Former Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has spoken for the first time about his old side’s relegation fight.
The 64-year-old left the club abruptly last September after nearly 25 years in charge and their Premier League season has completely unravelled.
With Spurs scrapping tooth and nail to survive in the Premier League this season under new boss Roberto de Zerbi, Levy gave his take on the abject situation.
After receiving a CBE at Buckingham Palace, he told Sky Sports: ‘All I’m focused on is making sure Tottenham stays in the Premier League.
‘I could never have envisaged this at the beginning of the season. Obviously incredibly disappointed but let’s look forward and very much hope we’ll see them in the Premier League.
‘I’m feeling the pain. But I’m optimistic we will get through it.
Daniel Levy said he could not have imagined Tottenham would be in a relegation fight
‘It’s been a very, very difficult (watch). But Spurs is in my blood and I’m hopeful that we will be ok in the end.’
Spurs are two points ahead of relegation rivals West Ham with two games to play and face a tricky trip to Stamford Bridge in their next encounter.
On that Chelsea showdown, Levy said: ‘Always tough, never a good place for us but hopefully this year it will be different.’
When asked about his more fond memories during his long tenure at Spurs, during which he oversaw the move to their state-of-the-art stadium, Levy added: ‘Over that period of time so many things happened. Getting into the Champions League final, opening the stadium, achieving Europe a number of times, having some great players, making a contribution to the local community and impacting people’s lives. There’s so many, there isn’t one item, lots of things. It’s about winning on the pitch.
‘I’ve been honoured that I’ve worked with lots of fantastic managers, it would be unfair of me to name one individual manager. I just worked with lots of great people.’
And on Ange Postecoglou he continued: ‘Ange, forever grateful and he will be in the history of Tottenham for allowing us to win a European trophy. It was an amazing night.’
Spurs announced that Levy would be leaving last September and was a controversial figure, attracting plenty of criticism from fans, particularly towards the end.
Under his tenure, Tottenham established themselves as one of English football’s big six. They have qualified for Europe in 18 of the last 20 seasons and reached the Champions League final in 2019.
Supporters frustrated with a lack of Premier League success and a perceived lack of spending protested against Levy and chants have been commonplace at matches.
While no detail on his salary was made public, in 2023 Spurs listed their highest-paid director, assumed to be Levy, as receiving £6.6m.
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