Daniel Levy leaves Tottenham with just two trophies in 25 years at the club. Tottenham's revenues grew significantly during his time as chairman and a new world-class stadium was built. However, fans were disappointed by missed opportunities.
Peter Smith
Pictured: Daniel Levy has stepped down as Spurs chairman.
“Typical Levi.”
Just 10 days after the embarrassing Eberechi Eze episode, which seemed to sum up the chairman's reputation for being inattentive to the details of potentially important transfers and ultimately losing important battles to rivals, Daniel Levy has passed away.
Many Tottenham fans, fed up with Levy and his underachievement, will be pleased to hear of his departure. Last season, the soundtrack to Tottenham was chants of “Levi out!”. Their dream has finally come true.
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But like Eze's transfer history, initially left out of Arsenal's backstory, and the subsequent details of his surprise phone call to Mikel Arteta, Levy's legacy at Tottenham is a complicated one.
He was a cheapskate who built the most famous and expensive stadium in the Premier League.
A trader who has only been surpassed in the transfer market by three Premier League clubs over the past nine years.
A ruthless businessman who created a culture at the club that lacked the cutting edge.
There was something uncharacteristic of Spurs in the way Ange Postecoglou and his players set themselves up for success in the Europa League and won their second trophy of the season under the Australian.
“They always lack something at the end,” Giorgio Chiellini, then a Juventus defender, memorably said in his interview with This Is Tottenham History after winning the Champions League in 2018.
This did not happen last season.
It was only the second trophy won during Levy's time in charge, and Postecoglou was sacked 16 days later.
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Sky News sports correspondent Rob Harris looks at the news of Daniel Levy stepping down as Spurs chairman and how it will impact on the future running of the club.
The debate over whether it was the right decision or not has divided the fanbase this summer – 69 per cent in our poll said it was wrong – but they will unanimously agree there should have been far more nights like Bilbao in the Levy era.
During his time in charge of Liverpool, he played in fifteen semi-finals and seven finals. There are plenty of moments to ponder, but there are also moments when he deceived himself. The most striking example was the sacking of Jose Mourinho before the League Cup final.
Antonio Conte was another manager working for Levy who lost patience with the mentality at the club and the direction it was being taken in. “This is the history of Tottenham,” he fumed to Southampton, echoing Chiellini. “The club has had the same owner for 20 years and they have won nothing, but why? It’s the fault of the club or every manager who stays here.”
Thomas Frank is Tottenham's fifth managerial appointment in six years since Mauricio Pochettino left. The Argentine once went rafting with his manager, but it is perhaps his tenure in charge that best encapsulates the fans' frustration.
Spurs were so close to big titles under Pochettino. Third, second, third in the Premier League. Two FA Cup semi-finals in a row. A Champions League final. And all at the same time? Not a single player signed for the first team in the summer.
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Michael Dawson believes Daniel Levy has left Tottenham Hotspur in a better position
This era coincided with the construction of a big, bold, ambitious – and expensive – stadium. It allowed Tottenham to become, as Levy puts it, “entrepreneurial” in terms of generating revenue: a venue for concerts, boxing, NFL matches and much more besides football.
It can sometimes seem ironic to hear Spurs fans insulting Levy and the board from inside a billion-pound stadium.
But these fans also pay some of the highest season ticket prices in the Premier League and have seen senior benefits scrapped despite protests, while the club has made record profits and Levy has become the highest paid boss in the division, according to available data.
Image: Tottenham ranked sixth in the Premier League for wages paid by Premier League clubs between 2014 and 2023.
Image: Tottenham have the lowest wage-to-revenue ratio of any Premier League club with the highest revenues, according to Deloitte Football Money League 2025 data.
“Their pain is my pain,” Levy told Gary Neville when asked on The Overlap about the boos and boos he regularly faced last season as the team slipped to 17th place. “We're here to win,” he added.
However, in the Levy era, the priority was not big trophies, but maintaining a position among the elite teams in order to increase revenue and build a brand.
To dare is to do? Sounds a bit risky.
But in an impatient football world where many clubs are counting the cost of going too far, is it worth neglecting the principle of sustainability?
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Levy certainly leaves Tottenham in a position that would be the envy of most clubs in the world. A stunning stadium. World-class training facilities. And far greater potential on the pitch, waiting to be tapped.
“When I'm not there I'm sure the credit will go to me,” Levy told Neville when asked how he would be remembered at Tottenham.
But will the victories that are to come (if they come at all) earn Levy the respect of Tottenham fans? Or will they be seen as proof that he should have helped out just as many more games in Bilbao?
Like Levi's legacy, it's complicated.
However, with Tottenham's Lewis family using Levy's departure as an excuse to declare their desire to “win more and more” in a “new era” for the club, there appears to be optimism that Tottenham can now move on to a new structure.
Sourse: skysports.com
