the groundswell started. I think that groundswell still caricatures him unfairly, but boiled down to its simplest terms, every Spurs fan wanted to push on post the stadium opening, because we had everything in place to be a top club. We just needed the team. And there was an open question as to whether we would get there under Daniel. Unfortunately some people expressed that doubt in really macaronic terms.

I too am really heartened that people that really know the man are speaking up for him in the media today. I see a fair bit of myself in his personality - I hate being the centre of attention, could probably advocate for myself better a lot, but I believe in doing the ‘right things’ not because you want the public credit, but because it’s the right thing to do. And Daniel clearly believed a lot in family and community. The people that really know him, and got to experience it deeply and first hand, will have seen what he is really like. And it is right that they will go to bat for him when he probably won’t go to bat for himself in the same way.
I’d argue up to the stadium opening he was the best chairman in the league. But since the opening I think a lot his of decisions (football based solely, not off the pitch) have been bad ones. I said many pages back I would have liked to have won everything with Levy in charge as it seems to be the honest way, but we can’t rewrite history and we came up short.

I’ve seen some over the top reaction online. I’ve nothing personal against Levy, wish the guy well. The standing of the club now compared to when he took over is miles apart and he’s been the one constant throughout that period. But in my opinion he wasn’t the right man to take us to the next level.

If rumours are true the Lewis kids have had more involvement this summer and it’s believable. The player profiles we’ve gone for in the market are not necessarily what we’d usually be in for
 
I’d argue up to the stadium opening he was the best chairman in the league. But since the opening I think a lot his of decisions (football based solely, not off the pitch) have been bad ones. I said many pages back I would have liked to have won everything with Levy in charge as it seems to be the honest way, but we can’t rewrite history and we came up short.

I’ve seen some over the top reaction online. I’ve nothing personal against Levy, wish the guy well. The standing of the club now compared to when he took over is miles apart and he’s been the one constant throughout that period. But in my opinion he wasn’t the right man to take us to the next level.

If rumours are true the Lewis kids have had more involvement this summer and it’s believable. The player profiles we’ve gone for in the market are not necessarily what we’d usually be in for

I really agree with all of that too. I would have loved to have won everything with Levy, and it’s cruel that we came so close in the PL and CL and didn’t quite get there.

With that said, I agree that getting to the next level under him is the open question. And again it’s cruel in a way…maybe we would have had Chelsea and City not gotten their investment. But the fact is they did, so we have to approach the game as it is, not what we’d like it to be.
 
I really agree. In an attempt to seem balanced most journos seem to have gone with ‘good off field, bad on field’ which is clearly not the picture at all.

I’m waiting for a good one to write the perspective of explaining why there is absolutely no reason that we shouldn’t be Everton. Or Villa with their relegation and now PSR issues. Or Saudi Sportswashing Machine with their relegations prior to Saudi money.

The reason is Levy. The reason we even have the expectations that we should have won more in the first place is Levy. Consistent performance and European football while building a world class stadium and training ground, having taken over a bottom half club going absolutely nowhere prior to his arrival.

Someone needs to write that perspective because it’s the least he deserves. What’s being written now is a profile of the caricature people think they know.

And Leeds who were a major club when he took over. Under Levy we've done poorly compared with United, Liverpool and Arsenal, the three most successful clubs in the history of our game, as well as Chelsea and Emirates Marketing Project.

Some people have goldfish for brains.
 
Who are people going to blame now?
Sad day I think, but maybe some will see now that blaming everything on one man, maybe isn't quite right. We'll see. I don't expect much will change because of this.
ENIC levy was just their figure head.

I've never rated Levy's football acumen, so happy to have a new face in charge but ultimately the parameters for success are set by the owners.
 
I really agree with all of that too. I would have loved to have won everything with Levy, and it’s cruel that we came so close in the PL and CL and didn’t quite get there.

With that said, I agree that getting to the next level under him is the open question. And again it’s cruel in a way…maybe we would have had Chelsea and City not gotten their investment. But the fact is they did, so we have to approach the game as it is, not what we’d like it to be.

The View From the Lane out today is pretty balanced, and overall takes a similar approach as your last paragraph. It’s a very good listen, as is today’s Spurs Show.
 
Liverpool were a bigger club than us from well before Levy taking over. Both benefitted massively from being at or close enough to the top at the time of huge money disparity entering football consistently. The "top 4" as CL money became huge.

It's been very difficult for any club to get to a consistent CL participation level without already being one of those clubs without "cheating"/massive financial injections. That task looks about as difficult as any task in football. To me Levy has done really well at that. Particularly remembering that compared to Germany and Spain for example there are more big clubs in the PL to compete with imo.

Dortmund and Athletico Madrid can have a good, not great season and finish in CL places. Good, not great in the PL typically means you're immediately out of that.

No other club in the PL has come closer to that over the last 25 years than us. We were even there for a while. And it now looks at least realistic that we can again. In no small part thanks to Levy.
Ermm.....Leicester....
 
And Leeds who were a major club when he took over. Under Levy we've done poorly compared with United, Liverpool and Arsenal, the three most successful clubs in the history of our game, as well as Chelsea and Emirates Marketing Project.

Some people have goldfish for brains.

Too many people forget there's only been 7 winners of the PL in its history and only 11 teams have won a trophy in the last 25 years.
 
Did your notice the word "consistently" in my post?
I'd like to win consistently. I don't really care for being there or thereabouts without any pay off consistently, but that's just me.

The EL win (not the performance) was better for me than just getting to the CL final or our various CL runs (despite some of them being really good). I feel sometimes as far base we've become so allergic to winning that we search for gratification by other means. Consistently almost being there is cool but if you never actually get there, in the end who cares?
 
Back