👨🏼‍💼Daniel Levy - Chairman | Page 12 | Vital Football

👨🏼‍💼Daniel Levy - Chairman

Our league positions in the 10 years prior to Enic.
10, 11, 14, 10, 8, 7, 15, 8, 15, 10
Since then
12, 9, 10, 14, 9, 5, 5, 11, 8, 4, 5, 4, 5, 6, 5, 3, 2, 3, 4, 6

You can see little dips every time we try to take that next step, mostly due to manager choices, whether they are getting it right or not there is no doubt it is better than before!
Those numbers say an awful lot. Top six finishes for the last eleven years, six of them in the top four. Like it or not it is decades since we were genuine English football elite, but under Enic and Levy a progressive decline has been arrested and the Club has reestablished itself at the highest level of Premiership football. Given that prior to the new stadium the old WHL capacity was less than 40000, the amount spent on new players over that eleven year period has been far greater than Levy in particular is given credit for. It wasn't Levy's fault that Poch didn't want signings other than a few that fitted the narrow profile that he preferred to operate in. Look at the difference in transfer market activity since Mourinho came in.
I am quite sure that if COVID had not emerged so soon after the opening of the new stadium, THFC would really be flying currently. It still will.
 
Those numbers say an awful lot. Top six finishes for the last eleven years, six of them in the top four. Like it or not it is decades since we were genuine English football elite, but under Enic and Levy a progressive decline has been arrested and the Club has reestablished itself at the highest level of Premiership football. Given that prior to the new stadium the old WHL capacity was less than 40000, the amount spent on new players over that eleven year period has been far greater than Levy in particular is given credit for. It wasn't Levy's fault that Poch didn't want signings other than a few that fitted the narrow profile that he preferred to operate in. Look at the difference in transfer market activity since Mourinho came in.
I am quite sure that if COVID had not emerged so soon after the opening of the new stadium, THFC would really be flying currently. It still will.

Agreed, but the last four numbers are most relevant and they are 2,3,4,6.

In 2017 we finished on 86 points, 2nd behind Chelsea. The season before, Leicester had won the league on 81 points. By 2019 all our rivals snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and stupidly allowed us to finish 4th. We were shocking in the second half of the season and most of us had seen the signs for 2 years Then we finally got what was thoroughly deserved in 2020 based on the last 3 years running of the club.

The reality of the league finishes is that there is a latency between the activity and the results. Utd is a great example. Some shrewd signings, some promotion of the youngsters, some major shredding of the deadwood and very importantly a brand of football that suits their players. It took 2 years and they're not there yet.

At the moment, you can tell that Spurs are still in major transition. There is a fragility in the setup, especially as we have hired a manager who doesn't create dynasties and is liable to have a meltdown at some stage. I hope he keeps it together and gets the broken things fixed quickly. That includes the tactics.
 
Progress is rarely linear in football, unless you can afford a billion or two to simply buy your way into the top. But we've never had the owners who can do that, even Joe lewis once worth 3.5 billion is in a serious financial problem with mitchell and butler and as much of his assets are event-driven/ resorts etc, his cash flow must have virtually dried up.

Many times I've pointed to our step by step progress, and I did believe that pre-covid we were getting ready to break through the glass ceiling and looking like we'd soon be fighting for top players who could expect top wages and would want to be here in London. Alas that's now a pipedream, as covid has carried on, and worsened it's clear to me at least that all hope of getting bums on seats this season or even the start of the next one, look highly unlikely.

Financially, we look in a precarious state now.
 
Progress is rarely linear in football, unless you can afford a billion or two to simply buy your way into the top. But we've never had the owners who can do that, even Joe lewis once worth 3.5 billion is in a serious financial problem with mitchell and butler and as much of his assets are event-driven/ resorts etc, his cash flow must have virtually dried up.

Many times I've pointed to our step by step progress, and I did believe that pre-covid we were getting ready to break through the glass ceiling and looking like we'd soon be fighting for top players who could expect top wages and would want to be here in London. Alas that's now a pipedream, as covid has carried on, and worsened it's clear to me at least that all hope of getting bums on seats this season or even the start of the next one, look highly unlikely.

Financially, we look in a precarious state now.
EX, I think "precarious" is an understatement, lol!, esp for some of the others, but as you hint at, it is a very serious situation we and others find themselves in, I suppose its the old "living within your means" that has come to fraturity, because of Covid.
 
EX, I think "precarious" is an understatement, lol!, esp for some of the others, but as you hint at, it is a very serious situation we and others find themselves in, I suppose its the old "living within your means" that has come to fraturity, because of Covid.

He's managed our finances well, but this is almost like war being declared, I'm 100% certain we'll roll-over the BOE loan, but even that may not be enough.

This crisis could be the tipping point for clubs to create a European super league.
 
He's managed our finances well, but this is almost like war being declared, I'm 100% certain we'll roll-over the BOE loan, but even that may not be enough.

This crisis could be the tipping point for clubs to create a European super league.
At what cost though?
 
Historical.

Ah, the big picture.

Along time ago, I characterized Levy as Pennywise, pound foolish, even now I think that the label reflected his financial approach, and his determination to not break set financial policies designed to maintain the stability of the club. He is not a risk-taker. But when your family's wealth and well-being is in overwhelmingly one basket, that's not surprising either.

There were, (in my mind at least) a very few occasions where if we'd taken financial risks we might have come closer to silverware, but in common with many rich families that I know, they don't think in the short-term but have their eyes firmly fixed on the long term and their legacy. Joe thinks he is going to Live forever and any interest in glory is a reflection of that. Levy is just readying his son to come aboard in (I suspect) the not too distant future - but perhaps waylaid by the covid crisis now.

I am aware that levy wants to hand over a Top 4 competitive club that can match and compete for the best players in Europe and win silverware on a regular basis - we were on the cusp of making that financial transition as we could all witness the vast increases in stadium-related revenues, now this positive impact may even be years away again.

During his tenure we've witnessed more than half the once top clubs, go spending mad, unsustainably so, and then fall down the leagues as their 'success' was unsustainable. Levy was never ever going to allow that to happen to us.

Some fans would have greatly prefered if we were one of them, and who knows? without Levy and his determination to build a World-class academy and stadium, we might have spent our money elsewhere, only to fly high and achieve a moth-like suicide as so many others have done?

There is no one answer to what Levy's determination to build a long-term top-class sustainable business may have cost us in the short term, but I personally would still prefer to hold my head up high and say we didn't do it with a dodgy inhumane Oil Country or a mass-murderous Russian, we built this club on our own.

I just hope we all get through this current crisis and live long enough to see this once great club, rise up from the ashes and be in the mix winning and fighting with the best Europe has to offer.
 
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Ah, the big picture.

Along time ago, I characterized Levy as Pennywise, pound foolish, even now I think that the label reflected his financial approach, and his determination to not break set financial policies designed to maintain the stability of the club.

There were, (in my mind at least) a very few occasions where if we'd take financial risks we might have come closer to silverware, but in common with many rich families that I know, they don't think in the short-term but have their eyes firmly fixed on the long term and their legacy. Joe thinks he is going to Live forever and any interest in glory is a reflection of that. Levy is just readying his son to come aboard in (I suspect) the not too distant future - but perhaps waylaid by the covid crisis now.

I am aware that levy wants to hand over a Top 4 competitive club that can match and compete for the best players in Europe and win silverware on a regular basis - we were on the cusp of making that financial transition as we could all witness the vast increases in stadium-related revenues, now this positive impact may even be years away again.

During his tenure we've witnessed more than half the once top clubs, go spending mad, unsustainably so, and then fall down the leagues as their 'success' was unsustainable.

Some fans would have greatly prefered if we were one of them, and who knows without Levy his determination to build a World-class academy and stadium we might have spent our money elsewhere only to fly high and achieve a moth-like suicide as so many others have done?

There is no one answer to what Levy's determination to build a long-term top-class sustainable business may have cost us in the short term, but I personally would still prefer to hold my head up high and say we didn't do it with a dodgy inhumane Oil Country or a mass-murderous Russian, we built this club on our own.

I just hope we all get through this current crisis and live long enough to see this one great club, rise up from the ashes and be in their winning and fighting with the best Europe has to offer.
Agree entirely, the objective has to be to build Spurs across all fronts as one of the top Clubs in Europe, and that doesn't happen by winning the occasional domestic Cup. I thought that we were nearly there a couple of years ago, but we have slipped back, and not entirely as a result of the impact of COVID on stadium revenues etc. It probably has to be said that if a criticism has to be levelled at Levy, and Poch was by no means blameless, insufficient short to medium term planning was carried out when we were closing in on our goal three to four years ago.
 
Levy has been very unlucky. He has been prudent as a rule but the stadium project was brave and bold. Covid has destroyed his plan and millions of others be it small or large scale.
I dont know what the best strategy is now. We have assets in our players. How far does Levy go to keep us afloat ? It may just be that Covid has set us back a number of years ....but how many ? Will some of us be around to see us come out of debt ?
 
Levy has been very unlucky. He has been prudent as a rule but the stadium project was brave and bold. Covid has destroyed his plan and millions of others be it small or large scale.
I dont know what the best strategy is now. We have assets in our players. How far does Levy go to keep us afloat ? It may just be that Covid has set us back a number of years ....but how many ? Will some of us be around to see us come out of debt ?

He's hamstrung by Lewis's control of ENIC, he's really not his own boss, he constantly has this majority owner in ENIC to answer to.

Personally, as difficult as these times are fortune may favour the bold - if I were he I'd be instructing Rothschilds to come up with a restructuring which leads us into one US listed market and place around 30-35% of the shares to raise a billion...and free the club from Joe lewis's death grip.
 
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EX, its probably me and my simple mind lol! but your post had me thinking...
Fortune may favour the bold/brave....Three Musketeers
Joe Lewis death grip....Star Wars

Sorry for my simple mind, just trying, maybe even failing to be light hearted.
 
Ah, the big picture.

Along time ago, I characterized Levy as Pennywise, pound foolish, even now I think that the label reflected his financial approach, and his determination to not break set financial policies designed to maintain the stability of the club. He is not a risk-taker. But when your family's wealth and well-being is in overwhelmingly one basket, that's not surprising either.

There were, (in my mind at least) a very few occasions where if we'd taken financial risks we might have come closer to silverware, but in common with many rich families that I know, they don't think in the short-term but have their eyes firmly fixed on the long term and their legacy. Joe thinks he is going to Live forever and any interest in glory is a reflection of that. Levy is just readying his son to come aboard in (I suspect) the not too distant future - but perhaps waylaid by the covid crisis now.

I am aware that levy wants to hand over a Top 4 competitive club that can match and compete for the best players in Europe and win silverware on a regular basis - we were on the cusp of making that financial transition as we could all witness the vast increases in stadium-related revenues, now this positive impact may even be years away again.

During his tenure we've witnessed more than half the once top clubs, go spending mad, unsustainably so, and then fall down the leagues as their 'success' was unsustainable. Levy was never ever going to allow that to happen to us.

Some fans would have greatly prefered if we were one of them, and who knows? without Levy and his determination to build a World-class academy and stadium, we might have spent our money elsewhere, only to fly high and achieve a moth-like suicide as so many others have done?

There is no one answer to what Levy's determination to build a long-term top-class sustainable business may have cost us in the short term, but I personally would still prefer to hold my head up high and say we didn't do it with a dodgy inhumane Oil Country or a mass-murderous Russian, we built this club on our own.

I just hope we all get through this current crisis and live long enough to see this once great club, rise up from the ashes and be in the mix winning and fighting with the best Europe has to offer.
I'm of the same mindset. We've got to plan for the long term but these are uncertain times so i don't really see Joe Lewis investing very much at all. Begs the question then, why sign Mourinho?
 
I'm of the same mindset. We've got to plan for the long term but these are uncertain times so i don't really see Joe Lewis investing very much at all. Begs the question then, why sign Mourinho?

Because it was plan 'b'; Losing Poch the way we did wasn't supposed to happen, he was to be our Wenger and the financial projections showed that once our new stadium was built, we could start competing for top players and start keeping players with top wages, in ways we never could before; there was to be a free cash flow every year in the region of (in the short term, much bigger as time goes by) £100 - £150 mill, of which there was nothing else to spend it on apart from set quarterly / half-yearly finance repayments, players and dividends, and perhaps some expansion into e-sports and maybe some other area's.

The troika was a true bromance, Lewis, Levy and Poch were going to luxuriate in big spending and start winning silverware, nirvana was at hand.

But as we all know post the CL final, meltdown ensued - Poch had warned the club, players were playing with a litany of small injury issues the likes of we'd never seen in recent times; - they'd been overplayed many were diagnosed with long term exhaustion, the true cost of (near) success was crystal clear to anyone close to the club and the players, they were to all intents and purposes, broken, some worse than others, some still holding on, but all of any worth were looking at the exits.

They knew it couldn't go on like this - so Poch was promised a small fortune in spending, which he got, even if we didn't spend all we'd promised him and didn't get a couple of first-choice players he wanted i.e. PH (who we'd been tapping up all summer, but got a complete block from by Southampton, so had to wait), a top-class striker was a target too, and that also fell away to nothing in the end.

Poch was once again feeling somewhat short of what was promised, it got worse when Levy did an article in the Telegraph and boasted 'we could have spent more'. That was rubbing salt into the wound, various things were going on inside the club around then and that's when I believe Poch decided enough was enough but would wait for the chop.

So when Poch pushed back and said to anyone who'd listen, the rebuilding was going to be painful and perhaps take 4 windows, the players, the club all didn't want to hear it. Of course, the board said 'of course we understand' but when new signings didn't suddenly hit the ground running and with us not beating anyone in sight, Poch's goose was cooked.

So Levy being Levy decided that Poch was too comfortable now and almost unmanageable and that attitude from the board started to show - the only 'big name' that Levy thought could manage big new players that we could get was literally Jose, whose agent had been in talks with the club for nigh on 3 months when Levy was sure a deal could be done he moved and acted. Poch knew it was coming.

Jose was a default, but he ticked all the boxes. A winning history, a big name signing and the ability to put together teams where big money was going to be available and might be enough to convince our best players to stay, which back then looked nigh on impossible.

Then as we now know, the rest is history.
 
Because it was plan 'b'; Losing Poch the way we did wasn't supposed to happen, he was to be our Wenger and the financial projections showed that once our new stadium was built, we could start competing for top players and start keeping players with top wages, in ways we never could before; there was to be a free cash flow every year in the region of (in the short term, much bigger as time goes by) £100 - £150 mill, of which there was nothing else to spend it on apart from set quarterly / half-yearly finance repayments, players and dividends, and perhaps some expansion into e-sports and maybe some other area's.

The troika was a true bromance, Lewis, Levy and Poch were going to luxuriate in big spending and start winning silverware, nirvana was at hand.

But as we all know post the CL final, meltdown ensued - Poch had warned the club, players were playing with a litany of small injury issues the likes of we'd never seen in recent times; - they'd been overplayed many were diagnosed with long term exhaustion, the true cost of (near) success was crystal clear to anyone close to the club and the players, they were to all intents and purposes, broken, some worse than others, some still holding on, but all of any worth were looking at the exits.

They knew it couldn't go on like this - so Poch was promised a small fortune in spending, which he got, even if we didn't spend all we'd promised him and didn't get a couple of first-choice players he wanted i.e. PH (who we'd been tapping up all summer, but got a complete block from by Southampton, so had to wait), a top-class striker was a target too, and that also fell away to nothing in the end.

Poch was once again feeling somewhat short of what was promised, it got worse when Levy did an article in the Telegraph and boasted 'we could have spent more'. That was rubbing salt into the wound, various things were going on inside the club around then and that's when I believe Poch decided enough was enough but would wait for the chop.

So when Poch pushed back and said to anyone who'd listen, the rebuilding was going to be painful and perhaps take 4 windows, the players, the club all didn't want to hear it. Of course, the board said 'of course we understand' but when new signings didn't suddenly hit the ground running and with us not beating anyone in sight, Poch's goose was cooked.

So Levy being Levy decided that Poch was too comfortable now and almost unmanageable and that attitude from the board started to show - the only 'big name' that Levy thought could manage big new players that we could get was literally Jose, whose agent had been in talks with the club for nigh on 3 months when Levy was sure a deal could be done he moved and acted. Poch knew it was coming.

Jose was a default, but he ticked all the boxes. A winning history, a big name signing and the ability to put together teams where big money was going to be available and might be enough to convince our best players to stay, which back then looked nigh on impossible.

Then as we now know, the rest is history.

And then Covid hit. And messed up the support Levy was planning on giving Jose.
 
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I don't read "Finance reports" so over all is Admiral Levy keeping the good ship Spurs steady in these choppy waters, I might be wrong, but Captain Marmite and his crew seem to be making a good thing out of a bad lot playing with the cards they are dealt with.
 
Because it was plan 'b'; Losing Poch the way we did wasn't supposed to happen, he was to be our Wenger and the financial projections showed that once our new stadium was built, we could start competing for top players and start keeping players with top wages, in ways we never could before; there was to be a free cash flow every year in the region of (in the short term, much bigger as time goes by) £100 - £150 mill, of which there was nothing else to spend it on apart from set quarterly / half-yearly finance repayments, players and dividends, and perhaps some expansion into e-sports and maybe some other area's.

The troika was a true bromance, Lewis, Levy and Poch were going to luxuriate in big spending and start winning silverware, nirvana was at hand.

But as we all know post the CL final, meltdown ensued - Poch had warned the club, players were playing with a litany of small injury issues the likes of we'd never seen in recent times; - they'd been overplayed many were diagnosed with long term exhaustion, the true cost of (near) success was crystal clear to anyone close to the club and the players, they were to all intents and purposes, broken, some worse than others, some still holding on, but all of any worth were looking at the exits.

They knew it couldn't go on like this - so Poch was promised a small fortune in spending, which he got, even if we didn't spend all we'd promised him and didn't get a couple of first-choice players he wanted i.e. PH (who we'd been tapping up all summer, but got a complete block from by Southampton, so had to wait), a top-class striker was a target too, and that also fell away to nothing in the end.

Poch was once again feeling somewhat short of what was promised, it got worse when Levy did an article in the Telegraph and boasted 'we could have spent more'. That was rubbing salt into the wound, various things were going on inside the club around then and that's when I believe Poch decided enough was enough but would wait for the chop.

So when Poch pushed back and said to anyone who'd listen, the rebuilding was going to be painful and perhaps take 4 windows, the players, the club all didn't want to hear it. Of course, the board said 'of course we understand' but when new signings didn't suddenly hit the ground running and with us not beating anyone in sight, Poch's goose was cooked.

So Levy being Levy decided that Poch was too comfortable now and almost unmanageable and that attitude from the board started to show - the only 'big name' that Levy thought could manage big new players that we could get was literally Jose, whose agent had been in talks with the club for nigh on 3 months when Levy was sure a deal could be done he moved and acted. Poch knew it was coming.

Jose was a default, but he ticked all the boxes. A winning history, a big name signing and the ability to put together teams where big money was going to be available and might be enough to convince our best players to stay, which back then looked nigh on impossible.

Then as we now know, the rest is history.
The thing is having taken the plunge in hiring Jose, surely now Levy's obligated to back him, covid hit or not.

My thinking is Jose would be willing to work with a smaller squad if he has his backing with the squad ins & outs. Obviously there needs to be a bit of flexibility on both sides due to the tighter financial restrictions, however he needs that backing now, not in another 6 months time.