The Daniel Levy Appreciation Thread

[Spur_Forever]

A lot has been said of Jol and the way he has handled our transition from a club that was solidly anchored in mid-table, to one that now has legitimate European ambitions. His genuineness, intelligence and likeability have made him the darling of the press, while his tactical acumen and discipline have meade him an effective and respected coach.

But how about Levy? We're all aware of the numerous problems that have come up during his tenure, but he seems to have done pretty well so far.

The mega-sponsorship deal with Mansion, the fact that the club turned a tidy little profit, the huge fee for Carrick, the appointment of Comolli, the new training facilities - all are his work.

I'm not sure what else he was in store for us, but I do know that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. If he can get us into the Champions League and expand the seating capacity at WHL, he will be a living legend.

But for everything he's done already, I just wanted to say: thanks, Daniel.

[Spur_Forever]

Here's an article posted by a guy over on pushandrun, which sums up Levy's achievements pretty well. Enjoy.

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Daniel Levy


Losing your manager, sporting director and arguably your best player in less than two years would usually indicate a club in disarray.

It is to the eternal credit of Daniel Levy that the last couple of years have seen arguably the biggest turnover in playing and coaching staff of recent times at White Hart Lane, yet the club is more stable and progressive now than at any stage in the last two decades.

When David Pleat steered Spurs to within a couple of games of relegation following the ill-fated Glenn Hoddle reign in 2004, Levy’s credibility had hit to rock bottom.

That Pleat was given nine months in the caretaker role was particularly irksome to most fans and pundits who accused Levy being an indecisive and dithering buffoon.

His subsequent recruitment of Frank Arnesen, in the summer of 2004, and a change in the entire structure of the football club to a Continental model was met with much scepticism in a country where the "there can only be one boss" attitude was not so much prevalent as omnipresent. Alan Hanson and Rodney Marsh were most vocal in their derision of the new setup in N17.

Levy's thinking was simple. For too long Tottenham managers had paid over the odds for mediocrity, lost their jobs because of the underachievers they had bought, while a new man came in and shipped out the donkeys at a fraction of the cost price. Furthermore he was exempted of responsibility for the loss made on the players, because a previous regime had outlaid the inflated transfer fee.

It was a vicious circle that started, on a large scale, with Ossie Ardiles and encompassed the reigns of Gerry Francis, Christian Gross, George Graham and Glenn Hoddle. Continuity and success make for comfortable bed-fellows and therein lies the reason for Tottenham never finishing above seventh place in the Premiership and only winning a solitary league cup in that period.

Arnesen was appointed to recruit young talent that could either be nurtured and sold on for a healthy profit or that would form the nucleus of a side that could challenge for European football and eventually a Champions League place.

The footballing tactician in the equation was French coach Jacques Santini and both he and Arnesen were heralded as the men to return the North Londoners to the top-end of the English game, with then-unknown Martin Jol filling a supporting role.

It is well documented how, after a promising start that descended into an ultra defensive losing streak, Jacques Santini departed White Hart Lane citing irreconcilable differences with Arnesen and the lack of ocean front property as the reason for his mutiny.

Unlike previous years, the loss of the coach didn't hinder Tottenham. Martin Jol stepped into the breach while Arnesen ensured that there was no seismic shift in transfer policy or in the overall running of the club.

In the face of supporter unrest and media damnation for a beleaguered Levy, the change was implemented seamlessly and the team only narrowly missed out on European football in 2005. The system, against the odds and popular opinion, had stood up to its first test.

While changes to the playing staff continued apace, there were some crucial differences to past splurges. Where previously dross was replaced with dross, at a heavy loss and with an already bloated wage bill becoming even more so, now the squad was being visibly improved by young hungry players.

Where once Thatcher, Leonhardsen, Rebrov, Armstrong and Fox arrived for large six figure sums, now Dawson, Tainio, Huddlestone and Routledge were joining a club already brimming with quality players and putting less of a weekly fiscal strain on the club.

Just over a year ago, Arnesen moved from North London to Stamford Bridge on the back of an alleged illegal approach from Chelsea.

While the deployment of a "Sporting Director/Director of Football" was supposed to ensure that coaching change no longer spawned the pandemonium it once did, the ramifications of the loss of “the head of the snake” were never considered.

The former PSV man’s eventual departure appeared to be a hammer blow to Levy's much talked about structure.

Again, the chairman came through with flying colours. He refused to panic and appoint a replacement immediately and also refused the temptation to buckle to public pressure and give Martin Jol the traditional manager’s role (one the Dutchman denied he wanted anyway).

While some of the more utopian-minded individuals thought Levy should forfeit Tottenham's right to compensation and report Chelsea for the approach for Arnesen, the Spurs chairman instead played hardball with Roman Abramovich and walked away with a settlement believed to be in the region of eight million. In retrospect, it has proved to be a vastly inflated price for the Dane.

Within months Damien Comolli took over Arnesen's portfolio at White Hart Lane, and Tottenham have continued to progress. The team and the club are in a better place now than at the time of Arnesen's departure.

The transfer policy has also changed slightly.

Where Arnesen laid the foundations for the future with cheap, young and profitable talent, Comolli and Levy have signed a smattering of more established (and expensive) players, most of whom are still in the throes of youth, to compliment the more inexperienced youngsters.
It is noticeable that from Santini's first game in charge, against Liverpool in August 2004, only three of the starting eleven remain in Tottenham's first team squad, while ten of the fourteen used that day have moved on, none at a massive loss and most at a profit. Furthermore, it is hard to imagine any of the departed getting into the present Tottenham team.

In fact, if Spurs sign a right-back as expected, only one or possibly two of Arnesen’s signings (Dawson and Tainio) will expect to start for Spurs in the season opener at Bolton.

Despite the setbacks, and there have been plenty from the top level down, the last two years have seen Tottenham improve incrementally.

Michael Carrick's loss to Manchester United may be another blow to the club, but it is testament to the board, and Levy in particular, that they could receive twice what the Red Devils originally offered for a player that, although supremely talented, isn’t a regular international and didn’t want to stay at the club.

Tottenham fans needn't worry. The latest setback will not halt or derail their recovery. The road was never going to be smooth, but in Levy, Tottenham have a chairman who, after the rockiest of starts to his tenure, is fast proving himself to be one of the best and shrewdest in the business.

[sendorange]

The article sums it up complete. He is definitely the prime reason for us moving forward, mainly by implementing that Technical Director - Coach system and putting in people who are experienced and positive in these roles, rather than shoehorning in ex-Managers like Hoddle and Pleat. I do think managing a club with a transfer budget like ours is far too big for one man, it is much more sensible to spread the responsibilities. Jol has done well but like Arnesen is replacable in this structure.

He did make mistakes in the early couple of years with Hoddle, Pleat and some of the signings. Even now he probably should have splashed out more money in January for our Champions League run, if we had signed a better class of forward than Rasiak we would have had it. However a lot of this is inexperience, it's his first run at Chairman and he is relatively young for the position.

Certainly I wouldn't swap him for any other Chairman in the league right now. Although even if he did move on, as long as the next chairman keeps the same template of how to do things then we will be fine.

[jumhed]

Good article! Only thing that was incorrect was the comment about 'six figure sums for Armstrong, Leonhardsen, Rebrov, Thatcher' etc. They were all seven figure signings, except Rebrov, who was eight.

[MartinJol]

Good article. completely agree with the points made.

kudos to you mr. levy.