David Pleat points out that Daniel Levy decided against cashing in on many of Tottenham’s stars in the past despite the club’s financial pressures, revealing that he could have got £85m for a player who the club eventually let go for free.
Tottenham’s financial pinch during the stadium build
Many Spurs fans understandably feel that Levy should have backed Mauricio Pochettino with funds around 2016 to 2018 and that his refusal to do so prevented the club from going the extra step and winning a Premier League title.
The Tottenham chairman would argue that the club were in the process of building a new stadium and that finances were always going to be tight during that period.
While there is no doubt that Levy has loosened the purse strings a little more over the last few years, there continues to be a sense of missed opportunity among the fan base, given how close the club were to having a special team under the Argentine coach.
David Pleat defends Daniel Levy
Pleat has now praised Levy‘s resolve to keep that team together, pointing out that the Tottenham chairman did something that refutes the perception that he puts profit over being successful on the pitch.
The former Spurs manager remarked that the club could have sold many of their top young players for massive profits at the time, and claimed that Levy even turned down £85m for Dele Alli despite the financial pressures of building a stadium.
Pleat told The Spurs Show: “There are some wonderful things Daniel (Levy) has done, to get the stadium running, to get the banks to help with the money.
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“When that stadium was being built we had, I remember it clearly, we had England players, Walker, Kane, Dier, Trippier, there was another, Dele Alli, Dele was £85m at one time we could’ve got, we had good collateral on the field.”
Levy knows his legacy will be judged by silverware
Even though Levy has elevated Tottenham both on and off the pitch during his time as chairman, the huge black mark on his reign is the fact that the Lilywhites have constantly failed at the final hurdles and failed to win trophies.
That is something the 62-year-old is well aware of, which is why he brought in ‘win-first’ managers like Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, with those experiments backfiring spectacularly.
Part of the reason why Levy is reportedly determined to stay on as chairman even in the event of a minority sale is down to wanting to protect his legacy.