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Newcastle United are 17 points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur - has Amanda Staveley been given more leverage in her rumoured North London takeover?
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Tottenham Hotspur supporters want change. This is not the first time the Spurs faithful have called for a drastic overhaul at the boardroom level.
A banner was unveiled by Tottenham supporters on a day which symbolised their miserable afternoon - and the state of limbo they find themselves in. The message read: “24 years, 16 managers, one trophy - time for change.
That clear directive to Daniel Levy came during a dismal 2-1 defeat to Leicester City. Despite being one of Newcastle United’s rivals for European football in pre-season, Spurs sit 15th, with seven wins and a staggering 13 league losses.
Both clubs could still meet each other in the Carabao Cup final - perhaps the only saving grace for Ange Postecoglou as his future becomes bleaker with each passing week. The irony is how Toon fans, in the not-so-distant past, were the ones venting their spleen and bringing out the banners of discontent.
Mike Ashley, a long-time rumoured Spurs supporter, was persona non grata on Tyneside for 13 of his 14 years. He oversaw immense regression at Newcastle, with fans not treated to the state-of-the-art stadium, title charges or Champions League finals that Tottenham have witnessed under Levy.
Instead, relegation fights and asset stripping were served up, with neglect and apathy as the dressing. The Magpies were a bigger entity than Spurs when Ashley bought the club and, in the cyclical world of football, appear to have surpassed them since the Saudi-backed regime came to town.
Postecoglou is facing the sack but Levy was the man in the crosshairs as Tottenham, for the first time, began fearing relegation. They want him out - a catch-22 situation that rival fans have seen before.
Ironically, the person to liberate Spurs from stagnation could be Newcastle’s own saviour. Amanda Staveley brokered the club’s sale to the Public Investment Fund following a lengthy legal battle in October 2021.
Her track record also includes Manchester City’s game-changing takeover 13 years earlier. Staveley is serious - and her getting involved in a direct Premier League rival would leave a sour taste.
"First of all, I think all we can do is thank the amazing Newcastle community and the founders for all the support that we had and continue to get," she said last year. "It's so hard to move on from a club that's amazing. We could never move on from Newcastle and we never will. But yes, we're looking at a number of investment operations.
"We can't say too much at the moment because of you know, rules around it. But we will be able to talk about it, hopefully in the not-too-distant future."
Tottenham are not the start-up project that Man City or Newcastle were. Spurs have a £1billion stadium with genuine quality in their squad. Admittedly, this has been a disastrous Premier League season by their standards but they have FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Europa League campaigns still in play.
Would a full-scale, concerted effort from Tottenham supporters - akin to Newcastle’s boycott under Ashley - give Staveley further leverage? Absolutely. That point may not have arrived but the call for change is alive - expect a shrewd operator like Staveley to seize any opportunity she can.