Daniel Levy - Chairman

[Baleforce]

The Telegraph are reporting that the Spurs chairman has set his sights on a £25million per year naming-rights deal with a 15-year commitment which would net the Champions League finalists a windfall of £375million.

Such a deal would make Tottenham the highest recipient of a stadium sponsorship deal in England with Emirates Marketing Project netting around £21.9m-a-year from Etihad.

It would also make the stadium the recipient of the biggest sponsorship deal in world sport, eclipsing the Toronto-based Scotiabank Arena which earns £24.4m a year over a twenty-year period.

fudging Levy again, if he just takes 10m now we can buy Grealish in January

 

[scaramanga]

I've been around enough executives and decision-makers to know that they often have an inflated opinion of their own preparedness for eventualities. Hell, part of my job is foresight-centric - understanding possible futures and then briefing executives on their preparedness (diplomatically, of course).

In Levy's case, no doubt he knows Mourinho, and has wanted him in for a while. I also suspect he's a) bought into Mourinho's charm offensive (which has happened to smart men in football before), and b) believes he can wrangle Mourinho into submission, should he start his typical second season act of demanding signings to make a push for the title.

I happen to think he's wrong about that second point, because Mourinho's media presence is much, much larger than Levy's, and sympathy for Levy's penny-pinching narrative will run out quickly given how Poch was sacked after not being backed. Mourinho has the press eating out of his hand - Levy does not. And Mourinho is unscrupulous enough to use that to full effect, unlike Poch.

Hence, I don't think Levy quite understands who he's dealing with. If he did, he wouldn't come out with this penny-pinching bargain-bin stuff he's been doing for twenty years.

Hopefully Levy spends money, gets players in early and backs his man this time. If not, it won't end as quietly as Poch's time here did - we lost a good man and appointed a global prima-donna in his place, and that will have consequences for how Levy's delay, delay routine will go down.

Agree with all this, although a futures purist would carp that you are straightlining.

It does seem overly simplistic (and, in my experience unlikely) that someone in DL's position is so inflexible that he can not or will not modify his behaviour when the prevailing conditions change.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Surely we're waiting for the stadium naming rights? Once that is sorted, stadium payments are secure and the rest can go to investing in the squad? It would be madness to get this far and go for it in transfer spending, risking financial meltdown if the naming rights never materialise/TV money disappears.

[Caveat up front - Im no expert whatsoever] but...

...Im pretty sure we have refinanced the debt such that financial meltdown is highly unlikely regardless of naming rights being agreed.

My guess is that that simply would boost our spending power.

Id also suggest Levy isnt in a rush to sell the naming just yet because the stadium is doing a wonderful job of showing off its marketability as things stand, the more its seen, the more its described as "the best in the world", the more press are showing it off - I imagine the more appealing it becomes to sponsors and the more likely Levys (mental) £25m p.a. ambition is to be met....

 

[Bedfordspurs]

[Caveat up front - Im no expert whatsoever] but...

...Im pretty sure we have refinanced the debt such that financial meltdown is highly unlikely regardless of naming rights being agreed.

My guess is that that simply would boost our spending power.

Id also suggest Levy isnt in a rush to sell the naming just yet because the stadium is doing a wonderful job of showing off its marketability as things stand, the more its seen, the more its described as "the best in the world", the more press are showing it off - I imagine the more appealing it becomes to sponsors and the more likely Levys (mental) £25m p.a. ambition is to be met....

levy will a wait for naming rights and that’s clearly a bonus now (more to spend)
The club has refinanced too as you say so now they now money in and money out and can factor that in any decisions

 

[Lemonade Money]

It does seem overly simplistic (and, in my experience unlikely) that someone in DL's position is so inflexible that he can not or will not modify his behaviour when the prevailing conditions change.

Unlike certain posters.

 

[Lemonade Money]

[Caveat up front - Im no expert whatsoever] but...

...Im pretty sure we have refinanced the debt such that financial meltdown is highly unlikely regardless of naming rights being agreed.

My guess is that that simply would boost our spending power.

Id also suggest Levy isnt in a rush to sell the naming just yet because the stadium is doing a wonderful job of showing off its marketability as things stand, the more its seen, the more its described as "the best in the world", the more press are showing it off - I imagine the more appealing it becomes to sponsors and the more likely Levys (mental) £25m p.a. ambition is to be met....

Refinancing the debt means the repayments are less, not paid for. We still need to earn that money to pay it off. We could still feel the pinch with no CL, let alone relegation or if TV deals slump.

 

[braineclipse]

At the start of the summer, we were 2nd in the football hierarchy - just behind the winners of the Champions League.

Well, not particularly, but you get my point - one @thfcsteff has already made, too. We had strategic space to really go for it last summer, in the same way that Liverpool went for it after they lost the CL final in 2018. The very next day - 24 hours after the CL final - Fabinho was signed. And, a short while later, Alisson became the most expensive goalkeeper of all time when he signed for 72 million quid - this, to replace poor Lorius Karius, who was shipped out ruthlessly to make way for the winner Liverpool needed.

For us? We dingdonged around with Ndombele for a month trying to squeeze pennies out of the deal. We dingdonged around for over *two* months before thinking up some contrived deal to sign Lo Celso on loan in a way that minimized our expenditures and screwed PSG out of some fees they were due. We dingdonged around until fudging *deadline day* trying to sign a raw 19-year old from Fulham, for Christ's sake, just to save on the damn costs.

And all this, after signing absolutely nobody for 18 months - the results of which are still biting us in the arse in ways that many of us predicted (and spoke about, on this forum and elsewhere) while it was still happening. While Pool headed into their summer in 2018 having already splashed out 75m quid for VVD in January, and 54m quid for Naby Keita.

Poch never wanted the moon. He wanted some backing, which we were very, very late in giving him, if at all - and which ultimately resulted in us parting ways.

But the same demands for early signings and expensive ones will come from Jose Mourinho - a man accustomed to winning over penny-pinching for every single goddamn cent for fifty months on end.

And if Levy tries his usual delay, delay games again, Mourinho will walk. And I think we can all agree that he won't do it with anywhere near the respect that Poch had for the club, and for Levy, on his way out.

Levy will get it full barrels from Mourinho, his friends in the press at home and around the world, and everyone in football with an opinion to share, because that's the scale of Mourinho. Again, I don't think Levy quite understands who he's appointed, and how much his methods need to change to make this a success.

I see your points. I'd point out that Liverpool always had more money than us, we were perhaps on an equal footing in terms of turnover when we were in the CL and they weren't. I'd point out that we just completed a massively expensive, drawn out, over budget, stadium. But you seem intent on comparing us to teams in a different financial situation than us.

Again, I see your points. Perhaps it would have been better to spend more and spend early, getting the players in earlier. Accepting that by paying more we'd end up with fewer signings and perhaps a slightly higher wage budget. Though Fabinho still needed half a season to really make a good impact, perhaps that would have been better.

It's about priorities, when trying to compete with teams with more money to spend. We don't know what went on behind the scenes. I don't think Pochettino was without blame in what happened, but that obviously can't be proven. This summer was a mess, Eriksen, Vertonghen, Alderweireld and a manager in Pochettino that seemingly was unhappy before any business could have been done.

I'm very happy with Mourinho for now. Like you I hope a DoF is put in place. I think Levy and Mourinho have a common understanding now, but I'm not sure how long it will last. I know Mourinho will make his point of view heard, then there's what can be done and within that which priorities to maximize. If Mourinho, Levy and a DoF can find a way to work within that I'm hopeful that the results will come.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Refinancing the debt means the repayments are less, not paid for. We still need to earn that money to pay it off. We could still feel the pinch with no CL, let alone relegation or TV deals slump.

I said nothing to indicate the debt was gone.

Only that not getting naming right shouldnt lead to financial meltdown.

IE - its entirely manageable.

 

[Grays_1890]

Hence, I don't think Levy quite understands who he's dealing with. If he did, he wouldn't come out with this penny-pinching bargain-bin stuff he's been doing for twenty years.

This is utter garbage thats made up based on your fag pack theory about Levy's ego.

There are two factors, one it was pretty clear from his fall out in Man United who we were getting, the huge press profile that you mentioned means that everyone knows what we were getting and dealing with with Levy. To suggest Levy did not or does not know is ridiculous.

Secondly Jose, Jose is key to this, he knows the reputation of Levy and Spurs and the history of how we spend or don't so do you think Jose stock was so low that he accepted a job just accepting that before he got his feet under the table? I would assure you that Jose made pretty clear his outline for Spurs which was agreed before he signed. Jose does not want another blot on his copy book and he and Levy are very much on the same page. Jose is on double Klopps salary, that's a huge signal.

I will chuck in a third about whats said in press and whats reality. And it is pretty simple by appointing Jose, having the new stadium and our record profits being published it would be extremely dim to come out and announce to the world our plans to spend, something Jose found out at United which was a major reason for the fracture. You can see from what is in the media Levy and Mourinho as aligned and I would suggest its treating the press like Mushrooms, feed them sh1t and keep them in the dark.

 

[NoLimits01]

Something that we certainly don't take into account and could not have been foreseen by Levy (or anyone, excepting the odd hindsight expert on here) was the massive jump in player prices a few seasons back.

I'd imagine that Levy was planning on having a circa £150m transfer budget in a world where a "Grealish" type player cost about £15 - £18m not £40-50m, this over inflation of player prices and agent fees has meant that in real terms what we can afford has not changed massively, there is also a flip side that we must remember and that is what position would we be in now without the stadium and the extra income.

 

[braineclipse]

...there is also a flip side that we must remember and that is what position would we be in now without the stadium and the extra income.

Or what our position would have been in ten years without the stadium...

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...cio-pochettino-hardest-decision-a4317746.html

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy: ‘Sacking Mauricio Pochettino was the hardest decision I’ve made’
- Spurs chief says personal relationship made call difficult

- Argentine could return to the club in some capacity one day

- 'Mourinho was the No1 candidate and will do an amazing job’

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy says sacking Mauricio Pochettino is the hardest managerial decision he has ever had to make and has left the door open to the former head coach returning to the club in some capacity one day.

Levy took the difficult decision to sack Pochettino last month after a five-year spell in which he established Spurs as top-four regulars and reached the Champions League Final in June.

The team had slumped to 14th in the Premier League after a poor run of domestic form stretching back throughout 2019 - taking 24 points from Pochettino’s final 25 matches

Asked in the second part of an exclusive interview whether it was the hardest managerial change he has had to make, Levy told Standard Sport: “Yes, because you have to understand I had built up a personal relationship with Mauricio over five-and-a-half years.

“It is not something I ever wanted. Personally, it was incredibly difficult, I told him that and he understood. He’s been in football, he understands.

“It’s not personal and I’m sure he’ll come back stronger and get an opportunity to manage another great club.”

Levy believes new boss Jose Mourinho will enjoy a long and successful spell in north London, saying the Portuguese was “absolutely the No1 candidate” for the job. But asked whether Pochettino could return to the club in the future, Levy said: “Why not? I don’t close the door on anything.”

Levy will not be drawn on his reasons for sacking Pochettino but he was in no doubt that change was necessary.

He said: “I’m not going to sit here and analyse the past. It’s not productive. Mauricio did a fantastic job, we are very grateful. I wish him all the best for the future. I’m still in contact with him.

“My relationship is very good with him. It just got to the point where it felt we needed a divorce.

“But it is hard managing a club. The pressure these managers are under is immense. There aren’t many managers that manage a club for five years. [The longevity of Sir] Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger is very, very, very unusual.


“When they first started, the League wasn’t where it is today. It is so competitive and intense. I think it is very unlikely you are going to see a repeat of that. The Ferguson and Wenger eras are in the past.


“We are obsessed in this country with the longevity of the so-called ‘manager’, in Europe it is normal every two years to get someone else. It isn’t personal. They don’t even sign five-year contracts. They sign for two years and then another coach comes in.

“Mauricio and Jose are great coaches. They are different, they have different styles and Mauricio took us a long way.

“He did an amazing job and I’m sure that Jose will do equally an amazing job in a different way.”

 

[MKSpur]

I thought we had issues with the Standard and how they reported on us.

Surprised Levy has granted them a very rare and exclusive interview!

 

[Moby]

“We discovered it had been bolted shut from the inside and when we finally got in we found three acres of cannabis growing in there,” explains Levy. “We obviously had to call the police. The next thing we knew we were victims of a revenge attack when the water pipes on the properties we owned down the High Road were cut, which flooded them all.”

Having checked our performances throughout 2019, I do now feel the decision to just set fire to the contents may perhaps have been a huge mistake.

On the bright side, sales of Doritos and Monster Munch soared at the club shop during the same period.

 

[scaramanga]

Unlike certain posters.

Some of us are able to see where conditions are heading and get there first.

 

[Hootnow]

Where we find ourselves in the football hierarchy I don't think we can just have a very short list of primary targets and nothing else.

By turnover, where we find ourselves in the football hierarchy is 10th in the world. We need to get out of this mentality where we've convinced ourselves we're paupers. I'm convinced we could be the 5th richest club in the world, 3rd in the league and we'd still be complaining about our disadvantaged position in the league.

Someone mentioned a section they found concerning, this is actually what I found slightly concerning in that interview:

We have to get rid of this obsession in England of spending money. It just doesn’t happen overseas.

I mean....what? Is this what he genuinely thinks? That clubs abroad don't like spending money?

 

[Lemonade Money]

Some of us are able to see where conditions are heading and get there first.

That wasn't aimed at you.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

[Caveat up front - Im no expert whatsoever] but...

...Im pretty sure we have refinanced the debt such that financial meltdown is highly unlikely regardless of naming rights being agreed.

My guess is that that simply would boost our spending power.

Id also suggest Levy isnt in a rush to sell the naming just yet because the stadium is doing a wonderful job of showing off its marketability as things stand, the more its seen, the more its described as "the best in the world", the more press are showing it off - I imagine the more appealing it becomes to sponsors and the more likely Levys (mental) £25m p.a. ambition is to be met....

Naming right values are tinkle poor in Europe...

Get your feet well and truly under the NFL table etc and the golden c.ockerel will start laying...next level deals, all known stuff in Levy's master plan.

 

[Raziel]

Danny boy, you can't keep doing things on the cheap - it lost you the best manager and person you'd ever hired, and it will lead to this tryst with Mourinho going down in flames.

Everything I'm hearing in that interview tells me his instinct for being a miser is going to overrule the logical next step, which is to back his man, who will 400% ask for players in January and in the summer.

And his new manager will not be as forgiving as Poch when they are either replaced with bargain bin garbage or don't arrive at all for 18 months - both Levy MOs. So, not promising in terms of making this strange Mourinho experiment work.

Levy losing his bottle and shirking investment in the team at critical moments cost us in 2011-2012, and cost us Poch. I pray it doesn't cost us more.

Mate the stadium and area project was not done on the cheap

 

[billyiddo]

Only if it fits your preconceived point of view.

The other read on what Levy was saying is that nothing was different from his end, we had a net budget to work with as always - and external factors got in the way.

Potentially internal ones as well, if Poch was unwilling to work within the (consistent) structure afforded.

We spent big/relatively big money under Poch a number of times. I dont buy the idea that he was stitched up at all to be honest.

I haven't said he was stiched up, only agreed with a post that said we were only in for on the cheap Grealish level signings the summer we didn't sign anyone rather than the likes of Ndombele and Lo Celso