On the latest episode of the View from The Lane podcast for The Athletic, Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Maw and Luke Brown have been discussing Daniel Levy and his time with Tottenham Hotspur.
One topic of conversation on the recent episode, which was titled ‘Daniel Levy Special‘, was the club’s decision to hire Mauricio Pochettino back in 2014. The Argentinian joined from Southampton and spent five years with the Lilywhites before he was sacked in November of last year.
After assessing some of Levy’s managerial appointments, here’s what Pitt-Brooke had to say about his decision to hire Pochettino: “Pochettino’s a slightly different case [to previous appointments] because he wasn’t the first choice that summer – the first choice was Louis van Gaal, who went to Manchester United to replace Ryan Giggs [after] his brief caretaker era.”
TIF Thoughts…
Looking back on it, you could certainly argue that Spurs eventually made the right choice in hiring Pochettino after they missed out on the Dutchman. Van Gaal, now 68, was appointed United boss in May 2014 and was sacked two years later; having taken charge of 103 games with the Red Devils, winning 54, drawing 24, and losing 25 (per Transfermarkt).
Who would you rather have had at the time?
Van Gaal
Pochettino
Pochettino, meanwhile, helped establish Spurs as a top-four club and Champions League regulars during his time in charge, helping the Lilywhites to the Champions League final in 2019. Although things went wrong for the Argentinian in the most recent season, there can be no doubt he was an effective appointment for Spurs and he perhaps proved to be a better choice than Van Gaal may have been, when you consider his poor record with United.