Daniel Levy sent shockwaves around the football world when he announced his decision to leave Tottenham after 25 years.
Levy personally convinced Randal Kolo Muani to make a deadline day switch to North London on Monday, and on Thursday, he was packing his bags at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The former chairman has overseen the running of the football club for a generation of Spurs supporters, and now Peter Charrington will assume Levy’s role on a short-term basis as non-executive chairman.
Levy has endured his fair share of scrutiny during his tenure in charge – Tottenham won two trophies during his nearly three-decade stewardship, and he has been the subject of fan-led protests in the past.
However, former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has leapt to the defence of the former chairman and believes Levy has been unfairly subjected to criticism throughout his tenure.
Harry Redknapp hits back at Daniel Levy critics
When speaking live on talkSPORT about Levy’s departure, Redknapp suggested the constant criticism over the years should have, in fact, been directed at majority owner Joe Lewis.
“He had the running of it (Lewis), you know, Daniel didn’t have has much, as many shares, as much say in the club as Joe did. So, Joe would have the final say, you know, whether Daniel spent the money or didn’t, I think he always had to speak to Joe to get the final word on everything.
“If Joe didn’t want to buy or spend big money in the transfer market or whatever, then Daniel wasn’t able to do that. He took the brunt of all the criticism for sure, but it wasn’t always, the decisions always weren’t down to Daniel.”
TBR Football understands Levy was reluctant to leave his role at Tottenham, but ultimately, the decision was taken out of his hands.
The Lewis family are welcoming a “fresh approach” and believes now is the perfect time to make an executive change at the board level in the interest of delivering further silverware in North London.
Spurs, of course, won the Europa League last season, beating Manchester United in the final as ex-boss Ange Postecoglou ended the club’s 17-year trophy drought.
Levy was influential in convincing Thomas Frank to take the reins in North London, and although many believe the 63-year-old has his faults, the Spurs faithful recognised all Levy achieved during his spell in charge.
Tottenham managers let Daniel Levy down
In addition to his defence of Levy, Redknapp attributed some of the blame to himself and previous Spurs managers for failing to deliver more success over the years.
“Daniel is, you know, people have to give him a bit of credit for what he’s achieved there, in that respect, okay, the trophies haven’t come. Maybe I was, you know, all us managers, maybe we did have the tools to have done a bit better and maybe win a cup somewhere along the line, you know, more trophies.
“But people forget they have had a Champions League final, they’ve had Champions League football quite regularly in the past twelve or fifteen years or so, so it hasn’t been all doom and gloom.”