‘I grew up a Tottenham fan’ – Brighton man reveals he learns from Daniel Levy

Brighton CEO Paul Barber has revealed that he learns something every day from Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, and has praised his knowledge and experience in helping him through the football pyramid. 

The Brighton man also labelled the Spurs chief as ‘fantastic’ and ‘terrific’, which he discovered during his time working at his boyhood club. 

Barber was appointed as Brighton’s chief executive in 2012 while the club was still in the Championship, following a short stint with MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps. 

However, he was originally part of the Tottenham board as an executive director in 2005, before stepping down from the role in 2010 to take up the job with Vancouver, which made him the first British-born executive to head a football franchise in North America. 

He did remain on the board at Spurs, though, as a non-executive director until fully departing the club part-way through 2011. 

Barber has since revealed his time at Spurs was a positive one and that he took on board a vast amount of knowledge from Levy, thanking him for aiding the progression of his career. 

When asked about learning from the Tottenham chief, he told Que Golazo: “Oh, every day. Daniel is a fantastic businessman and a terrific operator of a top-level club.

“I enjoyed the time I spent at Tottenham Hotspur. I grew up a Tottenham fan. I grew up in the area of the club, so, for me, it was an easy process to settle in.

“I had been working previously with the national team, for me, Tottenham was the first experience of day-to-day club football. And it stood me in good stead when I moved to North America to work in the MLS then later back here to Brighton.

“I will always be grateful to Daniel for the support he provided to me and also the guidance along the way.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

Levy quite clearly divides opinion between Spurs fans, but to his credit, he receives big praise from a host of chief executives around the football world.

His hard-bargaining style may irritate some, but that may actually put him in a good stance for other negotiators to look up to. 

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