Levy’s critics should look at what he has achieved
Tottenham’s chairman has been a force for good in his 18 years at the helm
The former Egypt striker Mido tells a story of how superagent Mino Raiola instructed him to “run” after agreeing to sign permanently for Tottenham Hotspur in August 2006. Mido thought he was required to race for a private plane to fly him from Rome to London, but Raiola was actually telling him to run for a good seat on the easyjet flight into Stansted that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had booked his £4.5million signing on to.
Levy had himself, according to Mido, arrived in Italy on the budget airline – and virtually all of the players and managers to have worked under the 56-year-old will have stories of his money-saving, or moneymaking, schemes.
The debate over Levy’s stewardship is back on following the latest delays to the new stadium and a fear that manager Mauricio Pochettino may be tempted by a summer offer from Manchester United or Real Madrid.
There are those who will tell you that Levy’s legacy is at stake over the stadium and whether or not the club can financially compete with their richer rivals when they eventually get into their new home, despite the club making their best ever Premier League start.
And yet, for every amusing tale of penny-pinching, there are plenty of illustrations of how Levy has been a driving force for good in almost 18 years as chairman.
Just ask Ledley King, who was allowed to swim in the pool at Levy’s house in Hertfordshire to ease his chronically injured knee into life because the facilities at the club’s old Chigwell training ground were so outdated. When King signed his last Tottenham contract in 2010, everybody knew the central defender would never be able to pass a medical to move away. But there was no hard bargaining from Levy, who rewarded him with the security of a two-year deal.
Or talk to Gareth Bale, who will tell you that Levy kept believing in him when he began his Tottenham career without a win in 24 games.
Harry Redknapp denies it, but there are plenty around Spurs who insist Levy had to intervene to stop the club’s former manager selling Bale. Birmingham City had shown an interest, while Wigan sources claim Redknapp was willing to send him to the DW Stadium.
Levy was slated for effectively sacking Redknapp, but the change was part of an effort to modernise Tottenham that started promisingly under Andre Villas-boas and has taken off during four years of Pochettino. Levy’s biggest mistake over the new stadium, which had been due to open in September at a cost of £850 million, may have been to insist on such a hands-on role, which is said to go as far as having a say on the design of the lavatories.
He The Football Association No longer can they argue international friendlies are anything but meaningless after it emerged Wayne Rooney (right) will be given a farewell cap this month against United States. thinks nothing of rattling off emails to aides at 3am – but that approach has also dragged the club up to where they are today.
How King would have loved to undergo rehabilitation at the state-of-the-art training complex in Enfield, which Levy opened in 2012 – the year of the 38-year-old’s retirement. The old training ground is now a school and respite home for children with autism, which is part funded by Tottenham; and the surrounding area of the new stadium, one of the poorest in London, is benefiting from the Spurs regeneration.
Elimination from the Champions League at the group stage, with a key game against PSV Eindhoven tomorrow night, would give Levy’s critics more ammunition. But waiting for a stadium project that will eventually cost over £1 billion and seat more than 60,000 people, and worrying about Champions League participation are relatively
Most Spurs fans are now more focused on the future than the past, and that is to Levy’s credit
first-world problems for a club who finished 10th, 14th, 11th, 10th and 12th ahead of Levy’s first full season at the helm. They currently sit fourth, ahead of Arsenal. The first manager he hired was Glenn Hoddle, in March 2001, and Levy sent a hamper to the hospital where the Spurs legend is recovering from a heart attack. Older fans still remember the real glory years of the Sixties and early Seventies, when Tottenham regularly won trophies – and it was in that period that Levy attended his first game, with his uncle, at White Hart Lane. He recalls that he wore a huge rosette for the occasion. But Levy and most Spurs fans are now more focused on the future than the past and that, at least, is to his credit. The applause between the Leicester City squad and the travelling supporters at the Cardiff City Stadium was a genuinely touching spectacle after the Foxes had managed to pay tribute to club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who was killed in a helicopter crash, with a 1-0 victory.