We imagine the streets of Tottenham this morning are reminiscent of a scene in a fantasy fiction after the monster has been vanquished: sun forcing its way through the smoke, children poking their noses out of front doors before frolicking on flowering greens as the conquerors embrace before sauntering down the pavements, arms aloft a la Kerry and Kurtan from \u2018This Country\u2019 chanting \u201che\u2019s dead, he\u2019s dead, he\u2019s dead, he\u2019s dead, heee\u2019s dead, heee\u2019s dead.\u201d.<\/p>\n
Just over a month after Daniel Levy told Gary Neville<\/a> that \u201cwhen I\u2019m not here, I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll get the credit\u201d, after almost 25 years as Tottenham chairman, we\u2019re about to find out.<\/p>\n Although the official statement from Tottenham was that Levy\u00a0\u2018stepped down\u2019<\/a> from his role, it was later reported that he had been \u2018forced out\u2019<\/a> as his\u00a0exit from Spurs \u2018is believed to be the final piece of the jigsaw of plans from the club\u2019s owners to push the north London outfit on to bigger things with a fresh approach and more silverware\u2019.<\/p>\n He\u2019s headed up the development of a new stadium and training ground, with his business acumen establishing the club among the financial elite.\u00a0But he\u2019s faced protests for years from the Spurs fans, whose consistent frustration with Levy was his failure to prioritise the actual football.<\/p>\n In this post-Levy era, we\u2019ve come up with five reasons why we should all be terrified of an unshackled Tottenham.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The set-up<\/p>\n According to Deloitte\u2019s most recent Money League, published for 2023\/24, Tottenham were the ninth-richest club in world football with an annual turnover of \u00a3512m in a season when they were not competing in Europe.<\/p>\n Spurs fans have Levy to thank for that, but weren\u2019t about to thank him. While the chairman would have seen ninth place below Real Madrid, Manchester City, PSG, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Arsenal and Liverpool as a clear sign of the wonderful work he\u2019s done in lifting the club out of the doldrums at the turn of the century, the fans will have questioned why \u2013 with the exception of Man Utd \u2013 they were seeing nothing like the on-pitch reward of those above them, or indeed below them, with Chelsea in tenth.<\/p>\n The gratitude wasn\u2019t about to arrive before those fans had something or some things to celebrate, but there will have been next to no chance of them celebrating anything without the outstanding work from Levy to make Tottenham, as football finance expert Kieran Maguire describes them, \u201cthe most profitable club in Premier League history\u201d.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve forever heard from Levy\u2019s supporters that he\u2019s set Spurs up to be a footballing powerhouse, while his critics would also have to begrudgingly admit that\u2019s the case before insisting they wouldn\u2019t see the fruits of his labour until he\u2019s no longer at the club. They\u2019ve now got their wish; bring on the fruits.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Daniel Levy made Spurs \u2018unrecognisable\u2019; he did a \u2018remarkable job\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n New investment<\/p>\n Levy\u2019s departure comes amid consistent rumours over the search for new investment. The club said\u00a0in their statement on Thursday that there have been \u201cno changes to the ownership or shareholder structure\u201d, with the Lewis family trust still controlling over 60 per cent of the club\u2019s shares (70.1 per cent of ENIC\u2019s stake), while the rest of ENIC\u2019s shares are owned by Levy and his family.<\/p>\n After Joe Lewis stepped down as a \u2018person of significant control\u2019 in October 2022, and with Levy no longer around to take the flak, attention will turn to Vivienne and Charles Lewis. The feeling is that they will now look to sell their stake, or a significant chunk of it, with recent Premier League history suggesting money from the US or the Middle East will come to their aid.<\/p>\n The debate as to whether that\u2019s good or bad for football is for another time, but Spurs fans will look at the strides taken by their Premier League rivals thanks to an influx of foreign cash and think \u2013 at least in terms of winning silverware \u2013 it\u2019s a net positive.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been claimed at various points over the last couple of years that there\u2019s a buyer waiting in the wings and the growing influence of Amanda Staveley \u2013 who brokered the Saudi takeover of Newcastle \u2013 points to there being something in the pipeline.<\/p>\n And it wouldn\u2019t be much of a stretch to suggest Levy\u2019s departure, the removal of him as the club\u2019s most powerful figure, famed for penny-pinching as a divisive presence in the boardroom, with his fingerprints on everything from player transfers to the delivery of beer through the bottom of a cup, makes Tottenham an even more attractive option for those investors.<\/p>\n MORE TOTTENHAM COVERAGE ON F365 \u2018More wins, more often\u2019<\/p>\n We won\u2019t get too bogged down in the wording of this call to arms from a source close to the family of Joe Lewis \u2013 surely it\u2019s just \u2018more wins\u2019 or \u2018wins, more often\u2019 \u2013 because we would rather focus on the simplicity of the sentiment: \u2018More wins, more often\u2019. Sounds good, right? Want to win more games? Yes. Right then. Here we go.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a throwaway line any number of clubs would deliver after a significant boardroom change, but it feels more significant because it\u2019s Spurs, whose fans will have felt for the last two-and-a-half decades that winning more games of football wasn\u2019t the primary aim, with Tottenham more \u2018that football team\u2019 which plays in the beautiful stadium where rocking concerts and NFL games take place.<\/p>\n Vinai Venkatesham<\/p>\n Peter Charrington, director of ENIC, has been appointed as Tottenham\u2019s non-executive chairman, but the club\u2019s new aim of delivering \u2018sporting success\u2019 will see a man with a history in banking, holiday resorts and tech companies take on far lighter duties than Levy in what the club pointed out was a \u2018new role\u2019 in the organisation, with\u00a0Vinai Venkatesham set to become more prominent.<\/p>\n Venkatesham\u2019s arrival as CEO in April suggests Levy should perhaps have seen his dismissal coming, with the British-Indian administrator\u2019s success in rebuilding fierce rivals Arsenal from a low ebb a particular attraction in hiring him.<\/p>\n When he was appointed Arsenal CEO in 2020 they had just finished eighth in the Premier League and he is considered to be one of the key architects in their rise from that point.<\/p>\n He was heavily involved in the appointment of Mikel Arteta as manager and Edu as sporting director while overseeing a change to the recruitment strategy which saw younger players targeted in the transfer market, while increasing the focus on developing academy talent.<\/p>\n Unlike Levy, Venkatesham\u2019s decisions are always made with a view to delivering success on the pitch.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Thomas Frank<\/p>\n They\u2019ve lucked out here. Tottenham have not had a manager since Mauricio Pochettino left the club in 2019 better suited to having his hand on the tiller in this new dawn.<\/p>\n He was reportedly frustrated, as all of his predecessors have been, with the lack of movement from Spurs in the transfer market this summer, certainly up until some smart last-gasp additions. But what Tottenham absolutely don\u2019t need is a Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte at the helm seeing Levy\u2019s departure as a green light for a transfer frenzy.<\/p>\n
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