Daniel Levy & Joe Lewis are Tottenham's saviours, not our adversaries

 

Daniel Levy & Joe Lewis are Tottenham's saviours, not our adversaries

By Peter J Arnold

I have just read Don Scully's article "Daniel Levy: one flew over the cuckoo's nest". For those who have not read it yet and will not know what I am talking about, click on the link HERE.

Don Scully obviously has got his facts wrong and is on the anti-Levy/ Lewis disrupters brigade wing. We should celebrate what Levy & Lewis have done for our club, not chastise them.

Let us look at the facts; White Hart Lane was not fit for purpose. If we wanted to continue without the input of Levy & Lewis, we would have ended up as a Norwich City/ Hammers/ Watford type of team… always fighting off relegation, and only on occasions winning a trophy here or there.

By knocking down a stadium with a capacity of 35,000 and replacing it with a 62,000 amphitheatre was a work of genius. Granted, I accept Don Scully's prognosis that we only won one trophy since the pair took over the club, but, come on… funds for their project had to be funded from somewhere, and it is not surprising that the team suffered. But Levy & Lewis always knew that once the project was up and running, it would then take probably 30 to 40 years before the team started seeing benefits from their, as Don Scully put it, "cash cow stadium". That is to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, both the Manchester clubs, Arsenal… and now Newcastle United. Of course, if we win something in the meantime, that is a bonus… Leicester did it, and I know Levy's thinking is that we also can do it, given the right circumstances. We should erect a statue in their honour for that thinking, not rebuking them.

Then there is our marvellous Spurs Academy that is producing the likes of Kane, Mason, Tanganga, Skipp, Winks and others. Why splash out millions when we have cheaper options… and any experience we need to compliment them with, well, a few older models are knocking around waiting to be picked up so that they can put their expertise to good use. Perfect! Daniel Levy, who, as a boy, stood on the shelf, wants the best for the club… but he knows, as we must acknowledge, that it will take the required time before we can compete with the elites of football. He is one of our own!

The other misguided point Don Scully made "The Lunatics certainly have taken over the stadium and made it into their money-making image. It no longer has the feel of White Hart Lane but a cash cow… and to prove my point, the Spurs cockerel has been removed as the Stadium emblem (in some parts) and has been replaced with a new Tottenham stadium badge; which is on staff's uniforms and scattered around the club. Why? To downplay the team in the Tottenham stadium and give equal or higher preference to other acts".

First of all, there is a giant cockerel purchased on our stadium. Which puts a lie to Scully's comments that the "cockerel has been replaced." On top of that, outside Atrium 2 (Westside), our giant cockerel crest is embedded in the wall. And there are other points where our Spurs identity is part of the stadium.

As for the New Tottenham emblem on staff jackets, it is sensible as the new badge highlights the new stadium as something separate from the Tottenham Football team.

Levy is not only a great accountant, as Don Scully rightly pointed out, but is also a great thinker where the club & football is concerned. When knocking down White Hart Lane stadium, a true golden phoenix rose from the ashes to create something magnificent that will eventually be part of football's elite. But all this takes time and money… the stadium will generate that money once its debts have been paid off and other parts of the Tottenham area (which the club own) is gentrified, bringing more cash in for our club.

While we are on the subject of money; the Premium area should be enlarged as that is the most significant paying area, and the GA area shrunk to compensate (that area brings in a lot less money). This will bring in more money for the squad, eventually creating a colossal team.

People like Don Scully are just aggravators and are incapable of seeing the bigger picture.

As for our "Heritage," what does that mean… our Heritage has changed over the years. Society changes, and we have to adapt to that change or fall by the wayside. Spurs played their early matches on public land at the Park Lane end of Tottenham Marshes, then we moved to Northumberland Park and then in 1899, we moved to White Hart Lane. Then in the 2016/17 season, that stadium was demolished to make way for our fourth home (not counting Wembley stadium). So what "Heritage" is he talking about?

As for comparing our club with Chelsea's, there is no comparison, whatever Chelsea is worth, our club is worth double the money. Too much reading of the Daily Mail, Mr Scully. Try reading a grown-up paper or just stick to Noddy in Toyland.

Whether Conte manages to get past the summer break is irrelevant; what is important is the future of our club and its capabilities in challenging the best. We will not get relegated and probably be in a Europa League position at the end of the season or a top-four place with luck. We have potential, but that potential will take time and patience. In the meantime, we have to show our support.

As for  Daniel Levy's earnings, such work should be rewarded… for him to take a pay cut because of COVID should be congratulated, not hissed at, then there is the statue some have suggested in his honour…

Appreciate what we got, not rubbish it, and cheer the team, directors and club. We are all Spurs. It is in our blood. Stop nitpicking Mr Scully and show your support for our great Tottenham Chairman!

Peter J Arnold.