#LevyOut – Why are Tottenham fans so angry?

The cheering was quiet at first, but the ears around the stadium immediately aroused. Then it got a little higher. They sang “Daniel Levy, Get Out of Our Club”.

For the first time since football stadiums returned to normal after the closures imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, spurs The fans were making an audible statement against the club’s owners.

A few days later, across town at Selhurst Park, the game wasn’t even 30 seconds old when the away side told us all, “We want Levy’s out.” Tottenham managed a 4-0 win in that match, but the same chant was heard intermittently throughout the match.

To an outsider, this might be surprising to hear.

ENIC Group owner and club president Daniel Levy has, in recent years, overseen the construction of one of the most prestigious football stadiums in the world, hired a head coach in Antonio Conte who many thought was unattainable, and last summer injected 150 million pounds. ($ 182.3 million) in the club, financing such large transfers RichardsonAnd Christian Romero And Eve Bisuma In a change of approach from previous years when net spending was much lower or, in some cases, non-existent.

Last summer, the confidence of the supporters of Tottenham Hotspur (THST) conducted a survey of 6,000 fans. One question centered on how they viewed ownership – only three per cent of respondents did not want ENIC to take over the club.

While the opinions of those 6,000 fans may not be a completely accurate representation of their entire fan base, it’s safe to say that the dial has moved on since then. So what has changed? And why does there seem to be a growing number – not only on social media, but also in the stands – who want new owners at the helm?

These questions are not easy to answer but there is clearly more to it than just the last few performances and results.

Spurs’ season may not have gone quite as planned yet, but they are in fifth place on the season Premier Leagueuntil the last 16 of Champions League And with Preston North End reaching the Championship in the last 32, they’ll get fancy FA cup They ran while trying to end a 15-year wait for silverware. They did so despite suffering unfortunate injuries, particularly to Richarlison and Diane Kulusevskiand despite the struggles of last season’s Golden Boot winner Son Heung-min.

But it’s more than that.

Whether fans are “Levy in” or “Levy Out,” many will Some Some sort of grievance at any point in his 22 years as chairman, be it the sacking of Martin Jol, the farcical managerial search in the summer of 2021 that ended with the hiring of Nuno Espirito Santo, the failure of big signings including Roberto Soldado and Tanguy Ndombele, the rebuilding of the stadium to the season The second, which means months as tenants at an empty and half-empty Wembley, flirting with moving across London from Tottenham to the site of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford 12 years ago, or that ill-fated dalliance with fiasco. Super League project.

Go deeper

The longest 72 days of Daniel Levy’s career: the epic hunt for the Tottenham manager

There’s a lot of historical context there.

There will also be envious eyes directed at clubs with similar or smaller fanbases who enjoy more success, sometimes because they are funded by outside owners with bottomless pockets. Some Tottenham supporters will see that and want it. arch rivals Arsenal Also at the head of the table, which doesn’t help. Newcastle They edge out Tottenham in third place, although no what you’d call ridiculous money has been spent yet, and there is potential for more to come. Perhaps the fans fear that he will leave Tottenham behind if the change does not happen.

And then there is the dryness of the cup.

Wigan AthleticAnd Birmingham CityAnd Leicester City And Swansea City All of them have won major domestic trophies since Tottenham won Chelsea At Wembley to raise League Cup in February 2008. But Tottenham have reached the final of the Champions League and qualified for European football competition on six occasions in those intervening years – a feat the vast majority of English clubs would envy.

Well, it’s complicated.

“What fans want to know is: ‘What’s the strategy?'” says Steve Cavalier, co-chairman of THST and a Spurs fan for five decades. ” the athlete. And then, how do you measure success against that strategy? Does this fit with what Antonio Conte says? “

“The cup is a huge factor. Qualifying for the Champions League last season was a massive achievement, credit for that and we want to be in the Champions League; the AC Milan The match (their tie in the Round of 16, starting at San Siro on Feb. 14) is the match you want, but 2008 is too long.

“Prizes are important. Yes, we will remember the top four finishes, the semi-finals of Ajax, but in the end, as a fan, what you remember are the times your captain lifted the trophy, and we missed that for far too long. It won’t solve everything, but players and managers come in.” The game to win titles.”

Go deeper

The Ajax Miracle To Tottenham: The Stories You’ve Never Heard Of

There has been a noticeable shift in mood lately and judging by what you hear in matches, not just what you read on social media, the support, from the vocal minority at least, against ENIC and Levy is very much supportive of Conte.

It is generally seen that if Conte gets what he wants – namely significant support in the transfer market to sign players around whom he can build a squad to compete for major prizes on a consistent basis – Tottenham can thrive.

They have foundations in the form of an incredible stadium, a world class training ground and a fantastic academy (albeit that could do with producing more first team players for the club). It’s just the final touch, the hardest thing we’re missing. And with Conte’s contract expiring next summer, the situation will soon come to a head.

Again, it’s much more complicated than that. In fact, it is not so simple as Conte against Levi.

Vin Thomas, who directs @Tottenham terriers A Twitter fan account, he says the general consensus of the fans he follows online is that the current ownership has taken Tottenham as far as they can in terms of development on the pitch.

The stadium, facilities and links to NFL It was all a direct result of the investment off the field,” says Thomas. “However, on the field, the fears of being left behind by the other big six teams, and now other clubs investing and stepping up, are very real for a lot of Tottenham fans.

“Year after year, we see new coaches and, more recently, ‘serial winners’, looking at the same group of players who don’t have squad depth, are expected to compete in Europe’s most prestigious competition and fail to do so, which could indicate that Something needs to change elsewhere for this club to progress.

We go back to this thought: ‘How many times has Daniel Levy sacked Daniel Levy? “.

Progress can be judged on many factors (finishing fourth now is considered quite an achievement; winning a domestic cup is not what it used to be), but what is undeniable is that Tottenham have grown exponentially as a club under the stewardship of ENIC and Levy, the pitch but also on it, as they have become a regular fixture at the top end of the table. In the 1990s, they averaged a league position of 10th (including two 15th-place finishes and one 14th-place finish); In 2010 it was fourth.

However, as Thomas says, taking that next step in order to become a club properly competing for silverware is a must.

“There is an undeniable relationship between additional investment and winning silverware and some might point in the direction of the previous summer window for Conte to close this point, but it has to be a consistent investment to achieve anything of substance,” he says.

“Newcastle Tottenham’s rise has shown what additional investment can bring to a football club, not only financially but also the belief, from the fans’ point of view, of a positive and exciting future for the club.

“They (Newcastle) have shown that smart investment in certain areas of the squad while buying and trusting in a manager’s philosophy can lead to immediate success and, although the season is far from over, defy expectations and take the club into uncharted territory.

“Arsenal, as another example, has shown that investing in the overall team and trusting (manager) Mikel Arteta, even at the toughest times of the last few years, pays off in the long run. Seeing this (Arsenal’s improvement) has definitely added fuel to the fire” ENIC/Levy Out “Burning, where the grass looks greener on the other side.”

Whatever the opinion about Levi’s, the common theme is that communication can certainly be improved.

thst has written on the board with a number of questions They say the club has shown willingness to answer for long-term strategy, player recruitment and more investment. The trust says any concerns it has are “exacerbated by a lack of communication with supporters”.

“The clubs would do themselves a favor if they shared things with independent democratic organizations like the Supporters Trust, who clearly want the clubs they support to succeed,” adds Cavaliere, the co-chair.

“Communications have been disrupted by the Premier League – the club had previously denied interest in being part of one, but we have had discussions with them about this and have since rebuilt relationships.

Our job is to better reflect the views of Tottenham fans, which range from ‘ENIC out’ to people who are happy to supervise and ask what others are complaining about.

“I think the truth is in the middle – that there are general concerns.”

So, if you’re not an ENIC, who is? In theory, would Tottenham supporters take endless millions out of nowhere if it meant competing financially with him? Manchester cityAnd Chelsea and Newcastle?

“Who gets involved? A change of owner is not a magic formula, you have to look at every investor with critical eyes,” Cavalier says. “Our point is not, ‘You take money from nowhere.’” It is important who the owners and investors are.

“Our central message is that we are not calling for an exit of ENIC. We believe there are legitimate questions. We have asked the Board a number of questions that we believe need to be answered, and we are pleased with our commitment to obtain some answers.”

Thomas believes it will be difficult for ENIC and Levy to win back these fans who are now asking them to leave.

“Investing should be consistent,” he says. A potential one-off summer investment will not bring back the year that Tottenham failed to sign a single player for (then Mauricio) Pochettino in a summer window (2018) or the countless times managers got a ‘cheaper option’ to a priority target and then His dismissal for failing to live up to expectations.

But could change be afoot? Owners of the French Champion series Paris Saint-Germain, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), You want to buy a stake in a Premier League club and have been in talks with Tottenham as one of several options.

QSI representatives met Levy to discuss the possibility of investing, although this was denied by the north London club the athlete that no such talks had taken place.

Will this move ease fans’ fears or create new fears?

“Judging by the reaction to that news, I think the majority of fans would be open to a property from anywhere,” Thomas says, though he acknowledges that other backers are less comfortable with the idea.

Beat Arsenal on Sunday and all will be well in the world of Tottenham once again, for a few hours at least.

But whatever your point of view, there are clearly fundamental issues that will not be resolved by what will happen on the pitch in the next few weeks.

(Main graphic – Images: Getty Images, Design: Sam Richardson)

---

the athleteSpanish football coverage It has openings…