Pushed outside by spurs supporters, the executive president announced his departure this Thursday.
The English club of Tottenham announced Thursday the surprise departure of Daniel Levy, its executive president for almost a quarter of a century, which has become in recent months the target of supporters for its supposed lack of sports ambitions. Under his reign started in March 2001, the Spurs, a club in northern London, stabilized in the first half of the Premier League table, which allowed them to participate in a European competition “18 times in the last 20 seasons”recalls a club press release.
Levy’s mandate (63) was marked by the construction of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, an architectural jewel of 62,850 which took over, in April 2019, from the ancestral White Hart Lane. That year, the club with a white jersey rose to the Champions League final, lost 2-0 against Liverpool, with Mauricio Pochettino on the bench. The Spurs lived their best years under the thumb of the Argentinian coach, notably finishing three times in a row in third place in the Premier League.
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“24 years old, 16 coaches, 1 trophy – it’s time to change”
But Levy ended up dismissing “Few”cultivating the image of a president always quick to blow up the first fuse available. Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte or Nuno Espirito Santo also paid the price. Supporters have been annoyed with this chronic instability and regularly called to resign, as in January when they deployed a banner “24 years old, 16 coaches, 1 trophy – it’s time to change”.
Under his reign, Tottenham won the League Cup in 2008 and then the Europa League, in May, against Manchester United in the final. The coach of this second title, Ange Postcoglou, was dismissed two weeks later, carried away by his catastrophic assessment in the Premier League, ended in 17th place. The Australian suffered from a cascade of injuries among his executives and he had to work all year round to build a competitive team, without benefiting from the necessary reinforcements.
Supporters have often criticized Levy for his limited investments in the transfer market, accusing him of favoring financial profits to sports ambitions. Tottenham had started to restructure his staff for several months with the appointment, among others, of Vinai Venkatesham to the post of Managing Director and Peter Charrington to that (newly created) of non-executive president. “All this is part of the club’s desire to give itself the means to ensure its long -term sporting success”wrote the club on Thursday.
