Daniel Levy - Former Chairman

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

There is an absolutely FASCINATING clip I’ve just seen on talk sport where Simon Jordan is sharing that Levy texted him implying that Spurs have had their pants pulled down over the JPVH deal. Saying that it is one of the largest fees paid for a soon to be out of contract player, etc etc.

And I think that about sums it all up. Levy could not change. He could not see his way to understanding that if the manager wants a player, and it’s consistent with a strategy and way of playing, THAT is the value. It’s exactly why he needed to go.

(small caveat, as long as we don’t somehow end up in financial ruin with our new strategy, I don’t think we will, but I’m trusting the club knows what they are doing and aren’t taking undue risks)

The issue with Levy is it went beyond ‘is this too risky’ and too far into ‘I want to get the best deal’. He just couldn’t compute that a player might be more valuable if aligned with a football strategy that was going to make the manager more likely to be successful.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[DubaiSpur]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

As I've said before, Levy ran us like he ran his Mr. Byrite discount clothing store, the only other life experience he had prior to Spurs. Always had to get the best deal, even if it meant haggling for months and not getting the player the manager really wanted at the end of it.

That worked more often than not when the league had other skinflint chairmen like him, British petit bourgeoisie businessmen who ran steel mills and store chains and Sports Direct. Simon Jordan types, which is why they're such fast mates.

It stopped working when the league was taken over by true financial giants - hard-nosed American billionaires, Russian oligarchs, sheikhs from the Middle East, literal countries. These people exist in a different stratosphere to Dan.

If they wanted sporting success, they were going to prioritize it. And overpaying a few million here and there meant absolutely nothing to them - hell, sometimes they just saw it as the cost of maintaining good relationships to make future business easier. And they had hundreds of the best analysts, lawyers, data people on Earth working for them (and still do) to guide their decisions.

We were stuck with a one-man show, Dan trying to get the best deal no matter what, tinkling off everyone in the league to the point where few would do business with him. tinkling off his own managers by prioritizing getting the best deal, over getting them players they wanted. And ultimately, being humiliated by things like the MGW and Eze deals, which showed how out of his depth he was in an age where he could be overpowered by richer, more ruthless chairmen.

I hope he reflects on where it all went wrong for him. That means less time texting his mate Simon about a club that no longer wants anything to do with him. There's a reason Simon Jordan no longer runs a club, but instead just natters uselessly on talkSPORT. That same reason applies to you, Dan.

 

[parklane1]

Absolutely did

Did some sh1t things, done some good things

Just like most people in life, never met anyone who did not.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

As I've said before, Levy ran us like he ran his Mr. Byrite discount clothing store, the only other life experience he had prior to Spurs. Always had to get the best deal, even if it meant haggling for months and not getting the player the manager really wanted at the end of it.

That worked more often than not when the league had other skinflint chairmen like him, British petit bourgeoisie businessmen who ran steel mills and store chains and Sports Direct. Simon Jordan types, which is why they're such fast mates.

It stopped working when the league was taken over by true financial giants - hard-nosed American billionaires, Russian oligarchs, sheikhs from the Middle East, literal countries. These people exist in a different stratosphere to Dan.

If they wanted sporting success, they were going to prioritize it. And overpaying a few million here and there meant absolutely nothing to them - hell, sometimes they just saw it as the cost of maintaining good relationships to make future business easier. And they had hundreds of the best analysts, lawyers, data people on Earth working for them (and still do) to guide their decisions.

We were stuck with a one-man show, Dan trying to get the best deal no matter what, tinkling off everyone in the league to the point where few would do business with him. tinkling off his own managers by prioritizing getting the best deal, over getting them players they wanted. And ultimately, being humiliated by things like the MGW and Eze deals, which showed how out of his depth he was in an age where he could be overpowered by richer, more ruthless chairmen.

I hope he reflects on where it all went wrong for him. That means less time texting his mate Simon about a club that no longer wants anything to do with him. There's a reason Simon Jordan no longer runs a club, but instead just natters uselessly on talkSPORT. That same reason applies to you, Dan.

Totally agreed. (Although I would add that in terms of infrastructure building he’s in a different league to even the modern chairs, and the smarts required to pull that off, keep us in our postcode etc was exceptional, just a shame he couldn’t translate to the football side)

The sad thing is, I think he thinks that by having a laugh about this deal with Jordan, it’s a little bit of a PR campaign to sanitise his reputation. It’s the hard nosed negotiator versus the profligate know-nothings now running the show. But the reality is it just showed how much the game had passed him by. These are not equal approaches to building a successful team in this era. One was failing and the other is now finally moving in a way that should allow us to compete effectively.

 

[glorygloryeze]

There is an absolutely FASCINATING clip I’ve just seen on talk sport where Simon Jordan is sharing that Levy texted him implying that Spurs have had their pants pulled down over the JPVH deal. Saying that it is one of the largest fees paid for a soon to be out of contract player, etc etc.

And I think that about sums it all up. Levy could not change. He could not see his way to understanding that if the manager wants a player, and it’s consistent with a strategy and way of playing, THAT is the value. It’s exactly why he needed to go.

(small caveat, as long as we don’t somehow end up in financial ruin with our new strategy, I don’t think we will, but I’m trusting the club knows what they are doing and aren’t taking undue risks)

The issue with Levy is it went beyond ‘is this too risky’ and too far into ‘I want to get the best deal’. He just couldn’t compute that a player might be more valuable if aligned with a football strategy that was going to make the manager more likely to be successful.

The joke is that Levy himself had his pants pulled down a few times even with his supposed 'hard-nosed' approach lol.
Sissoko, Ndombele spring to mind

 

[SirPercyHotspur]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Hope Levy also reminded Jordan of the deals he negotiated for soon to be out of contract Kane and Eriksen.

 

[Legohamster]

What a taco Levy is

He's a very clever man, so knew it would have been leaked/mentioned on the station by SJ.


As for having our pants pulled down.... the same people would be having a go at Spurs for not getting it done.

 

[billyiddo]

52m is a lot for an out of contract player tbf

 

[DubaiSpur]

Totally agreed. (Although I would add that in terms of infrastructure building he’s in a different league to even the modern chairs, and the smarts required to pull that off, keep us in our postcode etc was exceptional, just a shame he couldn’t translate to the football side)

The sad thing is, I think he thinks that by having a laugh about this deal with Jordan, it’s a little bit of a PR campaign to sanitise his reputation. It’s the hard nosed negotiator versus the profligate know-nothings now running the show. But the reality is it just showed how much the game had passed him by. These are not equal approaches to building a successful team in this era. One was failing and the other is now finally moving in a way that should allow us to compete effectively.

Well, I'll hold off on congratulating the lot currently in charge until the window closes and we can see what the success/failure rate was.

But I 100% agree that dear old Dan doesn't seem to realize his approach, and his time, has passed.

He's a smart guy, so I doubt he genuinely thinks Spurs fans will be rushing to praise him for being a skinflint cheapskate ('Wow! What a great negotiator! Thanks for making us miss out on good players because of being 'hard nosed', best balance sheets in the land, you'll never sing that....').

It's more that he's venting to his mate Simon Jordan, who is similar to him - a petit bourgeoisie small-scale businessman (by Premier League standards), both of whom were outmoded by the truly rich and ruthless coming into the league and making them obsolete.

And I doubt Jordan did him any favours by immediately sharing that on air, because obviously most Spurs fans would tell him to go to hell with his criticism of the club given how big a hand he had over 26 grinding years, in getting us to where we are.

 

[harr1984]

52m is a lot for an out of contract player tbf

It is a lot for a guy with a year left, but that's the whole point - It seems we've got RDZ main CB target who he clearly loves in early even whilst he's at the World Cup, and happy to pay a premium for it. Whether he ends up being good value remains to be seen but getting in the managers primary targets is a critical factor to achieve.

We all know Levy would have ended up haggling, Brighton won't play ball, drags out for most of the window and the manager ends up with someone he wasn't so keen on being dumped on him. And that has been part of the problem....

 

[Muttley]

Well, I'll hold off on congratulating the lot currently in charge until the window closes and we can see what the success/failure rate was.

But I 100% agree that dear old Dan doesn't seem to realize his approach, and his time, has passed.

He's a smart guy, so I doubt he genuinely thinks Spurs fans will be rushing to praise him for being a skinflint cheapskate ('Wow! What a great negotiator! Thanks for making us miss out on good players because of being 'hard nosed', best balance sheets in the land, you'll never sing that....').

It's more that he's venting to his mate Simon Jordan, who is similar to him - a petit bourgeoisie small-scale businessman (by Premier League standards), both of whom were outmoded by the truly rich and ruthless coming into the league and making them obsolete.

And I doubt Jordan did him any favours by immediately sharing that on air, because obviously most Spurs fans would tell him to go to hell with his criticism of the club given how big a hand he had over 26 grinding years, in getting us to where we are.

The funniest part is that Jordan could never imagine anyone questioning his own skills as a chairman. He talks as if he was the best chairman ever even though he has to now spend his days working on the periphery of the game on a radio station.

Also, what people forget is the real definition of sales. It is really, really simple. It's about what the vendor is prepared to sell at and what the buyer is prepared to pay. No more, no less. It's the one thing that Levy rarely got in the way he thought about footballers and the reason he drove everyone crazy. There were times when we had players that weren't performing and we couldn't sell. He refused to drop the price and get them off the books. There were also times where he wouldn't pay that little bit extra and land the player. There was also enough smoke over the years to see who the common denominator was.

I'm cautiously optimistic that we will see improvements now he's gone.

 

[Bishop]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

1000% good businessman terrible football chairman.

If the football decisions happened to line up with the business then could he might do it, but the business always came first and if the football suffered, so be it.

It would actually be less concerning if Levy didn't believe Van Hecke was good enough and thus not worth the money, but he that isn't actually his concern art all.

 

[DubaiSpur]

The funniest part is that Jordan could never imagine anyone questioning his own skills as a chairman. He talks as if he was the best chairman ever even though he has to now spend his days working on the periphery of the game on a radio station.

100%. And it's indicative of the evolution of Prem owners, or former Prem owners. Jordan spends his days being a devil's advocate on talkSPORT, usually where washed up ex-pros go. Alan Sugar rants on Twitter, David Sullivan phones call-ins about West Ham on the regular. This was a class of middling Premier League chairman that was once ubiquitous - now a vanishing sight.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Mansour runs a country, with a sovereign wealth fund of hundreds of billions. He doesn't go on talkSPORT. PIF are owned by Mohammed Bin Salman, formally or informally. He runs a country, he doesn't go on talkSPORT. Abramovich is the oligarch consigliere for a ruthless dictator. Even owners not as wealthy as that lot (Todd Boehly and his consortium, the Kroenkes) tend to do hyperrich things more than doing the sort of middling things Jordan et al have to stoop to out of football.

That's what makes Jordan et al so pathetic in my eyes - relics of an age long gone, that think they know better than the hyperrich, ruthless sharks that have replaced them. The sums and mores the likes of Jordan and Levy obsess about are seen as utterly meaningless pennies by the people in charge today.

 

[glasgowspur]

As I've said before, Levy ran us like he ran his Mr. Byrite discount clothing store, the only other life experience he had prior to Spurs. Always had to get the best deal, even if it meant haggling for months and not getting the player the manager really wanted at the end of it.

That worked more often than not when the league had other skinflint chairmen like him, British petit bourgeoisie businessmen who ran steel mills and store chains and Sports Direct. Simon Jordan types, which is why they're such fast mates.

It stopped working when the league was taken over by true financial giants - hard-nosed American billionaires, Russian oligarchs, sheikhs from the Middle East, literal countries. These people exist in a different stratosphere to Dan.

If they wanted sporting success, they were going to prioritize it. And overpaying a few million here and there meant absolutely nothing to them - hell, sometimes they just saw it as the cost of maintaining good relationships to make future business easier. And they had hundreds of the best analysts, lawyers, data people on Earth working for them (and still do) to guide their decisions.

We were stuck with a one-man show, Dan trying to get the best deal no matter what, tinkling off everyone in the league to the point where few would do business with him. tinkling off his own managers by prioritizing getting the best deal, over getting them players they wanted. And ultimately, being humiliated by things like the MGW and Eze deals, which showed how out of his depth he was in an age where he could be overpowered by richer, more ruthless chairmen.

I hope he reflects on where it all went wrong for him. That means less time texting his mate Simon about a club that no longer wants anything to do with him. There's a reason Simon Jordan no longer runs a club, but instead just natters uselessly on talkSPORT. That same reason applies to you, Dan.

In comparison to Russian mafia and literally countries with money to burn we were Mr byrite.
Levy, for better or worse, ran the club on the finances the club had, not on the finances the supporters wanted him to.

 

[DubaiSpur]

In comparison to Russian mafia and literally countries with money to burn we were Mr byrite.
Levy, for better or worse, ran the club on the finances the club had, not on the finances the supporters wanted him to.

Yes. What I'm saying is, Mr. Byrite was hopelessly and quickly outmoded by the sheikhs, gangsters and American new gilded age billionaires that swept in after him. And the club suffered for it - we were running a discount clothing store model, up against nation states for whom haggling over the sums Levy passionately haggled over would be frankly demeaning.

And he should recognize that the club paying what they did for van Hecke might not be us getting our pants pulled down, but just what it takes to survive and compete in a sporting world he was out of his depth in.

 

[Baleforce]

In comparison to Russian mafia and literally countries with money to burn we were Mr byrite.
Levy, for better or worse, ran the club on the finances the club had, not on the finances the supporters wanted him to.

This can’t be said enough.

Van Hecke is worth about 10m tops with his performance level and contract length.

I’m disgusted by the talk of 52m.

That’s the kind of deal Leeds did under fish tank guy.

 

[billyiddo]

It is a lot for a guy with a year left, but that's the whole point - It seems we've got RDZ main CB target who he clearly loves in early even whilst he's at the World Cup, and happy to pay a premium for it. Whether he ends up being good value remains to be seen but getting in the managers primary targets is a critical factor to achieve.

We all know Levy would have ended up haggling, Brighton won't play ball, drags out for most of the window and the manager ends up with someone he wasn't so keen on being dumped on him. And that has been part of the problem....

It is a lot for a guy with a year left, but that's the whole point - It seems we've got RDZ main CB target who he clearly loves in early even whilst he's at the World Cup, and happy to pay a premium for it. Whether he ends up being good value remains to be seen but getting in the managers primary targets is a critical factor to achieve.

We all know Levy would have ended up haggling, Brighton won't play ball, drags out for most of the window and the manager ends up with someone he wasn't so keen on being dumped on him. And that has been part of the problem....

Oh yeah don't get me wrong, I'm just saying both things can be true.

 

[Mikey10]

It is a lot for a guy with a year left, but that's the whole point - It seems we've got RDZ main CB target who he clearly loves in early even whilst he's at the World Cup, and happy to pay a premium for it. Whether he ends up being good value remains to be seen but getting in the managers primary targets is a critical factor to achieve.

We all know Levy would have ended up haggling, Brighton won't play ball, drags out for most of the window and the manager ends up with someone he wasn't so keen on being dumped on him. And that has been part of the problem....

And before you know it we’re finishing 17th two seasons in a row - and being thankful for it.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

The funniest part is that Jordan could never imagine anyone questioning his own skills as a chairman. He talks as if he was the best chairman ever even though he has to now spend his days working on the periphery of the game on a radio station.

Also, what people forget is the real definition of sales. It is really, really simple. It's about what the vendor is prepared to sell at and what the buyer is prepared to pay. No more, no less. It's the one thing that Levy rarely got in the way he thought about footballers and the reason he drove everyone crazy. There were times when we had players that weren't performing and we couldn't sell. He refused to drop the price and get them off the books. There were also times where he wouldn't pay that little bit extra and land the player. There was also enough smoke over the years to see who the common denominator was.

I'm cautiously optimistic that we will see improvements now he's gone.

Yeah; the funny thing looking back is that Levy just had this idea of what players were valued at. GHod knows how he came to that conclusion most of the time but he never seemed to really factor in ‘how much more successful would we be if the manager gets this player that he really wants, and how much more would he make because of that.’ His model just didn’t account for it.