Why Daniel Levy’s meeting with Joe Lewis is so pivotal for Tottenham’s future
By Gary Pearson
A highly publicized meeting between Daniel Levy and Tottenham owner Joe Lewis about the future of the club is set to take place in the Bahamas.
Can’t you picture it: Levy sipping on an unconscionably overpriced wine, sitting on a cushy chair overlooking the tranquil ocean on the veranda of Lewis’ garish, luxurious multi-million pound property.
Spurs’ chairman, he’ll have you know, has important business on the idyllic Caribbean island. If we are to take the meeting at face value, the collection of interactions between the club’s top brass could be pivotal in which path Tottenham decides to embark on.
Antonio Conte signed a short-term, 18-month contract. That scares the bejesus out of Tottenham supporters. Conte is already pre-dispositioned to fleeting, albeit glorious, resoundingly successful, experiences in the hot seat. Conte hasn’t managed a team for longer than three years since starting his coaching career in 2005.
He has managed seven club teams (Bari, Atalanta, Siena, Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Tottenham) and Italy, his homeland, since 2007. While partly a byproduct of management in the modern era of football, Conte, even more so than other elite managers, is an extremely high-paid job-hopper. That is by no means a slight on the genius gaffer. It is, however, a reality staring Spurs in the face.
Conte won’t extend contract without full backing from Levy and Lewis
If Spurs have any chance of keeping Conte on long term, the powers that be will have to back him entirely and without reservation. The first step for Levy and Lewis is to provide the financial support Conte requires to spearhead a Tottenham revival. For Tottenham to compete with the financial juggernauts of world football, an immediate and substantial cash injection is required.
Without that cash injection, Spurs will not be able to land the world’s best players. And to retain one of the world’s best managers, make no mistake, Tottenham need to be seen as a club that can sign the best talent. No elite manager will sit idly by watching the club they manage sign middling players on a shoestring budget. That’s not a recipe for a successful on-the-pitch product.
Yes, Lewis will be forced to switch his mentality drastically, from risk averse to risk forward, a difficult proposition for a shrewd operator, especially in the midst of a worldwide pandemic where profits have heavily shrank. But that’s what it will take for Tottenham to finally, after all these years, return to prominence.
ENIC Group, although loathed by throngs of supporters, has done admirable work in elevating Tottenham’s business proposition. Erecting a £1 billion multifunctional stadium and turning Enfield Training Ground into a state of the art facility has put Tottenham in the position to succeed, providing the club with a competitive advantage, even over bitter rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.
Now it’s high time Lewis and Levy loosen the pursestrings and wholly back Conte and Fabio Paratici. Provide the Italian mafia with complete autonomy and financial backing. Let the experienced football minds make the football decisions, take a large step back and watch from afar. From what I hear the Bahamas is a nice place to settle.
Next. What Conte might do for second leg of semifinal against Chelsea. dark
Hopefully, between daintily and repeatedly popping open upscale bottles of wine, Lewis and Levy actually get down to brass taxes to ensure Conte is granted everything he so desires.
It’s the only way the Italian maestro will extend his contract, stay put for longer than18 months and, with any luck, eventually guide Tottenham back to the Premier League’s Promise Land.