When Daniel Levy became chairman of Tottenham Hotspur in February 2001, he attended Premier League meetings and found himself surrounded by men almost twice his age. Arsenal’s Peter Hill-Wood, Aston Villa’s Doug Ellis, Manchester United’s Martin Edwards, Liverpool’s David Moores, Newcastle United’s Freddy Shepherd and Southampton’s Rupert Lowe; He is the old guard of English football at the beginning of the last century.
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We are now in a very different era. The Premier League meetings are made up of leaders from around the world – plus the US. and the Gulf – and yet Levy single-handedly provides the link between the old and the new. He has been chairman of Tottenham Hotspur for more than 23 years. More than Edwards at Manchester United, almost as much as Moores at Liverpool. (To fit into Hill-Wood’s remarkable 41 years at Arsenal, he’d have to stay until 2042, when he’ll turn 80. )
But as Levy prepares for his 24th full season at the helm of Tottenham, enthusiasts will naturally start to wonder where this season will take them. Will there still be a trophy to justify the solid structure of the entire Levy era?Off the pitch, will the club get much-needed outside investment?Ultimately, will this be the year that anything changes or will Spurs enthusiasts have the same conversations in the summer of 2025?
In many ways, it’s been a summer of regime at Tottenham. There are no emotions from last summer, when Spurs brought in a radical new manager, ending 4 years of negative football, and then temporarily brought in 4 first-team players to make it work. Instead, it’s been a summer in which Levy, Ange Postecoglou and Johan Lange, the manager, have tried to build on the progress of the last two windows, strengthening the team so that it can compete for more than just fronts.
So far, and there are still 3 weeks until the window closes, it looks like many other Tottenham summer windows in recent memory. A smart start, with Archie Gray signed from Leeds United in the midst of fierce competition and Timo Werner on loan from RB Leipzig for another season. Then, an era that has forced enthusiasts to be patient, as Spurs have moved on to their fringe players, with no other main targets yet.
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Throughout the window, Tottenham have looked for the most sensible central midfielder and centre-forward, and only when it closes will we know if they have achieved it. Levy may be accused of not supporting his coaches, but let’s not go all out, Spurs. he did last summer, buying part of a new first team and making the loans of Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski permanent, an expense that is not easy to achieve. Recurring summer after summer.
Postecoglou was very transparent at the end of last season about the replacement he was looking for in the team. He publicly asked for patience, without saying anything that could increase the tension that already exists on his employer. The contrast with Antonio Conte, who has become just another user in public every time a window of movement appeared on the horizon, is for all to see.
It will soon become clear if the Spurs have the players they want for this season. On September 26, their eight-match crusade at the organizational level of the Europa League begins. From that moment on, the Spurs team will be even more in the call. than in last year’s 41-game season. Postecoglou explained in Korea the importance of adding intensity this season: “I think we want to go beyond just building a team, we want to build a team to compete. “
Postecoglou has a new generation of interesting young players to use this season (not just Gray, but also 18-year-old midfielder Lucas Bergvall, winger Mikey Moore, who turns 17 on Sunday, and others from the academy), and the temperament this season will depend in part on his new team’s ability to compete in fronts.
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Because last season, at least until the end, was strangely positive for the Spurs. If 2022-23 was marked by fan anger towards Levy as the season unfolded, then 2023-24 was marked by collective enthusiasm for the Postecoglou era and their taste for the game. Some of the public’s anger towards control of the club was neutralised by the appointment of a coach in line with the club’s traditions and the expectations of the fans.
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If ‘Levy Out’ was a marginal concern, the poisonous end of the Conte era made more and more enthusiasts wonder about the decisions Spurs had made up to that point. It took Postecoglou’s arrival to return Tottenham’s unity and repair the atmosphere. Stepping away from the great managers who “win now” and drawing a line over the past four years, this may be one of the most forward-thinking appointments of the Levy era.
The question for this season is whether this new positive balance will be maintained. As always, he will count on what happens on the ground. If Spurs start well and build on their progress from last year, there is no explanation as to why Tottenham Hotspur Stadium cannot return to a satisfactory position. If they can keep the entertaining style of play from last season and keep it going for an entire season, like in Mauricio Pochettino’s second season in 2015-16, then this may be the most productive full season the stadium has ever known. And if he ends up at Wembley or Bilbao in nine months’ time with a trophy (Spurs’ first in 17 years), then it will be as if all the hard work, after all, has paid off. This would be the moment that would make the total adventure worthwhile.
Of course, there is some other option and what we don’t know is how this season will play out if Spurs struggle. If the effects are bad, last year’s unit may begin to fall apart. And if the building blocks of the club (players, coach, management and supporters) begin to crumble, it will be a question of who stands firm to whom. No one knows if the discord of 2021 or 2023 will return. With a week to go until the start of a season, there is a huge gap between good luck and failure.
Whatever the ups and downs of the football season and all the little dramas that come with it, Tottenham and Levy will be asking themselves other questions over the next 12 months. And this considers the long term consistent with the club’s percentage. (Currently, ENIC owns 86. 58 percent of the club’s capital, and 70. 12 percent of ENIC’s percentage capital is held through “a discretionary arrangement of which certain members of Mr. (Joe) Lewis are potential beneficiaries,” according to the club’s website. The remainder is maintained by discretionary acceptance as true of which “Mr. D Levy and some members of his circle of relatives are possible beneficiaries”).
Speculation about a sale is not new. They’ve been at the bottom almost since ENIC bought Alan Sugar’s stake in 2000. At the time, the club was valued at £80 million. Today, after nearly a quarter of a century of control through Levy, the company is valued at £4 billion ($5 billion), 50 times its initial valuation. It arguably has the most productive educational plant in the country and the most productive modern stadium, which is an integral component of the club’s autonomous business. model. Last week’s announcement that Haringey Council has raised the limit on major non-football events that the stadium can host from 16 to 30 per year will prevent them from hosting more concerts by the likes of Beyoncé and Lady Gaga in the future, bringing millions of dollars in books to the club in the process. The stadium, the London venue, the foreign logo and the global influence of the Premier League make it a horny package.
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Spurs have been granted permission to participate in 30 non-football events at the stadium each year.
There is very little chance of a complete sale in the short or long term, and no real chance of the ENIC era coming to an end. However, what is being considered is the sale of a stake in the club. Tottenham have been frank about their openness to new investment. Four months ago, when the club published its accounts for the 2022-23 season, one accompanied him. “Take advantage of our long-term potential, continue investing in groups and adopt long-term investment projects, the club wants a significant increase in its assets “, he stated at the end. “The board of directors and their advisors, Rothschild
Talking about it in public is a new step for the Spurs. If they could sell, for example, a 10% stake in the club for £400m, it would be a significant injection of justice for Tottenham without necessarily disrupting the club’s operations. is to locate the right user to take on the other aspect of this agreement.
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So far this summer, there have been many hypotheses that Amanda Staveley could be just a minority wife at Tottenham after leaving Newcastle United. Last month she told The Athletic that it was time to “move on to other projects,” which may simply involve buying a stake in some other team. Tottenham are linked. But whether Tottenham would need such a prestigious minority spouse, given the way they try to run things quietly, is another question.
Even with an investment of any size, Levy’s position is unlikely to change. Investors looked to the example of Chelsea, where the new owner paid £2. 5 billion to buy the club in 2022 and has since had six managers (including goalkeeper Bruno Saltor), managing the 12th and 6th places in the championship. We recognise how complicated it is to keep a Premier League club running smoothly. Tottenham’s stability is not without appeal.
In short, it is hard to believe the cases in which Levy will still not be in his position at the end of the season, when the quarter of a century of his relationship with the club approaches. But it may still be a make-up season at Tottenham if a stake is sold. And with good luck on the field, it may also end up as a season of vindication.
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(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP Getty Images)