Many Spurs fans will not mourn the latest developments but there are two sides to the Levy story.<\/p>\n
Spurs are a financial success, having been valued at \u00a32.6bn by Forbes earlier this year – it was \u00a380m when he took control of football affairs in 2001.<\/p>\n
Former manager David Pleat told BBC Radio Five Live: “To achieve success in the modern game without mega money is very difficult and to do what Tottenham have done in the last two decades is quite incredible.<\/p>\n
“The stadium is magnificent, nobody can rival the training ground, and the club is on a good footing and he has always been sensible.<\/p>\n
“Daniel Levy is no more tough than any other chairman who protects his club and looks after his club’s finances. As far as being a custodian of the club I don’t think there is a more astute chairman. I would say he has looked after the club well.”<\/p>\n
And yet Levy’s painstaking negotiating style – ruthless and determined to get the best deal – has been a constant narrative used against him during his time as chairman.<\/p>\n
He was criticised recently when Arsenal stole England forward Eberechi Eze away in a dramatic transfer coup. <\/p>\n
Spurs had been involved in lengthy negotiations with Crystal Palace, but left the door ajar enough for their bitter north London rivals to swoop to clinch a \u00a360m deal just hours after Levy had finally agreed the fine detail of the move.<\/p>\n
The ruthless edge he possessed was witnessed when all-time record goalscorer Harry Kane, who struck 280 times in 435 appearances, thought he had “a gentleman’s agreement” with Levy that he could leave the club in 2021 if they finished outside the top four.<\/p>\n
Levy swept that belief aside, forcing a disaffected Kane to stay. Spurs eventually sold him to Bayern Munich for an initial \u00a386.4m in August 2023, a deal he regarded as financially sensible for the 30-year-old England striker.<\/p>\n
Those who work with Levy have described him as “shy, quiet and hard working”, not the cold character of public perception, although limelight and public speaking has never sat easy with him.<\/p>\n
And sources familiar with Levy felt some of his problems came about because “he did not surround himself with the best people” and his discomfort with public speaking meant his messages did not always translate, as one admitted: “One interview or being visible once a year is not a lot.”<\/p>\n
Levy also invited widespread criticism when he used the Government’s furlough scheme during the Covid pandemic, then when he phased out concession tickets for seniors.<\/p>\n
The Europa League win in May saw a rare public sighting of the private Levy at the post-match victory party.<\/p>\n
Wearing a Spurs shirt, he grabbed a microphone, punched the air and shouted: “We’re champions. This has been a very long time coming. We’ve made history and I want to thank Ange, all the coaching staff, all the players. You guys have gone down in history.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully it is going to get us on the road to where we absolutely deserve to be, which is at the very top.”<\/p>\n
Postecoglou’s next thanks came when he was sacked.<\/p>\n
And now Levy has stepped away from that road to the top, a chairman who achieved much in so many ways, but whose leadership style often proved toxic for supporters and never delivered the success they demanded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many Spurs fans will not mourn the latest developments but there are two sides to the Levy story.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-121296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}