The hope is that nobody spent any more of their own money on those protest balloons. So full of life they started, a “Levy Out!” to the watching world, the air gradually ebbing away as they descended from the terraces, before they could really translate their messages onto the pitch.
Which, of course, is not dissimilar to the goings on in the Tottenham Hotspur boardroom over the last 25 years. You can divide Daniel Levy’s premiership into an impressive 16 first years and a chaotic last nine. It simply ran out of steam.
An avowedly guarded, private man, Spurs’ departing chairman was unfortunate to have governed in the age of the Celebrity Football Executive. So how then, do you assess somebody who would rather slip inconspicuously out of sight? First, by reading the charge sheet – and then the mitigation.
Two trophies in 25 years did not sate the appetite of a fanbase reared on the founding myths of 1961. Seventeen years elapsed between the first Enic silverware, the 2008 League Cup, and the last, this year’s Europa League. Ange Postecoglou won it, then got sacked – just like the 16 managers before him.
For the years of stagnation and decline that got them into that moral haze over the loveable Australian, many supporters blamed Levy. And it always came back to transfers, where the 63-year-old oversaw the top flight’s lowest wage-revenue ratio. In other words, Tottenham could have competed for better players and chose not to.
Nobody ever doubted the acumen behind that thinking. When Levy took over, Spurs were a £48m-a-year business. Now, they are the world’s ninth richest club.
But to understand Tottenham in the 21st century, you have to remember how they ended the 20th. The first club floated on the London Stock Exchange, by 1991 they were on the brink of bankruptcy. Though it was overturned, they remained scarred by a 12-point deduction three years later for alleged financial irregularities. Under Alan Sugar, they had descended into almost unbearable levels of mediocrity. The inheritance was shoddy, and yet Levy qualified for Europe in 18 of the last 20 seasons.
Nobody could have looked at Tottenham in 2001 and seriously imagined they would ever reach a Champions League final, or go toe-to-toe in two title races. Levy is no football populist but vowed in his first programme notes to “Make Tottenham Great Again”. As a phrase, it hasn’t aged well but there is no denying that they became a club who could no longer be ignored.
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Nor on his watch would they ever again fall into economic oblivion. He did little to contradict his reputation as a hard bargainer but pulled off some remarkable deals too – Dele Alli for £5m, Christian Eriksen for £11m, Jan Vertonghten for £9m. He established the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. The bulldozers pulverised the gloriously quaint but outdated White Hart Lane to make way for a world-leading £1.2bn stadium.
Except supporters like to watch football matches, not balance sheets, or cranes going up and down. Critics will say that Mauricio Pochettino was stumbled upon because Levy couldn’t appoint Louis van Gaal; that he interrupted the momentum of the Martin Jol years by pursuing Juande Ramos, a totally inadequate replacement.
As he departs, one thing is clearer – so too does the face of those mistakes.. What should everyone be singing now? Charrington Out? We Want Levy Back In?
As a custodian, and as a bulwark against the Premier League’s worst excesses, history may judge Daniel Levy with a little more kindness – but that will depend on where Tottenham go from here.
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/aGqDcB7
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