Tottenham Hotspur honcho Daniel Levy criticised

Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed one of their most optimistic and promising periods under Jose Mourinho, who took over the reins of the club from a fan favourite in Mauricio Pochettino. While the Portuguese’s first few months at the job basically went into getting a hold of things in north London, he started 2020/21 on a very good note and even topped the Premier League at one point.

Come the month of February, Spurs were in their first final since 2008 with a date against Manchester City sit at the Wembley Stadium in the Carabao Cup’s title decider. In a decision that shocked many, Jose Mourinho was fired by Daniel Levy less than a week before the clash, a call which has been immensely criticised even three and a half years after it was made.

One of the greatest Tottenham figures, Glenn Hoddle has spoken about the issue in interview qoated by mirror He said.

“I think there is a massive mistake that Daniel Levy made. José [Mourinho] gets him to the [Carabao] cup final and he [Daniel Levy] sacks him on the Monday. That doesn’t make sense to me, and it never will. I don’t understand that at all. You bring somebody in to win a trophy, and he [José Mourinho] has a good record against Pep [Guardiola] as well. Then, no disrespect, but putting a young coach instead who has had no experience – is just woah. It would’ve been a stepping stone.”

Tottenham would eventually lose the game by a 1-0 margin and many fans, players and pundits were left to wonder what would have been had Jose Mourinho been given just a week more in the job. Instead, it was Ryan Mason who took over as the interim coach before Nuno Espirito Santo was appointed as the permanent coach in the summer of 2021.

He did not lost longer than three months into the season as a string of poor results saw another Portuguese relieved of his duties, before Antonio Conte took over and was left frustrated for most of his time at the club. The Italian was also fired in March 2023 and replaced for good by Ange Postecoglou who arrived at Hotspur Way later that year.

Tottenham announced date levy would step down

Spurs have long been rumored to be on the market and Levy has held talks with a number of potential investors, including Paris Saint-Germain president and Qatar Sports Investments chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi – although the Qataris have since cooled their interest in buying a stake in the north London club.

Levy also said in September he had “real interest” to leaving Spurs and selling a majority  stake would allow the chairman leave completely.

Levy has always run the club within its means since becoming chairman in 2001, leaving fans frustrated at Spurs’ seeming inability to compete with their wealthier rivals in the transfer market.
Investment company ENIC currently owns 86.58 per cent of Tottenham, with Levy controlling a 29.88 per cent stake in ENIC, along with members of his family. Levy confirmed he will step down for amanda staveley by January 2025.

Micky van de Ven to be out until after the international break

One of the very few negatives from the midweek win over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup fourth round, is that Micky van de Ven was forced off with a hamstring injury, with only a little over ten minutes on the clock when he was forced off.
Fans were of course very concerned, and would have been remembering the injury against Chelsea last year. The lack of defensive cover was brought up on a number of occasions in the aftermath, with frustration that van de Ven had been injured *and* Destiny Udogie was unable to get much rest at all.

Ange has today confirmed that van de Ven will miss the games against Aston Villa, Galatasaray, and Ipswich Town, though the injury is not serious, and he should be back after the November international break – quashing any concerns he could be out for as long as he was last season.
This comes as a big opportunity for Radu Dragusin. There have been whispers around his future recently, with Napoli reported to be interested. We all know how gobby his agent can be – well, his client now has a really big opportunity to show why he deserves to play on a more regular basis.
With the lack of otherwise central defensive options, which has of course been particularly documented this week – means there is little other option than to play Dragusin. Even against Galatasary, which is of course in the Europa League, a competition Ange likes to play Ben Davies in, you would still imagine that Dragusin will play.

Especially with the workload currently on Cristian Romero. The defender had to be withdrawn a few minutes into the second half against Manchester City due to fatigue, and Ange will be conscious of this when picking his team for the game in Istanbul on Thursday – and go with a duo of Davies and Dragusin for the game.
That said, we do know what the atmosphere is like for games in Turkey, and Romero’s experience of playing in high level, intense atmospheres, that he will have experienced in South America – might be required. With all due respect to Ipswich, that could actually be the game to give Romero a rest in.

In truth, as long as van de Ven is back and at Ange’s disposal for the game against Manchester City, and Erling Haaland, on the 23rd of November – this could have been much worse. Let’s just pray that he will be.