OPINION
Tottenham chief Daniel Levy has come out of this season having lost little to no face despite a lack of transfer spending in the last two seasons and a new stadium blighted by delays.
It would have been quite easy to point the finger at the man at the top of the north London club had this season not gone well, but with a Champions League final on the horizon and a top four finish all but sealed, it has been anything but a failure.
However, there has been a veiled warning from manager Mauricio Pochettino that fans cannot expect to be succeeding as they have done if he is not given the resources to compete with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United – and that anyone believing they can are naive.
He told the Mirror: “I am not open to start a new chapter with no plan, with no clear idea, with not being transparent. If we expect every season to be in the final of the Champions League, we need to create a plan. And the plan maybe is different to what has happened in the last five years.
“If we believe that if we operate in the same way that we have operated in the last five years we are going to be every season in the final of the Champions League, and in the top four and competing against projects like Liverpool or Manchester City or Manchester United , I think we are very naive.
“If you want to expect the same from Liverpool, from Manchester City or Manchester United and Chelsea , and you put the same expectation on Tottenham , give me different tools to work. If not, I see the people working in the same way, in the future I’m going to be this guy. I am the most stupid person to work.”
That last comment should have Levy’s alarm bells ringing – he is talking about being a “stupid person” in the future if he continues to work under such circumstances.
Pochettino is perhaps Tottenham’s second or third most valuable asset – after their new stadium and Harry Kane – and so to lose him any time soon would be a bitter pill for Spurs to swallow.
He might have a long term contract but that means very little in football – if the right opportunity comes along, he will be on his way.
Levy has to make sure he gives the man in the dugout what he needs – otherwise, there could be an exit that no one wants.