Football must be the priority but without the commercial side the chances of having success on the football side are slim. And when you do slide it allows you to buy your way back up the ladder, like Utd last simmer and like we look to be attempting this summer.
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Daniel Levy - Former Chairman
- Thread starter Howard Webb
- Start date
MartyFunkhouser
Garth Crooks
Exactly this, DL is no longer here, but it can't be denied that commercially we have been future proofed
SissokoWasGood (BoL)
John Lacy
Yeah…it also makes me laugh when Villa fans get annoyed at us because of PSR,
We - because of Levy - did one of the HARDEST things in football. We made an intentional decision to do a massively complex stadium project which we knew would increase our revenues but (were it for Poch) could have made things quite dicey on the playing side for a few years while we saw that through.
I guess we are lucky in the sense that we have a fan base that would fill that stadium at high prices. But that’s just the consequence of being a big club.
Villa could do that. Or something similar. But to moan at us as if we are just lucky, or just won the lottery or something. It’s completely ridiculous. Levy did a really hard, and really intelligent thing. He saw where the game was going with these regulations and got the club to a point where we could compete well within them. Villa fans would rather it all just be handed to them, and render Levy’s excellence and creativity meaningless. But that would be a completely horrible thing! Levy deserves immense credit for what he was able to do in this respect.
MartyFunkhouser
Garth Crooks
Spend 10 years on net zero and a new stadium build and you can do it.
TBH like you say, we are lucky with geography and fanbase, but thats just the hand you are dealt.
People said on here "well its not that special, West Ham could easily do the same, as could the owners of Villa" I don't think it was that easy
Lemonade Money
Chris Jones
But I read on here they were the team to emulate, if only Levy would put his hand in his pocket.
Certainly wasn't that easy for Villa ten years ago, they was in the Championship from 2016-19 bless them.....
Mikey10
Cecil Poynton
Plenty of times that him attempting to haggle over relatively small amounts (and therefore be seen to 'win' a negotiation) cost us when it came to signings that could have made a real difference.
MartyFunkhouser
Garth Crooks
Bishop
Les Ferdinand
There was nothing stopping us from having the solid commercial side along with a robust football focus, we are a football team after all.
I don't understand this argument that it's ok for the main priority to suffer because we increasing our commercial operations.
Bedfordspurs
Bert Smith
That’s it
He made mistakes
He done some great stuff
We can only possibly bid on a tonali because of the world done previously to set us up financially. Where that really leads us, we will see
But levy also appointed Hitchen for example so that’s a negative there
Where did I mention that it was ok for the football side to suffer? In fact the first 5 words are "Football must be the priority".
I don't understand making an argument against one that hasn't been made
Lemonade Money
Chris Jones
The football side really suffered finishing 2nd in the league, a CL final, and our best run of league finishes for decades. I hope we suffer as badly under the new regime.Where did I mention that it was ok for the football side to suffer? In fact the first 5 words are "Football must be the priority".
I don't understand making an argument against one that hasn't been made
Bishop
Les Ferdinand
We took out eyes off the ball which is why we only finished 2nd once and it wasn't a consistent run. It's why we are we are today 17th. So you probably don't want the next regime to run us the same way.
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Jurgen the German
George Hunt
That's all well and good, but we reached the Champions League final seven years ago and finished second in the league nine years ago. Since then, the trajectory over the last seven seasons has largely been one of decline. If a manager or player consistently underperformed for seven years, they wouldn't be given a free pass indefinitely. The same level of accountability should apply across the club.
Jurgen the German
George Hunt
Fair points. However, I do feel that the football side of the club has not always been prioritised enough compared to the business side. That does seem to be changing, which can only be a positive development. Ultimately, we're never going to compete consistently at the highest level if we don't make the right decisions on the football side.
Bishop
Les Ferdinand
Where did I say you said this? My comment was general.Where did I mention that it was ok for the football side to suffer? In fact the first 5 words are "Football must be the priority".
I don't understand making an argument against one that hasn't been made
Mikey10
Cecil Poynton
The decision to re-focus on the footballing side seems to have been made over a year ago, and quite possibly lies at the heart of why Levy went. Re-posted below is what Lee McQueen said on LWOS on 5th June last year, originally posted by me on 6th June 2025. Essentially all of the forecasts came to pass, so probably no reason to doubt him on his last point.
SissokoWasGood (BoL)
John Lacy
Yeah, well that’s the other side of it. Villa did the easier thing, the thing that we should be able to do with a more robust and sustainable platform once the stadium was built. But I don’t think Levy ever quite shifted gears enough to truly take advantage of what he had built.
The foresight and the capability to pull off the stadium is one of the biggest achievements in football, that should set us up for long term success and hopefully we have a ton of headroom in PSR to exploit this increased earnings now that Levy is gone. I do think with how we’re moving this summer it shows that Levy needed to go. He did amazing to get us to the point of the stadium opening but he couldn’t shift gears to build on from there.
I think it's fair to respect Levy's ways in growing Spurs and giving them the platform to become a competitive big club again. But to get to the desired final step, the promised land his methods somewhat stifled this ambition.
I'm comfortable letting someone new 'take the handbrake off' a little without it leading to unsustainable and irresponsible spending. We can thank Levy for growing us somewhat whilst recognising he had hit his limits and something different is needed to kick on again...
I'm comfortable letting someone new 'take the handbrake off' a little without it leading to unsustainable and irresponsible spending. We can thank Levy for growing us somewhat whilst recognising he had hit his limits and something different is needed to kick on again...