We’d be here all day if I were to discuss all of Daniel Levy’s egregious errors in the last few years, but his ineptitude is unquestionably the primary cause of Tottenham’s current regression.
Levy is a business man, a financially astute owner who knows how to yield optimal profits. He is not a football man and thus shouldn’t be responsible for making crucial on-field decisions.
Permitted by ENIC to go unchecked without throughout the years, Levy has almost single-handedly thwarted Tottenham’s on-field progress, sending the club into what can only be described as a much-maligned regression.
Here’s just a few of the chairman’s most major errors, misjudgements and utter inaction that has led to the situation the club currently finds itself.
Complete transfer inactivity
I’m sure you’ll vividly remember the summer of 2018, like most Spurs supporters, for all the wrong reasons. The usual hype and rash of transfer rumours promised a fruitful summer. That escalated hype gradually subsided and ended on a whimper. Tottenham became the first club, since the summer transfer window was introduced in 2003, not to make a singe move.
No buying, no selling. Nothing. Radio silence. By the way, that ignominious title of only club not to make a single move remains intact.
Levy assured supporters the dormant transfer period wasn’t down to being stretched too thin with the financial obligations of repaying the new £1 billion stadium. But we all know better. Instead, he put the club’s inactivity on Pochettino, saying:
"“Mauricio Pochettino didn’t want to sign someone for the sake of it. He felt there were sufficient players in the squad, and that those coming back from injury would be like new signings. “Concerning budgets, the stadium won’t directly impact on the transfer policy. There is a certain amount earmarked for transfers and the club can only spend what is available. “He also said that transfers were complicated with several variables so it was not possible to work out in advance how much you could spend in a given window.”"
Yes, transfers are complicated. But not complicated enough to remain completely dormant throughout the entire transfer window. That summer had a knock-on effect, the residual debris from the mess is still haunting the club. It was the headline act of a failed transfer policy.
Supporters, pundits and anyone not directly involved with the club repeatedly asked, even begged, Levy to reach into the club’s comparably deep pockets to strengthen the team. He didn’t and now you can see the tangible damage of such negligent inactivity.
The Christian Eriksen debacle
While Christian Eriksen deserves his fair share of blame for how he handled his desire to leave Hotspur Way, Levy exacerbated the mess of the Dane’s desire to depart. Eriksen, when murmurs of his desire to leave sprouted, was worth between £60 and £100 million on the open market.
That’s when Levy should have pulled out all the stops to sell their then-prized asset. Instead, the situation unravelled like a ball of yarn, creating a lose-lose situation for every party — other than Inter Milan.
For the most part, Eriksen sat on the bench, twiddling his thumbs while Levy again lacked conviction and decisiveness. Levy sat idly by, looking for the perfect sale, which was not forthcoming.
The team endured a loss of creativity in the centre of the park, while Eriksen’s relationship with supporters quickly eroded.
The Dane’s market value plummeted. He was eventually sold to Inter for about £17 million, a far cry from what Tottenham should have earned. It was a catastrophic show of mismanagement at the highest level.
Firing Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino was struggling mightily at the time of his dismissal. Spurs were reeling in the bottom half of the table, unable to string a few good results together. But firing Pochettino was still the wrong call. Just when the situation demanded patience, Levy acted viscerally, even impetuously.
When he needs to use patience, he acts with conviction. Contrastingly, when conviction is required, Levy sits on his thumbs, waiting idly by as the moment for decisiveness passes. Levy has in the last week admitted his decision to fire Pochettino was a mistake. Which is why he’s now clamouring to re-hire Pochettino in attempt to make amends for his original folly.
Hiring Jose Mourinho
Less than 24 hours after Pochettino was shown the door, Jose Mourinho was redecorating the Argentine’s office. Signing Mourinho provided initially the illusion of a Levy masterstroke. It was thought, albeit fleetingly, that he had pulled off an epic coup.
But under the sensational headlines, Mourinho’s philosophy belied everything Tottenham had been working toward. Spurs played on the front foot, with high intensity and enterprise. Pochettino instilled an exciting brand of football, which Mourinho, in one fell swoop, abolished.
Mourinho completely altered Tottenham’s identity and, for a time, it worked. And while the initial response was positive and promising, Tottenham eventually lost their way under Mourinho’s stewardship. Blame it on a subpar set of individuals at his disposal or his dogged, defensive, risk-averse philosophy. The result was the same, as Spurs’ decline and regression was on display for everyone to see.
Now Levy admits that Mourinho was the wrong hire. Too little too late. Surely Levy knew what to expect of Mourinho. Surely he knew the Portuguese wasn’t going to perpetuate Pochettino’s high-tempo philosophy.
So now we’re back at square one, waiting with bated breath to see who Levy employs to lead Spurs’ quasi rebuild.
Continual over-reliance on Harry Kane
This is a story as old as time. Harry Kane relied on far too heavily at Tottenham Hotspur. So often we’ve implored Levy to find a way to support Spurs’ leading goalscorer.
We understand that it’s hard to find a proficient striker to play second fiddle to Kane, but doing nothing is an unacceptable way to proceed. Kane has suffered numerous repetitive injuries, and every time he goes down reeling in pain we wonder how the side will cope in his absence.
Oftentimes Tottenham pleasantly surprise during the talisman’s time in the training room. But that’s beside the point. Spurs have been a one-trick pony for too long. Yes, Sonny offers a brilliant secondary scoring source, but relying on two players for almost 60 percent of your goals is as unsustainable as it is shortsighted.
Kane is probably on his way out of Tottenham at some point in the near future, which will force Levy’s hand. Maybe finally, purely out of necessity, Levy will find a way for his Spurs side to score more by committee.
It’s probably not a good idea to hold your breath, though.