Tottenham changes Lewis family must make after Levy exit amid Frank and Venkatesham backing
One of the most fascinating aspects of the past week at Tottenham Hotspur has been the repositioning of the Lewis family as the official power behind the club.
In the decades after ENIC bought a controlling stake in Spursfrom Alan Sugar in 2001 there was always an acceptance that Daniel Levy was the man steering the ship but one who would turn to his long-time mentor and one of the UK's richest men, ENIC owner Joe Lewis, when the biggest decisions had to be made.
It was never a publicly-stated thing and Lewis' name was only mentioned in passing on the club website under its ownership details, while the only quotes about him would come from managers and players after they had left. Some would speak about having held Spurs meetings in the Bahamas with the billionaire involved or simply met him on his superyacht. Lewis was the most background of owners you could possibly find.
Then a little while after he ceased to have public control of Spurs in 2022, with a family trust of which he is not a beneficiary taking over, Lewis became more of a public figure due to a court case involving insider trading which eventually ended with him pleading guilty and being fined £4million.
For Tottenham fans over the preceding years, the mysterious Lewis was very rarely seen at the club and became part and parcel of their frustration at the lack of success with Levy and a lack of investment. Banners with both men's faces on them were held aloft at protests with ENIC and Levy seen as synonymous in being responsible for Spurs' mediocrity.
Fast forward to these past few days and all of the above has been torpedoed. Levy is gone after 24 years and now the club has for the first time very publicly pointed towards those with the real power behind everything going on.
"This is a new era for the club under new leadership, completely backed by a majority shareholder, the Lewis family, so we can feel optimistic and ambitious for the future as well," Spurs CEO Vinai Venkatesham said on Monday.
It feels like a clear line has been drawn between the previous era and the one to come, even if the Spurs supporters may only see the names ENIC and Lewis still involved and will need to be convinced otherwise.
"I know the Lewis family really well," continued Venkatesham in the most public of statements about the family. "I think it's important for our supporters to know that they're very, very passionate about Tottenham Hotspur and they're ambitious for the club. And when I talk about their ambition, what they're really focused on is ensuring that everything that we do across the complete breadth of the club really centres back and is focused on giving our men's team and our women's team the best chance to be successful on the pitch over the long term.
"So that's their laser focus, all around being successful on the pitch. They know, of course, that we operate in a very competitive environment and that there are a number of other teams that have the exact same ambitions we have to compete to win the biggest trophies in the game, so we know it's not easy and we know that there's hard work ahead, but that is the focus.
"They're also focused on stability. They know there's been lots of change at the club, and now it's time for some calm and for some stability. And finally they believe and trust in the people that we have working in the organisation. Their model is all about empowering the people we have on the ground to deliver against the ambition they have and of course the ambition that we all share."
Publicly and privately there has been talk of investment, a desire to win and a frustration from inside the family that Tottenham's success on the pitch was not good enough during Levy's reign. The 63-year-old would have made a lot of money for the powers-that-be with his development of Spurs as an organisation and a brand, yet the claim is that the next generation of the already mega-rich Lewis family want more than simply financial gains.
The Spurs fanbase will be watching closely to see what comes next. Those who wanted Levy out will be unsure at this point whether that was only half the job or the main obstacle in their eyes has indeed been removed.
It's worth noting that with Joe Lewis now 88 and with the power resting very much in the hands of his children and grandchildren, there are different voices involved.
football.london
Vivienne and her 61-year-old brother Charles, who set up ENIC with his father and Levy, are both understood to be the driving force behind the family's plans and the new era at Spurs alongside Nick Beucher, who is married to Vivienne's daughter Joanna. The latter is co-CEO of the Tavistock Group, which owns ENIC, alongside Daniel Levy's son Josh. Vivienne and Charles are both senior managing directors of Tavistock.
When the Levy news broke on Thursday, a source close to the Lewis family told football.london