Former Tottenham colleagues on chairman Daniel Levy's 'Spurs heart' and his relentless pursuit of glory

Those who have worked alongside Levy in north London say he has taken the club further than ever imagined.
AFP/Getty Images
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_16 October 2019

Daniel Levy enjoys quite the turbulent relationship with Tottenham fans. Wind back to April, a collective dream was being realised and Spurs were on their way to a first ever Champions League final. The chairman was untouchable.

Move back another few months, with form slumping and the fans, management and players all tiring of Wembley Stadium, Levy was a lightning rod for criticism.

With Spurs now at one of the lowest points of Mauricio Pochettino's reign having been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Colchester, succumbing to a biggest home defeat for 137 years at the hands of Bayern Munich and losing 3-0 at Brighton in the Premier League, Levy is taking flak once more.

Having been in the role longer than any other Premier League chairman, he is accustomed to criticism and the odd rough patch, describing stadium setbacks earlier this year as some of his darkest days.

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But for all the crisis talk and all the criticism, those who have worked alongside Levy in north London only know a man who has taken the club further than many would have imagined and gives every second of his day, and some nights, to see the side succeed.

"The one thing I'd say is there's nobody who more has Spurs in his heart," says Darren Eales, who spent five years alongside Levy first as Tottenham's club secretary and then director of football administration. "Everything he's doing is for the benefit of Tottenham Hotspur, and to make them the best club they can be.

"So yes, he's demanding. Yes, he's a really bright guy who went to Cambridge, there is a smart businessman, an unbelievable negotiator. He expects everybody to be working as hard as he is. So that's his style.

"There's nobody that's got a bigger interest in Tottenham succeeding than Daniel and everything he does, he's doing it for that reason, he wants to make it a great club and keep building it."

Eales was at Tottenham when the state-of-the-art training ground was opened in 2012 and when the new £1billion stadium looked a long way away.

"If you look at the track record from when they took over, I think it's been incredible to be where they are now with that stadium," he says.

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Long before even the new training ground became a reality, Tottenham fan and former executive director Paul Barber, who now serves as Brighton's chief executive and deputy chairman, was struggling to come to terms with Levy's ambitions for the club.

"I think you've got to look at what Daniel's achieved for over nearly 20 years now," says Barber. "There are many people, I come from that part of north London, who would say that building a stadium of that size in that location would have been impossible.

"I can remember when I was there, presenting the initial plans for that stadium back in 2005/06, and even myself questioning whether we could pull off such an amazing project on Tottenham High Road. I mean, you've got to remember that is a very, very narrow channel out of London. What he's achieved has been remarkable, absolutely remarkable."

But what is Levy like in times of crisis? Can a man who supposedly gives his all when things are ticking over nicely redouble his efforts to steer the club back onto the right course?

"I mean it is hard to double down," says Eales. "He is pretty intense all the time.

(Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I)
Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images

"You could never accuse Daniel of being a remote chairman or someone that's disinterested. He's obviously very focused, and when there's tough times, which you are always going to get working in the world of sport, that probably just intensifies it a little bit more.

"Everybody's a different leader and has different leadership styles. Daniel led by example, in the sense of he just put the work in so you can't argue and when you get a text at three o'clock in the morning on a potential fee, the reality is that it is a demonstration of his commitment that inspires you [so] that you have got to push yourself to that level."

Barber adds: "Daniel is calm, he is long-term. Very, very knowledgeable, very astute. He will do what's right for the club every time and in terms of football club chairmen, he's right up there."

Decisions will, and should always, be questioned by those who give the club their hard-earned money each and every week. The call not to invest in the squad for two straight transfer windows prior to this summer will remain a hard one for supporters to forgive.

But it is clear there are few, if any, working harder to ensure Spurs continue to accelerate through to the highest echelons of world football at a quite alarming rate.

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