Everton owners The Friedkin Group must learn from Daniel Levy's exit as executive chairman at Tottenham Hotspur if they are to make the most of the move to Hill Dickinson Stadium
Evertonians will have watched with interest as executive chairman Daniel Levy’s near 25 year-reign at Tottenham Hotspur came to an abrupt halt a mere 107 days after the club’s first major trophy in 17 years.
Success-starved Blues supporters, whose wait for major silverware now extends for a record-breaking three decades would have loved to have experienced a night like Spurs’ UEFA Europa League final victory over Manchester United in Bilbao on May 21.
Despite the on-field spectacle in the Basque country being suitably lacklustre given what was at stake, with a dog of a game reflecting the fact this was a contest between a couple of expensively assembled but chronically underachieving sides who would finish 15th and 17th respectively in the Premier League, it was a glorious and historic occasions for fans of the north London club and the 1-0 win courtesy of Brennan Johnson’s 42nd minute close range strike also gave them a backdoor entry into this season’s Champions League.
The success didn’t save Ange Postecoglou’s job though but with regular fan protests about his leadership, Levy, who subsequently appointed Brentford’s Thomas Frank as his 14th permanent manager, has now followed the Greek-born Aussie out of the exit door.
Here on Merseyside, there has often been a prevailing feeling that Spurs enjoy a much grander popular perception among the national media because of their geographical status within the capital.
Their brace of League Championships doesn’t even match Huddersfield Town’s total of three, is half the number won by Newcastle United and Sheffield Wednesday, a third of Sunderland’s six and is dwarfed by Everton’s nine, never mind Liverpool’s 20 that now matches Manchester United’s figure.
Yet because of their influential status, Spurs have provided 79 players for the England national team, the highest figure of any individual club.
If you’d had asked this correspondent around the millennium when Levy first came in, whether Everton were a bigger club than Spurs then I wouldn’t have had to think about it – of course – but now, despite all the criticism he faced among his own team’s supporters, I’m not so sure. The 63-year-old leaves a complex legacy that also serves as a warning to The Friedkin Group and indeed, all owners.
A contentious figure, he was often accused of putting finance ahead of football and one famous protest banner claimed: “Our game is about glory, Levy’s game is about greed.”
For better or for worse, the businessman who graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Economics and Land Economy at Cambridge University before heading investment trust ENIC International Ltd, turning it into a sports, entertainment and media company, earned a reputation as being one of the toughest negotiators in the game.
That’s something that the late Everton chairman Bill Kenwright – who would have turned 80 yesterday – found to his cost when the pair of them negotiated Richarlison’s transfer between the clubs across the dining table in the elegant surroundings of Scott’s in Mayfair in the summer of 2022.
The plush seafood restaurant sells caviar and boasts an elegant oyster and champagne bar, but Kenwright still left with a bad taste in his mouth as he felt that Levy had the Blues over a barrel as need to sell to satisfy PSR issues and ended up accepting an offer for the Brazilian for some £20million less than their valuation of the player.
To add insult to injury, Everton ultimately were still deemed to have breached that financial year and a subsequent brace of points deductions loomed for that and the following 12 months. Like the Blues though, Levy did deliver on the ground issue with Tottenham Hotspur Stadium being built on the site of the old White Hart Lane with the team having to temporarily relocate to Wembley during the construction process.
At the time of its opening in 2019, the impressive arena, which with 62,850 seats, can accommodate 26,566 more than its predecessor at the time of demolition (for context, Everton have increased by 13,355 going from 39,414 at Goodison Park to 52,769 at Hill Dickinson Stadium) instantly became the best stadium this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Tellingly though, despite lucrative events such as NFL games being played there, for all Levy’s skills when it came to striking a deal, over six years on, there has still been no naming rights agreement.
While Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is in many ways football’s equivalent of a five-star hotel, architect Dan Meis always insisted that Everton’s new home would be a “simple building” that was “very functional,” as it has been built for performance rather than luxury and is “a Ferrari, not a Bentley.”
Also, rather than being tucked away on Tottenham High Road, the Blues now find themselves in an iconic location on the banks of the Mersey and part of Liverpool’s stunning maritime skyline.
But as Levy has learned to his cost, the most important aspect of any football club is delivering on the pitch, and it seems as though one night at the San Mames Stadium has failed to paper over the cracks in that respect.