Daniel Levy finally explains why Tottenham hired Thomas Frank..
Daniel Levy clearly woke up feeling brave. The Tottenham chairman, despised by a big portion of the fanbase, isn’t one for public/social media appearances.
However, in a recent interview released on the club’s official YouTube channel, Levy was comforted by new CEO and long-time ally—they made that clear—Vinai Venkatesham and the ability to rehearse. There was no chance of unscripted discomfort.
It was Venkatesham’s first chance to speak indirectly to supporters after the club announced his arrival as CEO in April—an appointment which signalled a considerable shift in Tottenham’s hierarchy.
The seven-minute interview didn’t quite veer into the realm of a Levy love-in, although Vinai was complimentary of our long-time chairman and said the 63-year-old was a major reason why he opted to join the club. The former Arsenal CEO does come across well, and he, along with Levy, explained why the bold decision of sacking Ange Postecoglou to appoint Thomas Frank was made in the wake of the club’s Europa League success in Bilbao.
Daniel Levy vague in explanation of Ange Postecoglou’s sacking to hire Thomas Frank
Daniel Levy, Ange Postecoglou
There doesn’t seem to be any bad bloody between former manager and chairman. | Ryan Pierse/GettyImages
This was a chance for Levy to provide more than the expected details on Ange’s sacking, which was made 16 days after the final in northern Spain. However, the chairman merely outlined that it was the “need to compete in all competitions” that led to the Australian’s demise. “We felt that we needed a change,” he said.
Cheers.
Levy then went on to speak about the new manager, whom he’s clearly excited about. The Dane was labelled “highly intelligent, a great communicator, and a super human being” by his new boss, while Vinai added that Spurs’ “thorough process” to identify Ange’s successor involved ten defined characteristics that they thought important to be a successful Spurs manager.
More than 30 candidates were assessed and a shortlist was drawn up, but the new CEO asserted that Frank was “absolutely the number one candidate”. Vinai cited the Dane’s track record with developing young players as his main source of excitement, with the squad he’s inheriting boasting an array of starlets with the potential to blossom into something special.
Encouragingly, the pair spoke about the need to build off our Europa League success and to continue winning. “We’ve won a European trophy, but it isn’t enough. What we haven’t done is more important, we need to win the Premier league, we want to win the Champions League,” was how Levy wrapped up the interview.
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