As another season draws toward a conclusion, Tottenham Hotspur find themselves contemplating a period of transition all over again. Such a scenario is nothing new for the White Hart Lane club; after years of knocking on the door of a title challenge, the team that last won their domestic league trophy in 1961 still cannot find the key to unlock it.
Glenn Hoddle, Jacques Santini, Martin Jol, Juande Ramos, Harry Redknapp and Andre Villas-Boas all have tried and failed to establish Spurs as one of the leading lights in the Premier League in their roles as club manager and head coach with Tottenham. The club’s ambitions to make their mark in the Champions League have been equally forlorn under all but one of those touchline tacticians.
While the club’s finances have long been in fine health, success on the field has been tough to come by, with the blame game set to start again as the position of head coach Tim Sherwood looks increasingly uncertain following last Sunday’s 4-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield.
It begs the question: Why has such a famous institution become second rate?
The key characters
Daniel Levy [club chairman]: Levy became Tottenham chairman in 2001, when he led ENIC’s purchase of the club from electronics entrepreneur Alan Sugar, who had initially purchased the north London company along with then-manager Terry Venables in 1991.
Levy graduated from Cambridge University in 1985 with a First Class Honours degree in economics and land economy and is the managing director of the ENIC Group of companies, a sports, entertainment and media group. This is a position he has held since 1995.
Joe Lewis [chief investor in the Tavistock Group/ENIC]: Lewis is the chief investor in a company that holds a controlling interest in more than 200 companies in 15 countries, one of which is ENIC, the organisation that owns Tottenham.
The most recent Forbes Rich List survey estimated Lewis’ wealth at over $4 billion, making him the ninth-richest British individual and the 308th wealthiest person in the world.
Franco Baldini [technical director]: Baldini was appointed as Tottenham’s technical director last summer after then-manager Villas-Boas pushed for a figure "with dressing room experience" to be added to the club’s staff.
He oversaw the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for 86 million pounds (figures provided by Tottenham officials), while also brokering deals for the arrival of seven new players at Tottenham, including Roberto Soldado (for 26 million pounds) and Erik Lamela (30 million pounds).
Tim Sherwood [head coach]: Named as successor to Villas-Boas in December 2013, Sherwood was handed a contract that runs to the summer of 2015, but he has admitted publicly that his future will be in doubt unless he lives up to the expectations at the club.
A series of poor results against the top sides in the Premier League have led some observers to speculate that his position may be reviewed this summer, with Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal linked with replacing him at Tottenham when he leaves the national setup after the World Cup.
Who is to blame?
Chairman Levy has appointed seven permanent Tottenham managers in his reign as the club’s chairman. His eagerness for success has seen him make changes in the Spurs' dugout with almost as much frequency as notoriously trigger-happy Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich at Stamford Bridge. Levy is generally viewed as the most influential figure at the club and has led from the front as chairman since 2001, but many (including Redknapp) suspect that the influence of the 77-year-old Lewis -- who operates his lucrative business empire from his luxury Aviva yacht in the Bahamas -- is equally significant in the hiring and firing of key members of staff.
Lewis and Levy certainly will have been disappointed that a golden opportunity to change Tottenham’s run of near misses appears to have been wasted, after the club’s investment of over 100 million pounds in new players last summer has failed to reap rewards.
But given that there has been so much wrong this season, the hierarchy at the club is fast running out of people to blame. The fault was first laid at the feet of departed head coach Villas-Boas, yet now successor Sherwood will shoulder the blame despite having next-to-no experience of management. Technical director Baldini is a useful fall guy given his position, but some fans may argue that it is Levy and Lewis who need answer the questions -- if not for the role they have played in the transfers which have failed to take root, then for their coaching selections which have woefully failed to bring the club the success they crave.
What Next For Tottenham?
A new stadium to be built in the shadow of their historic White Hart Lane home is the long-term goal for Tottenham, but success on the field has to be delivered in tandem with those plans. Sherwood may go, yet it remains to be seen whether the appointment of a coach with the gravitas of former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach Van Gaal is the club’s salvation.
Perhaps time has come for Tottenham owners ENIC to consider a change of direction at the very top. While Levy has proved to be hugely effective in negotiating high fees for the sale of players during his time at the club, his selection of managers and head coaches has tended to produce hugely disappointing results.
What may be helpful for all concerned would be better communication from Levy and possibly even Lewis on the future direction of the club with supporters. Many of the decisions that have affected Tottenham on and off the pitch in recent years have been made without any public explanations.
Directors of football have come and gone, the sporting structure of the club has changed time and again, managers have passed through a revolving door, yet Levy remains the one constant.
In short, someone needs to answer for Spurs’ failures. Perhaps the time has come for Lewis or Levy to be judged by the same standards that have led to the departure of so many of the coaching staff they have hired down the years.