The Tottenham chair, Daniel Levy, believes he will get credit for his time in charge only when he leaves and is confident Thomas Frank can help the club to “compete at the highest level”.
In a rare interview, Levy described the construction of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as his “greatest achievement” and hit back at fans who have blamed him for the club’s failure to win more trophies.
“I think it’s one of those situations [in which] when I’m not here I’m sure I’ll get the credit,” Levy told Gary Neville on his Overlap podcast. “This stadium is a symbol of Tottenham Hotspur on the global map. I think it’s fantastic for the local community – the employment that we’re creating because of this stadium.
“The fact that other clubs are now trying to copy what we’re doing, that should be a sign that maybe we did do something bold, and something right.”
The Europa League triumph last season was Tottenham’s first trophy since 2008 and came just before the end of a Premier League campaign in which they finished 17th after a record 22 defeats. Levy sacked Ange Postecoglou 16 days after the victory against Manchester United in the final in Bilbao and he is hopeful that Frank can help the club to challenge for trophies on a more consistent basis.
“Whenever you appoint a coach, you always believe it’s right,” Levy said. “You need a lot of ingredients for it to be right. Thomas is a highly intelligent individual, a fantastic way about him in terms of communication. I think he will be great at both developing young players and older players and making them better. He gets the style of football we want to play. He understands that Rome wasn’t built in a day. We haven’t said to him: ‘You’ve got to win the league this year.’ We just want to compete at the highest level.”
Levy was critical of the Premier League for the time it has taken to conclude the case involving alleged breaches of the league’s regulations by Manchester City. The club, who deny wrongdoing, were charged with more than 130 breaches in February 2023.
“I think it would be really unfair of me to talk about another club in the Premier League,” Levy said. “All I would say is that it’s going through a process which I think has gone on for far too long. It needs to be brought, for the good of the game, to a conclusion one way or another.”
