• The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...

    Get involved!

Daniel Levy

  • Thread starter Thread starter FOK
  • Start date Start date

Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports

i think the only way left to grow the asset is to win more on the pitch and that's what's happening here. i also think it's all been planned out and don't think levy was blindsided. this is the next step towards becoming a mega club
 
DadHeungMin said:
TalkShite talking shite with the “are Tottenham bigger than West Ham? Or could West Ham be bigger than them?” question but the interesting tidbit is how Brazil heard rumours of a verbally agreed Qatari bid.

I’d expect Brazil to be in some fairly well informed football WhatsApp group chats, so for that to be going around in football circles is interesting. Also how Redknapp feels it’ll be sold soon with some big offers already in behind the scenes, likely Saudi.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Burst out laughing at that question - you could see Redknapp was not saying what he really thought so not to upset the hammers fans lol
 
THST statement. Little more classy than Change for Tottenham.




Trust statement on the departure of Daniel Levy

The surprising departure of Daniel Levy after 24 years as Executive Chairman of the Club provides the new leadership with the ideal opportunity for deepened engagement with fan groups on the future direction of the Club. They should take it.

Daniel’s legacy is self-evidently the construction of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, widely regarded as one of the finest football stadia in the world, as well as related infrastructure such as the training ground. Building such a stadium in the dense, urban heart of our home, Tottenham, is no mean feat. While some may still hanker after the more intimate White Hart Lane, it is clear that THS was needed to allow Tottenham Hotspur to compete on an equal footing with Europe’s football elite. Our thanks go to Daniel for his vision and drive in delivering the stadium.

And yet, the laser focus on cost and value for money necessary for completing the stadium didn’t serve the Club so well on the pitch. Our members and other respondents to our annual surveys consistently over many years valued the Club’s development off the pitch but wanted greater focus on the football. As welcome as the Europa League win was, it was only the second trophy during Daniel’s 24 year reign. The failure to kick on under Mauricio Pochettino and after the opening of THS was a missed opportunity and seemed to reflect an approach, particularly in the transfer market, that was too cautious and too focussed on extracting monetary value rather than addressing weaknesses that were obvious to all.

Genuine fan engagement didn’t come naturally to Daniel. While on paper there was commitment, in practice this often meant telling us what the Club planned to do at short notice. Earlier engagement may have avoided missteps such as the proposed move to Stratford, the ESL, furloughing staff in the pandemic and curtailing senior season ticket concessions.

Legally, there is no change in ownership, but there is no doubt Daniel’s departure represents a switch in leadership to that of the Lewis family interests. There is talk of outside investment and we would remind the Club of its support for the Trust’s 5 Principles upon which we will judge any owner of the Club. It also provides an opportunity for more meaningful engagement with fans; there has already been an encouraging start under new CEO, Vinai Venkatesham.

The Trust will continue to play a constructive role in the engagement process and fulfil its role as a critical friend to the Club. The change in leadership provokes questions about future strategy, the timing of the change, plans for outside investment and reassurance that the Club is in good hands. The Trust will be asking those questions both directly and via its participation in the FAB.

We’d like to thank Daniel Levy for his achievements during his 24 years of service to the Club and wish him well in his future endeavours.
 
Looking at it in the cold light of day, unpopular opinion but I think history will eventually look favourably on him.

As fans, we only give a fuck about what happens on the pitch, and he made a lot of bad decisions, which cost us in a big way a lot of times. I'll never forgive him for the Nelsen/Saha fiasco, no players for 18 months, the treatment of jol /pochettino, the constant cheaping out causing us to miss out on players, highest ticket prices in the league etc, and I did want him gone. 2 trophies in 25 years is not good enough. However, when you look at where we were to where we are now, it can't be denied that he's given us a very solid foundation to build on, albeit years down the line from the stadium making us compete, there is a lot to be said and a certain pride for the way the club has organically grown, not bought as some plaything by some Saudi cunt, Abramovich etc. I think a lot of that will be forgotten if the next one is the right guy. This may be the most critical decision the club has ever had to make. Imagine getting some cunt like moshiri, or the Sheffield Wednesday guy.
 
Matt1882 said:
THST statement. Little more classy than Change for Tottenham.




Trust statement on the departure of Daniel Levy

The surprising departure of Daniel Levy after 24 years as Executive Chairman of the Club provides the new leadership with the ideal opportunity for deepened engagement with fan groups on the future direction of the Club. They should take it.

Daniel’s legacy is self-evidently the construction of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, widely regarded as one of the finest football stadia in the world, as well as related infrastructure such as the training ground. Building such a stadium in the dense, urban heart of our home, Tottenham, is no mean feat. While some may still hanker after the more intimate White Hart Lane, it is clear that THS was needed to allow Tottenham Hotspur to compete on an equal footing with Europe’s football elite. Our thanks go to Daniel for his vision and drive in delivering the stadium.

And yet, the laser focus on cost and value for money necessary for completing the stadium didn’t serve the Club so well on the pitch. Our members and other respondents to our annual surveys consistently over many years valued the Club’s development off the pitch but wanted greater focus on the football. As welcome as the Europa League win was, it was only the second trophy during Daniel’s 24 year reign. The failure to kick on under Mauricio Pochettino and after the opening of THS was a missed opportunity and seemed to reflect an approach, particularly in the transfer market, that was too cautious and too focussed on extracting monetary value rather than addressing weaknesses that were obvious to all.

Genuine fan engagement didn’t come naturally to Daniel. While on paper there was commitment, in practice this often meant telling us what the Club planned to do at short notice. Earlier engagement may have avoided missteps such as the proposed move to Stratford, the ESL, furloughing staff in the pandemic and curtailing senior season ticket concessions.

Legally, there is no change in ownership, but there is no doubt Daniel’s departure represents a switch in leadership to that of the Lewis family interests. There is talk of outside investment and we would remind the Club of its support for the Trust’s 5 Principles upon which we will judge any owner of the Club. It also provides an opportunity for more meaningful engagement with fans; there has already been an encouraging start under new CEO, Vinai Venkatesham.

The Trust will continue to play a constructive role in the engagement process and fulfil its role as a critical friend to the Club. The change in leadership provokes questions about future strategy, the timing of the change, plans for outside investment and reassurance that the Club is in good hands. The Trust will be asking those questions both directly and via its participation in the FAB.

We’d like to thank Daniel Levy for his achievements during his 24 years of service to the Club and wish him well in his future endeavours.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's what happens when grown ups issue statements.
 
Cranston said:
Any given chant is not going to impact anything. No more than our cheers or songs will help a team win, or keep a player from leaving.

It’s not about individual acts. Rather the culmination of years of grumbling and voiced disenchantment, to the point that the club realised a change of direction was needed.

Levy had achieved everything he possibly could. Every avenue has been trodden, save one - significant sporting success.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Looking at it from a distance, I don't see how these groups believe they are affecting any action clubs take. Levy isn't out as chairman because of them, he's out because the rest of the shareholders feel like renewing the emphasis on football with other leadership will enhance the value of their investment. If you really want to help Spurs win, cheer as hard when things aren't going well as when they are. Create a positive environment.
 
Harry Vaginola said:
i think the only way left to grow the asset is to win more on the pitch and that's what's happening here. i also think it's all been planned out and don't think levy was blindsided. this is the next step towards becoming a mega clubi wond
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
FightingIllini said:
I feel like the implications are pretty clear.

Plan A is to sell a minority share, pumping somebody else's cash into the club. Levy was an obstacle to that happening, so he's gone.

If that doesn't materialize in the way Team Lewis wants, other options will be considered.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Doubt the minority share thing tbh. Where does the money come from. Who would be so stupid? It’s either a sale or what it says on the tin
 
I suspect the combination of spending more in the 22-23-24 windows and then having the team skirting relegation shat the Lewis’s up. They must have wondered wtf was Daniel doing. It is by far their biggest asset, and would have been massively hit by relegation.
 
manmountainbutters said:
Doubt the minority share thing tbh. Where does the money come from. Who would be so stupid?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Had you invested in Spurs, or any big Premier League club, 10 years ago you'd have made a killing.

Do I believe in the same kind of growth in the value of these clubs over the next decade? Not really. But many do.

I'm skeptical of outside investment, but less skeptical than I was 48 hours ago.
 
Ionman34 said:
It doesn't limit the concern though.

At the moment, Tottenham Hotspur is worth around £4B because of the infrastructure and assets. What is to stop a new owner coming in and essentially asset stripping the club, selling the property to themselves at lower prices and creaming all the profits off them, rather than them going into the club, or taking huge dividends out? Or both?

Yes there are entities out there that that will invest for success, but we already know that there are others who'll see this as a cow to be milked.

For all his faults, the only thing Levy took out of this club was a wage. A big one for sure but, when you are solely responsible for turning a business you bought for what, £22M? into a business valued at £4B, why wouldn't you take a top wage? By those lights he'd earned it.
What always made me laugh was the complaint about his wage, by the same people DEMANDING that he pay his employees over 5 times as much!

There aren't too many businesses in the World where the employees are paid hugely more than the guy who both owns and runs the place.

I worry because, despite their soundbite about wanting to be "more successful" on the pitch, I don't really believe the Lewis' actually give a shit. They won't care who they sell to, they'll get £4B to "ease the pain," whilst living thousands of miles away, so no Spurs fans to bother them.

Levy always said he saw himself as just a custodian of the club, and I believe he meant that. Yes he stands to profit handsomely from any sale, but I do think that he wouldn't sell to just anyone, he'd want to pass the club on to someone who would build on what he's done further.

I don't believe that will be the case with the Lewis'.

I hope I'm wrong, but knowing our luck...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's just simply not going to happen. The threshold for buying a club has went up, and due diligence is being a primary focus, to stop this kind of behavior.

You've just been conditioned into thinking we're doing great. We've been underperforming for a long time, playing everything extremely conservatively.

Someone isn't dropping £4bn on something to let it rot.
 
DadHeungMin said:
The story of Tottenham Hotspur in the 21st century has been the story of the relationship between Daniel Levy, the long-standing chairman, and the Lewis family, the majority shareholders. Levy started working for Joe Lewis as a young man in the 1990s, was widely thought of as Lewis’ protegee, and became the managing director of ENIC, the investment firm who bought 29.9 per cent of Tottenham from Alan Sugar in December 2000 for £22million.

Levy became chairman in 2001 and, for 24 years, he ran Tottenham with a firm grip, as the club grew into a huge global brand, valued at roughly £4billion ($5.4bn), playing in one of the best new stadiums in Europe. The Lewis family were content to stay in the background, as Levy became the public face of the club.

But on Thursday September 4, that working relationship, the one that defined Spurs, came to an end. Levy was told that he was being removed as executive chairman. Peter Charrington, the director of ENIC and former banker, the man appointed to the board by the Lewis family in March, would be stepping into the new role of non-executive chairman.

The news could hardly have come as more of a shock. Many staff had no idea until the email came round from CEO Vinai Venkatesham, coinciding with the official statement, which said that Levy had “stepped down”. The statement contained some brief quotes from Levy, saying that he was “incredibly proud” of his work at Spurs, thanking the fans, and promising that he would continue to support the team.

As much of a shock as Thursday was, though, this seismic event had deep roots. Multiple sources have spoken in recent years about the relationship between Levy and the Lewis family no longer being as closely aligned as it once was. More specifically, it can be traced back to the start of this year when the Lewis family decided to take a serious look into one of the thorniest questions at Spurs, the question on the lips of so many fans: why is the team performing so badly?

Of course, last season ended in glory on the pitch with the Europa League win in Bilbao in May. But in the Premier League, it was a disaster, Spurs’ worst league season in almost 50 years. Even that trophy was Spurs’ first major one since the 2008 League Cup. Since they reached the Champions League final in 2019, Tottenham have finished in the top four of the Premier League only once, in 2021-22. For all the improvements in the training ground (opened in 2012) and stadium (in 2019), consistent competitiveness on the pitch has been hard to find. Only briefly under Mauricio Pochettino were Tottenham challenging at the top end of the league season after season.

At the start of this year, the Lewis family sought the help of U.S. management consultancy firm Gibb River to look into this. They went into the club to interview senior members of staff to find out what was going wrong. This was not a review to find out how to trim costs, find efficiencies and save money. It was about something bigger. What needed to change, in a sporting and operational sense, to get Tottenham winning again?

This review also coincided with a new appointment to the board. On March 12, in came Charrington, the former CEO of Citi Private Banking, appointed to represent the interests of the majority shareholder in the club. Charrington quickly started to learn about how things worked. Less than six months after arriving, he has now stepped into the main chair.

There were more boardroom changes to follow. In April, it was announced that Vinai Venkatesham would be joining Tottenham as the new CEO. That in itself was a radical change of direction for the club, which had never had a CEO in the ENIC era, but it was a change approved by the Lewis family. And at the end of the season, it was announced that executive director Donna-Maria Cullen would be leaving the club, having been one of the most influential people behind the scenes throughout the Levy tenure.

There were other changes too on the football side, with chief football officer Scott Munn leaving and, of course, Ange Postecoglou being dismissed and replaced by Thomas Frank.

Initially, these changes felt like an overdue updating of how the club did business. One of the most striking things about the Levy era at Spurs was that even as the club grew and grew off the pitch — employing hundreds of new staff, moving into a £1.2billion stadium, expanding the brand around the world — at its heart it was run the same way: by Levy and those closest to him. It almost felt akin to a family-run business. Even if — as this week emphatically proved — the power still lay with the Lewis family.

Because Levy was not just one of the longest-serving Premier League chairmen of the modern era. He was also one of the most dominant, across everything that happened in his club with ferocious attention to detail. The stories about Levy choosing almost every fixture and fitting in the new stadium are well-worn by now. Every few years, Tottenham would appoint a new sporting director or technical director but, ultimately, Levy would always still have his hands on the steering wheel. Just last month, he was personally negotiating with Steve Parish as Spurs attempted to sign Eberechi Eze, who ended up at Woolwich.

The arrival of Venkatesham felt like a step into the future for Spurs, as the club started to resemble most of its rivals, with a powerful CEO rather than just a hands-on executive chairman. Venkatesham and Levy, who had been close for years, had a good working relationship. When they made a video together in June, posted on Tottenham’s YouTube channel, it felt like the start of a new era. Not just for Venkatesham but also for Levy, speaking to the public in a more relaxed and informal way than he had done for years. When Levy sat down for a chatty interview with Gary Neville and said, “When I’m not here, I’m sure I’ll get the credit”, it did not sound like a prediction of his imminent departure. It sounded more like a fresh start.

Staff were enjoying a more open, communicative club culture, driven by Venkatesham and Frank. Fans were enjoying more constructive discussions with the club too. Fresh appointments were planned to bring the club’s management structure further into the modern era. A strong start for Frank and a strong finish to the transfer window underlined a sense that things might be moving in the right direction again.

But, ultimately, the biggest change of all was yet to come, the final act of this dramatic power play. That came on Thursday with Levy’s removal. The changes that started this year could not be fully realised until the most important man at the club had gone. And this was no gradual transfer of power. Levy was working on club business right up until the end. Tottenham Hotspur’s post-Levy era, a phrase that still takes some getting used to, starts today.

No one could argue that Levy did not have a good run. Future historians will debate his legacy, how the football landscape changed during his tenure, the importance of his infrastructure projects, whether he appointed the right managers at the right time, whether he backed them enough. All of this will be discussed for decades.

But it is difficult to argue that the Levy era delivered enough on the pitch over its 24 years: one League Cup in 2008, one Europa League in 2025. The team feels further away from the top of the Premier League than it did five or even 10 years ago. Many fans, clearly, had run out of patience with the way that Levy ran the football side of the club. They felt that Levy’s tenure, his distinct way of doing things, had finally run out of road. And the Lewis family agreed that it was time for a change to push for more success on the pitch. “Generations of the Lewis family support this special football club,” one person close to the Lewis family told The Athletic, speaking on condition of anonymity. “And they want what the fans want — more wins, more often.”

For decades, the Lewis family has been in the background at Spurs. Joe Lewis always had a public profile but he stepped away from involvement with the club, ceasing to be a ‘person of significant control’ in October 2022, following a reorganisation of the family trusts. Lewis, now 88, pleaded guilty to insider trading in January 2024, having been indicted for “orchestrating a brazen insider trading scheme” in the summer of 2023.

The Lewis family trust effectively controls just over 60 per cent of the club’s shares (70.1 per cent of ENIC’s stake), while the rest of ENIC’s shares are owned by Levy and his family via a similar setup of discretionary trusts. They retain these shares — roughly 25 per cent of the club’s shares — despite Levy’s exit, the club confirming on Thursday that nothing has changed in the “ownership or shareholder structure”.

Vivienne and Charles Lewis have never had the same public profile as their father Joe, but attention will now turn to them as two of the key figures at Tottenham Hotspur. The question that Spurs fans will now have for the Lewis family — not just Vivienne and Charles but their children too — is what exactly they want to do with the club. Having Levy in place as chairman for so long, the visible public face of the club, effectively spared the majority shareholders from scrutiny.

The priority will be supporting the new management team to bring success. “In Vinai, Thomas and Peter Charrington, they believe they are backing the right team to deliver on this,” the person close to the Lewis family said. But it is a measure of how dramatic this summer has been at Tottenham Hotspur, that the longest serving of those three is Charrington, and he only arrived at the club in March. Replacing all the work that Cullen did was one thing, replacing everything Levy did will be quite another. It will be a huge test of the individuals and of the club’s new structures, some of which are still being built. There has been a big emphasis on transparency and communication this summer, and that will be more important than ever as fans adjust to the new era.

The biggest question of all will be what the Lewis family’s long-term intentions are for the club. Rumours of ENIC selling have been constant ever since they first bought out Alan Sugar almost 25 years ago. In recent years, the attention has not been on a full sale as much as the possibility of selling a stake, maybe 10% of the club for £400million, providing fresh equity. Levy admitted in April 2024 that “the club requires a significant increase in its equity base”, and said that the board and their advisors Rothschild were “in discussions with prospective investors”. Such a deal might have strengthened Levy’s hand, providing him with fresh resources to compete with richer teams. But for all of the rumours, no stake in the club was ever sold.

Now that Levy has gone, all of those questions will fall to the Lewis family to answer. For all the public assumption that the Lewis family are preparing for a full sale now that Levy is out of the picture, nothing is thought to be close. Prospective buyers were as surprised as anyone by Thursday’s news. And the first focus of the Lewis family from here will be on trying to make the team more successful and more consistent.

That will mean wrestling with the questions Levy faced up until Thursday: how can a team Tottenham’s size compete with richer rivals? How much should they be prepared to risk on wages and transfer fees? Can they find new funding or will they have to get more from other revenue streams, even if they prove unpopular with the fans? What is the right balance between young and experienced players, between managers who win and managers who entertain? These were the issues that Levy spent 24 years trying to solve. Now the Lewis family must find answers of their own.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Could you just put the York Notes version up please???🤔
 
Cranston said:
Any given chant is not going to impact anything. No more than our cheers or songs will help a team win, or keep a player from leaving.

It’s not about individual acts. Rather the culmination of years of grumbling and voiced disenchantment, to the point that the club realised a change of direction was needed.

Levy had achieved everything he possibly could. Every avenue has been trodden, save one - significant sporting success.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

44bdf7cbbfacfb85d0f307e52ef58f05.gif
 
Richard Arlison said:
Because the sale price is going to be so high, they will at least need to be successful on the pitch to boost revenues and brand awareness if they want to make a profit
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think it very much depends on the motivation behind the purchase.

A private equity consortium will probably have a very different reason than a sheik or A.N.Other billionaire who aren’t buying for investment purposes.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top