Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino suggests Daniel Levy reputation is justified

Follow us on Google Discover

The Spurs chairman has a “fearsome reputation” as a tough person to do business with, and Poch admits this is the case – although he personally doesn’t have this issue.

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy is “not an easy person to do business with” but has credited him with completely transforming the club for the better.

The 56-year-old, a lifelong Spurs fans, began his journey within the Premier League club’s boardroom in 2000, when Alan Sugar began proceedings to sell the club to ENIC in December (The Guardian), and became chairman upon completion of the sale in February 2001 (Evening Standard).

In the final season before Levy became involved with Spurs at boardroom level, the club finished 10th in the table, but now the Lilywhites are a force at Premier League and Champions League level, regularly challenging for the title and getting to the latter stages in Europe.

On Sunday, Tottenham face Manchester United in the league, a club that has signed several of Spurs’ top players over the years including Teddy Sheringham, Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov.

Former Man United manager Sir Alex Ferguson famously described the experience of dealing with Levy over Berbatov’s move from Spurs as “more painful than my hip replacement”, as quoted by The Telegraph.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Pochettino suggested that Levy’s business conduct – deemed a “fearsome reputation” by Football.London – has helped Tottenham shake off their previous image as a club whose main players were ripe for the picking by other clubs, not to mention improving the club’s infrastructure too.

“He is not an easy person to do business with,” said the Argentine. “You have to give him credit because when he came here 16 years ago Tottenham was a completely different club. They were mid-table, and mid-table for facilities. But today we are in the top for facilities and for the last few years the club is fighting against the big sides.”

That said, Pochettino is also quoted by a different source – The Telegraph – as saying that he personally has no issues himself dealing with Levy, saying “for me, if there was one person that was easy to do business with, it was Daniel.”