Daniel Levy has been getting a lot of stick of late. This is mainly to do with his policy of firing, hiring and not giving managers’ time to settle in because he wants instant success. Some of the criticism I share, others I am not too sure about.
Daniel Levy has brought financial stability to White Hart Lane, which is something. However, Spurs has had a proud history of being a top-flight club. In the 50s and 60s, when had we some great players, Spurs were known as the Bank of England. One of the reasons – in the past – why we have not quite made it was not because of our lack of spending power, but the managers’ failings. That is why we have gone through so many managers since Bill Nicholson retired. While we have been in the Premier League, it is slightly different story. Spurs do not have the stadium (we have one of the poorest capacities for a club who wants to compete for a top four place) which puts us just outside the golden clubs in having the ability to pay top wages. Because of that we are roughly were we should be; in the top six. We are kidding ourselves if we think we deserve anything higher, nevertheless, that does not mean a good manager cannot produce a team that can punch above its weight and get us into the top four. Because of our ambitions the board are in the process of moving to a new Stadium, which will have a capacity of 56,000 or thereabouts. This will increase our revenue enormously. I hope that then Spurs will have enough to get the best so that we can compete with the likes of Chelsea, City and United. Nevertheless, it is not as simple as that; Levy has had a very poor record of accomplishment in picking the right manager in helping us go forward. However, I do accept that directors like Levy, who pay high wages to their managers, expect instant success. The days of giving managers like Alex Ferguson quite a few years to settle in have long gone. That is why managers like Moyes failed to get to the end of the season; get it right within a season or you are fired.
Another point; there has been calls for Levy to go. That is fine if we had a rich sheik knocking on our door, or even a Russian or two (we don’t want American’s as there only interest is in what financial rewards they can get out of the club; just look at the Glaziers). However, nobody is knocking on our door and we certainly do not want the likes of Mike Ashley (Newcastle United) or a Vincent Tan (Cardiff City) etc. So maybe we should count our blessings that we have Levy & Lewis than one of those others. So be careful what you wish for as it might come true and then we might truly be in the shit. Personally, we should wait and see what happens once we have a large capacity stadium and whether that extra income takes us to the stars. If not then we will know that Daniel Levy, Joe Lewis, and ENIC cannot take us any further and therefore Spurs need other investors with very large pockets.
Concerning Lewis and Levy; Lewis is worth £4.2 billion, while Levy is a millionaire (or billionaire, I am not sure which) so they are both, together, capable of matching City or Chelsea’s directors. I can only imagine that being Jewish and businessmen – a lethal, but astute combination – that they believe that their money is safer in their pockets than giving it to Spurs. They obviously do not share the same philosophy as Roman Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour and Khaldoon Al Mubarak (both owners of Manchester City), that it is better to show of your money spectacularly by spending big than squirrel it away. The moral of that philosophy must be nuts. Therefore, it must be the club, alone, that generates enough income to make us viable to compete with the best in the world. So mazel tov (good luck) with that.
In the meantime, we have a new season to look forward to, a new manager with some more players thrown in, and of course we have Daniel Levy pulling the strings. Deep joy! COYS.
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