What is happening at Spurs? It has all become a bit of a joke!

DANIEL LEVY, THE MARMITE MAN, AND SPURS FUTURE

Daniel Levy, the Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, is a marmite character. You either support him and congratulate him for what he has done for the club, or you heap abuse on him. Those that heap abuse are from the wing that are football fanatics, but has very little business understanding on how to build a business or how business works. They look back to the Glory days – before the Premier league – and can’t understand why they still haven’t got it.

Enic/ Levy took over at Spurs in December 2000. He had a five-year plan to bring the Glory days back to the mighty Spurs (the five-year plan has been disputed, nevertheless, a plan to turn around the club was intended). Recession in 2008 destabilised any such plans, but eventually getting back on track with the unveiling, in 2011, of a stadium and business plan (Spurs also owe the ground around the club).

In the era of Premier league football, Spurs were rated outside the top 10 richest clubs in the world, in particular below Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal and Liverpool. In other words, Spurs were a top six club, even though occasionally they punched above their weight (as Leicester City did in season 2015/16).

Since the takeover – in 2000 – Spurs have finished no lower than 14th in the league. A session of managers yo-yo-ed between 4th and 14th (four times in 5th position and twice in 4th). It wasn’t until he picked Maurice Pochettino as his manager that his vision started to click into place. Pochettino arrived from Southampton and in his first season ended in fifth position. After that, until now, it was third, followed by second.  For a club that is financially behind five English clubs, we have finished either about right (with a few bad seasons thrown-in) or excelled ourselves. Of course, in that time we only won one trophy. Unacceptable I hear the fans shout.

When Tottenham Hotspur joined the Premier League we were known as one of the top five clubs. Irvin Scholar, the director at the time, had similar ideas to Levy and floated the club on the stock exchange and purchasing companies that could complement our club, but that all went disastrously wrong. Spurs came close to liquidation, eventually saved by Alan Sugar & Terry Venables. Sugar sidelined Venables and bounced along until he was bought out by Enid/ Levy.

After a long hall, plans, visions and eventually implementation saw Spurs finally look like they could recapture those “Glory Glory days” and much more. With a business plan and vision Daniel Levy has for the club we can move up that table of rich clubs and hopefully compete with the best in the world.

We will have a 61,559 seater stadium. To fill that stadium, we have to finish in the top four or above and challenge for top honours. To do that Spurs has to compete financially in the wages stakes. Not to do so will see us – possibly – slip outside the top 4 position and into mediocrity. That will see fans deserting the club for pastures of glitter. There are two sorts of fans, those like me that will follow Spurs through thick and thin, and those fair-weather ones that want jam yesterday, today and tomorrow or will bugger off.

I believe that Levy and board are on the right track, but as the saying goes, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”. With the ultimate owner (Joe Lewis) wanting to sell and Spurs becoming a great business proposition, there will be many takers, anything is possible.  Whatever happens, we do owe Daniel Levy and board our grateful thanks. If we had stayed with Alan Sugar Spurs we would have stagnated, while the rest of the Premier League clubs passed us by.

It has been a long journey, but somebody who has been supporting the club since coming out of his mother's womb I've seen interesting times, never dull, with plenty to cheer about. Here is to to the future and those Glory, Glory nights and days.