Daniel Levy: “Bringing Mourinho and Conte to Spurs was a mistake”
The Tottenham president is delighted with the team’s start to the season under Angelos Postecoglou. Spurs are one of four teams who remain unbeaten.
Tottenham have been one of the surprise packages at the start of the new Premier League season. After the first five games, Spurs are of four teams who remain unbeaten (Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal are the others) and club president Daniel Levy couldn’t be happier with the results which manager Ange Postecoglou is getting.
Trophy managers not right for Spurs
Levy addressed the team’s current affairs this week in the first fans forum in six years. “I had gone through a period where we’d almost won. With Mauricio [Pochettino] we went through some very good times. We didn’t quite get there but we came very close and we had a change in strategy. The strategy was. ‘Let’s bring in a trophy manager’. We did it twice and look you have to learn from your mistakes. They’re great managers but maybe not for this club. For what we want, we want to play in a certain way and if that means it has to take a little bit longer to win maybe it’s the right thing for us. That’s why bringing Ange in was from my point of view the right decision. This club needed to go back to its roots. Honestly, there was a lot of pressure on me to bring in somebody that was a big name. I just wanted somebody who understood our DNA, would play attacking football, that would give young players a chance, believe in the academy, would build a relationship with the fans and understand the resources that we have and don’t have as a club and be part of a team. Ange, I have to say, is a breath of fresh air”. A clear allusion to the team’s struggles under previous, big name managers José Mourinho and Antonio Conte, who left Tottenham through the back door.
No double-dealing
Levy said he is proud to have finally got it right with Postecoglou who signed a four-year deal with the north London club in July. “It feels like a lifetime ago now. Actually it was very easy, because Ange I would say is just a normal bloke and it was wonderful to be able to have a conversation with him where we could talk about anything and he was very direct and honest. I like someone who just tells me as it is, no one that plays games, no one that says one thing to me and then one thing to someone else,” the Tottenham president concluded.