Daniel Levy. To some this name encompasses everything wrong with our club, the once great and successful Tottenham Hotspur. To me he is rather the saviour. Funded by Enic and multi-billionaire Joe Lewis, Levy has sought out to recreate that once great club within the confines that Mr Lewis has set out, of which Levy has almost no control. Yes he has had his failures, Jacques Santini, Andre Villas-Boas, and the timing of the Berbatov saga to name just a few. However for me there can be no doubt that he does not deserve the level of hatred that some Tottenham ‘fans’ are insistent on sending his way.
When Lewis and Enic took over, saving us from the clutches of the egotistical maniac that is Alan Sugar, they promised to bring back the good times, the Tottenham of the 60’s and Bill Nicholson. A promise which they have not yet delivered on. However, in the modern times of Chelsea, Man City, Monaco and PSG, it has become infinitely more difficult as they snap up the true quality players at prices that most clubs cannot hope to compete with. So they have had to re-adjust hoping to build up a successful financial club as well as one successful on the pitch, a balance far easier said than done. Their attempt at this began with clever investments; Berbatov, Carrick, Bale and Modric being the obvious ones. Players bought for little money compared to what they eventually were sold off for to the previously mentioned financial strength of certain clubs, strength that Levy stands near no chance of holding off. Yet, to his credit, he has kept Madrid waiting an extra year to capture both Modric and Bale (as well as getting a world record fee for the latter) in addition to forcing Manchester United to pay far more than they intended for Berbatov and Carrick. In fact, Levy was so determined to get the best deal possible for his club that Sir Alex Ferguson commented on how the experience forced United to rethink whether they ever wanted to try buy one of our players again.
Levy has been trying to create a club that can compete with the financial might of these clubs while dealing with a stadium far smaller than not only the ‘Top 4’s’ grounds but also a lot of the Premier League. He has been trying to address this issue that has been postponed through no major fault of his own but rather the incapability of Haringey Council, Eric Pickles’ government department and the stubbornness of Archway Steel. On top of this, we are a club without years of Champions League exposure, advertisement deals and television money.
For where we were a mere 10 years ago, Levy has taken this club forward leaps and bounds. To hold off Manchester City at the beginning of their immense rise to the eons of footballs elite, to pushing Arsenal to the end for consecutive seasons and fighting off Chelsea’s financial muscle only to have the prize snatched away by a injudicious technicality that was solved the year after. It seems that we have made progress however bumpy the ride to progress has been. But hey, nothing is ever easy when you support Tottenham and that’s why we love it. Isn’t that the ‘Spurs Way’?