Cartilage Free Captain

It’s a new era at Tottenham Hotspur. Daniel Levy is out, now is the time of Vinai Venkatesham. With Levy’s role as Executive Chairman being eliminated and his role on the board replaced by Non-Executive Chairman Peter Charrington, focus now turns to Spurs CEO Vinai Venkatesham as the face of the football side of the organization.

Tottenham released a new video on YouTube today — an interview with Venkatesham as CEO where he outlined the immediate future after Levy’s leadership, but also communicated the board’s (i.e. the Lewis family’s) ambitions for where Tottenham Hotpsur can and should go next. And he also made it very, very clear — Tottenham Hotspur are not for sale and will not be sold.

Here’s the video, followed by a few summary bullet points from my viewing.

The Daniel Levy news might have come as a shock, but Tottenham is a club that is very well structured and “succession ready.” Levy leaving doesn’t leave a leadership void; inside the club everything is very much business as usual.

Levy’s legacy is firmly established with the new training center, media center, and stadium, as well as his taking the club to a position of financial stability and strength over 25 years. He was an incredible leader and will be missed.

The Lewis Family (majority stakeholders) are massive Spurs fans and have an ambitious vision for the club and where they want it to be. That ambition is to maximize the potential of both the men’s and women’s teams, giving them the best chance to be successful on the pitch. The Lewis Family also want to enter into an era of “calm and stability.”

The Lewis Family’s intention is to be long-term stewards of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and as such they have absolutely no intention of selling; they expect that their ownership of the club will “extend through the generations”.

Peter Charrington, as non-executive chairman, will not be involved in the club in a full-time, day-to-day basis. He will lead the Tottenham Hotspur board, but will empower people like Vinai to run football operations regularly.

There is “firm backing” from the Lewis family against the club’s ambitions to be successful on the pitch. This includes both the men’s and women’s teams. Vinai did not want to put a number on and was careful with his wording to avoid “transfer war chest” stories in the papers tomorrow. Spurs will continue to be aware of FFP rules and will work to stay within those guidelines; there will also be a continued focus on revenue growth and developing academy talent.

I’ll be honest — this is a very good video. Venkatesham is a gifted communicator and he outlines what’s coming in clear and concise language. I also appreciate the transparency — one of the criticisms of Levy was that he rarely communicated directly with the supporters and almost never gave interviews. It led to a disconnect between Levy’s leadership and a lot of Spurs fans, because it gave the impression that the things that were happening at the board level were behind an impenetrable veil of secrecy.

Vinai, by contrast, is affable and clearly comfortable on camera. I hope this starts a new era of greater transparency and communication between the club and the fans — even if Spurs fans disagree with a particular decision, having someone sit in front of a camera and say “this is how we’re doing things and these are the reasons why” makes it a lot easier to accept things.

I also appreciated Vinai going almost out of his way to include Tottenham Hotspur Women as part of the club’s ambitions — while it comes on the heels of a somewhat lackluster summer transfer window, it’s clear that Martin Ho was hired with the full backing of Venkatesham and the board, and hopefully that ambition transfers into renewed and increased financial support.

The video is short — only about 8 minutes long — and is worth watching in full if you have a chance.

We may have gone through an international break this past weekend, but it doesn’t mean there wasn’t any Spurs content.

For those of you keeping track at home, there were (from my count) three Tottenham Hotspur reunions this weekend.

Heung-min Son and Mauricio Pochettino

First, here’s one of Heung-min Son and Mauricio Pochettino when South Korea defeated the US 2-0 in a friendly:

We love to see this. And it’s even sweeter Poch after the game said Sonny was like a son to him. In his own post-game comments, Sonny credited Pochettino for making him the player he is today.

And I think that’s fair to say as it’s pretty well-known by now how Poch convinced him to stay after a rough beginning when he first joined Spurs.

Tottenham Hotspur Women and Rehanne Skinner / Shelina Zadorsky

Okay, so this one might not have been as heartwarming as the previous reunion. Tottenham did sack Skinner two years ago, after all. And Zadorsky left the club in 2024 after the end of her contract with Spurs.

Also, Spurs Women defeated West Ham Women yesterday, which is a pretty cool thing to bring up also.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Mothra, by The 5.6.7.8’s

And now for your links:

Bloomberg: “Tottenham Hotspur Owners Turned Down Two Suitors”

Sky Sports: “Tottenham Hotspur: Amanda Staveley to make statement that she does not intend to bid for Spurs”

Alasdair Gold: “Inside Daniel Levy’s Tottenham tenure by those who knew him best”

The Athletic ($$): “Mauricio Pochettino ‘in shock’ over Daniel Levy’s departure as Tottenham chairman”

A new season is a new beginning, and one that Tottenham Hotspur Women desperately needed. After a horrific 2024-25 campaign in which Spurs limped to an 11th place finish under Robert Vilahamn, now Spurs Women have a new manager in Robert Ho, two new players in Toko Kota and Tinka Tandberg, and now a league win. Spurs defeated West Ham 1-0 at Brisbane Road thanks to a late penalty from Bethany England and also kept a clean sheet in the process.

It wasn’t a perfect performance — Spurs were good defensively and frequently pressed high to disrupt the Hammers, but once again had a difficult time linking the midfield to attack. England may have slotted home the penalty after Eveliina Summanen was brought down in the box midway through the second half, but she found herself quite isolated in attack, something that Spurs fans should be used to.

That said — a win’s a win, and that was often more than we could’ve hoped for last season. I still have big questions about this Spurs side, but I can’t argue with the result.

Here are my match reactions from today’s win.

Reactions

I hate international football.

That’s right, the bit is back (apologies to Elton John); but was it ever really gone? We could be watching Franktics; instead, we’re watching the most boring England side of a generation and Mauricio Pochettino dump all over his coaching legacy even more. And only three weeks into the season!

Oh well. It is what it is.

As Dustin wrote during the week, Spurs have 15 players on international duty. That’s 15 extra opportunities for injury! Cynicism aside, it’s also 15 opportunities for our players to represent their respective countries, some for the first time. That would have been Djed Spence’s hope, as he was called up to England for the first time. Unfortunately, his debut did not eventuate, as he remained on the bench as England struggled to a 2-0 victory over titans Andorra. It was the same story for Lucas Bergvall, remaining on the bench for Sweden’s draw against Slovenia, and Guglielmo Vicario, unable to usurp Gianluigi Donnarumma for Italy’s #1 jersey in Gli Azzurri’s win against Estonia.

Joao Palhinha and Kevin Danso were also relegated to bench duty for Portugal and Austria, respectively, though both did manage to see the pitch. Palhinha was a late sub in Portugal’s five goal demolition of Armenia, while Danso helped his side see out a 1-0 win over Cyprus, adding some defensive steel to Ralph Rangnick’s team.

Elsewhere in Europe, however, it was a slightly busier international break for Spurs’ squad, as Pedro Porro, Ben Davies, Brennan Johnson, Micky van de Ven, and Xavi Simons all started for their respective nations. Pedro Porro kept a clean sheet as he played the better part of an hour in a three-goal win against Bulgaria, while Ben Davies went the distance against Kazakhstan while also keeping his opponent goalless. His compatriot Johnson was unable to trouble the scoresheet at the other end of the pitch, but he didn’t need to as Wales still managed to secure a 1-0 win. It wasn’t quite as good news for Spurs’ Dutch contingent, though, with both Simons and Van de Ven featuring in a 1-1 draw against Poland.

Spurs’ South Americans enjoyed a successful start to their international duties, with all of Cristian Romero, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Richarlison all involved in 3-0 victories for their countries. Spurs’ captain kept a clean sheet for Argentina while picking up his customary yellow card against Venezuela. Bentancur did the same in a 90-minute appearance for Uruguay against Peru, while Richarlison came on late in Brazil’s win over Chile.

Though the CONMEBOL players were steady in defense, it was Spurs’ African representatives that made a difference in front of goal. Pape Matar Sarr continued his goalscoring form, collecting Senegal’s second as they defeated Sudan; while Mohammed Kudus got himself another assist, setting up Jordan Ayew as Ghana drew against Chad.

I still hate international football.

Spurs International Appearances:

Djed Spence (unused sub): England 2-0 Andorra - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Lucas Bergvall (unused sub): Slovenia 2-2 Sweden - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Guglielmo Vicario (unused sub): Italy 5-0 Estonia - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Joao Palhinha (11 mins, sub): Armenia 0-5 Portugal - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Kevin Danso (20 mins, sub, clean sheet): Austria 1-0 Cyprus - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Pedro Porro (62 mins, clean sheet): Bulgaria 0-3 Spain - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Ben Davies (90 mins, clean sheet) & Brennan Johnson (65 mins): Kazakhstan 0-1 Wales - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Micky van de Ven (90 mins) & Xavi Simons (79 mins): Netherlands 1-1 Poland - UEFA World Cup Qualification

Cristian Romero (90 mins, clean sheet, yellow card): Argentina 3-0 Venezuela - CONMEBOL World Cup Qualification

Rodrigo Bentancur (90 mins, yellow card): Uruguay 3-0 Peru - CONMEBOL World Cup Qualification

Richarlison (11 mins, sub): Brazil 3-0 Chile - CONMEBOL World Cup Qualification

Pape Matar Sarr (73 mins, goal): Senegal 2-0 Sudan - CAF World Cup Qualification

Mohammed Kudus (86 mins, assist): Chad 1-1 Ghana - CAF World Cup Qualification

Well, how do you do a hoddle after that news yesterday?

For those who haven’t heard: Daniel Levy is no longer chairman at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

The official line from the club is that Levy “stepped down” from his position, although various outlets suggest the decision was not entirely his. The Athletic ($$) went so far as to lead their story with Levy “has been removed as Tottenham Hotspur chairman”. Alasdair Gold also reported that Levy was “forced out” (see links).

But none of that answers the pivotal question: How do you hoddle after a seismic shift in Tottenham’s leadership like that?

Well, I think I’ve got an answer: With a Daniel Levy hoddle, of course.

Except we’re going to spend our time taking a look at the other Daniel Levy, you know, the one famous for Schitt’s Creek.

Levy (the actor/filmmaker) is putting together a new comedy series that will be housed under Netflix. The title: Big Mistakes (hmmmmm).

According to Netflix, the series is going to primarily follow two “deeply incapable siblings” who get blackmailed into the unseedy world of organised crime.

One co-star who you might recognise is Laurie Mecalf, who starred in shows/films like Roseanne, Lady Bird, Hacks and The Big Bang Theory). Starring opposite her will be Taylor Ortega, who’s been featured in the US version of Ghosts and the live-action remake of Kim Possible.

The series will be one of a handful of projects Levy has fronted since Schitt’s Creek ended in 2020. Among those were Unfrosted (in which he played Andy Warhol) and the comedy-drama Good Grief, which he wrote and directed,

Fitzie’s track of the day: Changes, by Yes

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Daniel Levy forced out at Tottenham as Spurs owners make big plans for future”

Dan KP for The Athletic ($$): “Daniel Levy, an uncertain Tottenham legacy, and what next after his sudden departure?”

The Standard: “Who is Peter Charrington? New Tottenham chief who has replaced Daniel Levy”

BBC: “What will be Levy’s legacy as his Spurs era ends?”

Matt Law: “Daniel Levy’s dramatic Spurs exit set in motion by wide-reaching review”

The Guardian: “Daniel Levy’s business sense boosted Tottenham but he failed to reach for glory”

Sky Sports: “Daniel Levy steps down: Tenure as Tottenham chairman lacked enough on-field success as Spurs status grew”

Lost in all the transfer window madness this week was Dele’s departure from Como.

In a joint statement, Dele and Como said that he had left the club by mutual consent:

”Dele is keen to secure regular playing opportunities and, as he was not part of the club’s immediate plans, both parties felt it was the right decision to part ways ahead of the transfer window closing.“

“The club thanks Dele for his time at Como and wishes him the very best for the future.”

The departure means that Dele only played one game for the Italian club, which seems to be making some good progress under manager Cesc Fabregas. This also means there’ll be no reunion with Davinson Sanchez after all, although the Colombian still appears to be without a club.

I’m not too sure where this leaves Dele now.

Bookies say Dele is most likely to land at a club in the Championship but, who knows. Long as he is healthy and happy that’s all that matters to me.

It looks pretty dang clear that Dele worked hard in the summer to get back into footballing shape and, if we can take his joint statement with Como seriously, then Dele is intent on playing regular football again.

Regardless, we at Hoddle Headquarters will always support Dele.

Fitzie’s track of the day: First Love/Late Spring, by Mitski

And now for your links:

The Standard: “Djed Spence: Tottenham star hungry to prove doubters wrong after first England call-up”

The Athletic ($$): “Grading each Premier League club on their summer transfer business”

ESPN: “2026 World Cup tickets: FIFA confirms use of dynamic pricing”

The Guardian: “Nike to provide free boots to players after extending WSL sponsorship deal”

We’ve had a couple of days for the dust to settle on Tottenham Hotspur’s summer transfer window, so now is a good opportunity to take an objective look at Spurs’ business and how it may impact the first half of its season. Tottenham are coming off of a particularly weird season under Ange Postecoglou where they struggled with massive injuries and consistency, finished 17th in the table, and still managed to win the Europa League. Strange doesn’t begin to describe that level of emotional whiplash.

Spurs entered this summer with a new manager in Thomas Frank and some very, very obvious holes in the side. The summer 2024 window ended up being mostly about identifying and signing younger players that could develop into superstars, but that approach backfires when half the team is out hurt. So this season the emphasis was clearly on bringing in players with experience

That’s exactly what they did. Spurs made the loans of Mathys Tel and Kevin Danso permanent, took a flyer on a J-League defender in Kota Taka, purchased experienced players Palhinha, Mohammed Kudus, and ended the window on a flourish by gazumping Xavi Simons from under Chelsea’s nose and loaning in Randal Kolo Muani.

That said, there were notable embarrassing miscues, including failed bids for Morgan Gibbs-White, and Eberechi Eze, as well as a long flirtation with Manchester City starlet Savinho, none of which ended up panning out.

So how do we grade the window? First, perhaps its helpful to hear from the head honcho himself — Tottenham Hotspur Technical Director Johan Lange. Here’s a 20 minute video of Lange talking about Spurs’ business.

Actually, on second thought — don’t watch that. I did, it was kinda boring, and so then I ran it through an AI to get a summary. It’s about what you’d expect.

The interview focuses on the club’s recent summer transfer window strategy and key player signings. Lange explains that the goal was to strengthen the squad for both immediate impact and future potential.

Key discussion points from the interview include:

Yep. “The window had challenges but in the end we’re happy with the way things turned out” is pretty much exactly what I would’ve expected to hear from the man in charge of an entire recruitment and transfer strategy of a top tier English football club.

Naturally, Matty and I disagree. Here are our takes on the window — the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly from this summer’s dealings.

Dustin George-Miller

Look, I’m just going to come out and say it — this window was underwhelming at a time when Spurs really needed to hit the ball out of the park.

It’s not that Tottenham didn’t end up with some good and promising players. I was skeptical of the Mohammed Kudus transfer, but he’s already showing to be the dynamic, dribbly wide player we always said we wanted. Kevin Danso was an obligation, but he’s a nice defensive cover in the squad. Kota Takai is a lottery ticket (which is fine) and while I’m not thrilled with a one-season loan of Palhinha the early returns are he does exactly what it says on the tin — tackle dudes, defend well, and not pass. Xavi Simons is the saving grace of this window - a genuinely excellent player with superstar potential, and it feels really good to land him.

But I still don’t understand what Spurs are thinking in terms of squad construction here. We knew at the beginning of the window that Spurs needed midfield passing. We’re at the end of the window and that is still a major issue. We entered the window knowing we needed another defender. We never got one. We sold our club captain, talisman, and best scorer in and didn’t really sign a player that can fill the Son-shaped void in the squad. Including loanee Randal Kolo Muani, we now we have a bunch of decent to good players that can play wide, but I don’t see the bigger picture in how we’re supposed to get them the ball and apart from Simons I don’t see many future stars. And don’t get me started on the failed approaches for Gibbs-White and Eze, one of which wanted to and eventually signed with Arsenal. Horrifying.

I’d have felt better with Savinho, but we know what happened there.

In the end, I’m… okay? with the incoming signings. I’m furious with the process. I don’t understand what Spurs are trying to do, there doesn’t appear to be a cohesive long term plan, and with Simons the exception Tottenham and Lange more or less proved that they aren’t very good at closing deals. I’m pretty convinced now that the club needs to separate from Johan Lange and find someone new with some rizz (and who wasn’t convicted of crimes in Italy).

Maybe I’m wrong about all of this and I’ll have to eat crow in a few months, and I’ll be super happy to do that. But right now I do not think this Tottenham squad is substantially better than they were last year. And in this case I pretty strongly believe the ends are not enough to justify the means.

Acquisitions: C • Process: D-

Matty Flatt

There’s a few things you need to take into account when looking at this window. There’s the actual players signed; there’s outgoings; there’s the strategic fit; and then there’s the timeline by which this happened and the process behind it all.

The latter was a resounding, unequivocal failure.

Spurs were undone on multiple occasions by clubs (or players) rejecting Spurs’ approach after sometimes weeks of legwork. This isn’t unusual. Transfers are hard! That’s why well-run front offices have backups, and backups for backups; however, instead of pivoting directly to alternatives, Spurs took weeks to identify new targets.

The players Spurs ended up with are all fine to good (well, great in one case) on paper. Joao Palhinha is a very good ball winner in midfield. Kota Takai is a promising young defender. Mohamed Kudus has the ability to beat any fullback. Randal Kolo Muani offers good depth and versatility up front. Xavi Simons is an extremely skilled creative player. I could go on; in a vacuum, there’s not really a stinker there amongst the lot.

But when you bring all those players together, combined with how Spurs went about their business in the window, and it all feels haphazard. We’ve known Spurs badly need passing in their midfield for about two years now; instead, they signed a guy who has no passing ability. Spurs strongly needed some elite talent at left wing to replace Son; instead, they signed Kolo Muani, a guy who has a level of quality but is more comfortable up top and covers similar ground to Mathys Tel. So why then did Spurs sign Mathys Tel at the start of the window? It just all smacks of panic and a lack of a cohesive plan.

The outgoings were a mess as well. Spurs failed to find a permanent destination for Manor Solomon or Yves Bissouma (who, like Rodrigo Bentancur, only has a year remaining on his contract, by the way), a loan for Dane Scarlett, and sold a promising young goalkeeper in Josh Keeley without a buyback clause.

Xavi Simons is a shining light in what was a rough window.

Grade: C+

The deadline for submitting names for the first stage of the 2025-26 Champions League squad was last night, and after what felt like an interminable delay, UEFA has posted the rosters on its website. Before we go too deep into what it means, here’s Tottenham’s roster for UCL in List A.

Keepers

Guglielmo Vicario

Antonin Kinsky

Brandon Austin

Defenders

Kevin Danso

Destiny Udogie

Cristian Romero

Pedro Porro

Djed Spence

Ben Davies

Micky van de Ven

Midfielders

Joao Palhinha

Xavi Simons

Archie Gray

Lucas Bergvall

Mohammed Kudus

Brennan Johnson

Wilson Odobert

Pape Sarr

Rodrigo Bentancur

Forwards

Richarlison

Dominic Solanke

Randal Kolo Muani

So that’s 22 players, which is about what we expected considering Spurs are still not able to max out its squad due to its (current) lack of club trained players. It means Spurs definitely had to leave players out of its squad, meaning they’ll be available to play in cups and Premier League matches, but will not play Champions League until at least January.

Most of these make sense. Dragusin, Maddison and Kulusevski are all injured — Radu is supposed to be back in training sometime during the international break but it’s unclear whether he’ll be up to speed or not in time to make him a candidate for inclusion. Kota Takai is also not surprising — he was a £5m signing who is still adapting to life in London and who also has been dealing with plantar fasciitis, which can be notably tricky to recover from. Bissouma is injured, yes, but is also kinda in the doghouse with Thomas Frank and there’s still a chance he could be transferred to a club in Turkey before the SuperLig transfer window closes.

Which leaves Mathys Tel, and I’m not sure what to think about him. He spent the year on loan last season and was purchased outright for £30m this summer, but Frank seemingly doesn’t think he’s worth of inclusion on the squad. And with the restrictions the way they are, it’s a bit hard to make an argument he deserves to be in there ahead of anyone else, apart from maybe Wilson Odobert. Including Tel means Spurs would likely sacrifice a defender, and that’s a tough sell when the defense is already short-handed.

The other thing we can glean about this list is that, by virtue of his inclusion, Spurs’ medical staff doesn’t think that Dominic Solanke will be out injured for long. If his ankle was a long-term one that required surgery, I’d think he’d be left out entirely and Tel would be in there as his replacement.

So my guess is the choice more or less came down to Odobert or Tel. That’s harsh on Mathys, but also if the rumors about Spurs attempting to sign Malick Fofana are accurate, one or both of Tel and Odobert were going to have developmental years this season. I guess it’s Mathys’ turn, and hopefully it means he’ll be getting plenty of minutes against Doncaster and Wolves when the international break is over.

There’s an interesting report from Give Me Sport of which I will not distort nor otherwise cut short. Apparently there was more going on at Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day than just the loan signing of Randal Kolo Muani. Give Me Sport says (exclusively!) that Spurs made a last-minute approach to Lyon to sign 20-year-old Belgian left winger Malick Fofana AFTER the successful loan for RKM, but Lyon turned them down flat because there would be no time to find a successor.

Look, Fofana’s pretty baller and a good potential source for creativity in attack, something that Spurs pretty desperately need right now. But this rumor, assuming it’s accurate or at least has some grains of truth in it, likely says as much or more about Thomas Frank’s plans for Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert than it does about improving Spurs in the short term.

Fofana hit the back of the net 11 times for Lyon last season and is a young and dynamic winger with a high upside. But there’s also no question he’d be competing for minutes with players like Brennan Johnson, RKM, Richarlison, Odobert, and Tel depending on Frank’s tactics. That’s some nice depth, but bringing him in would likely mean that Odobert and Tel would be on the outside looking in for most of the season.

And, if we extrapolate, maybe that’s the point? We know Thomas Frank is a manager who likes to develop players — he has a proven track record of it at Brentford. Spurs presumably purchased Tel outright this summer knowing that he might take a year or two of seasoning to develop into a first team regular — same with Wilson. If Fofana came in, maybe one or both of them get high-profile loans on the continent so they can get regular minutes. Or, maybe Odobert is considered a high upside target for another club and Spurs decide to cash in on him. Either way it sure looks like Spurs were planning a development year for one or both of them.

The Fofana deal didn’t happen, so we’ll probably never know, but it is interesting. Odobert and Tel are good depth right now and will likely get a decent number of minutes in cups and as reserves, but it sure doesn’t look like either of them are in Frank’s first choice starting XI right now. If Frank thinks they’re the future and can take over for some of the older players as they age out, maybe that’s ok.

In case you were wondering, Tottenham Hotspur have had their Carabao Cup third round match details confirmed by the FA today; Spurs will kick off against League One side Doncaster Rovers at home on Wednesday, September 24. Welcome back, mid-week football!

As a consequence, Tottenham’s weekend Premier League match against Wolves, originally scheduled for a 3 pm UK kick, has been moved back to the late-late slot on Saturday evening — an 8 pm kick-off (3 pm ET) in North London.

This has rankled some fans who don’t like 8 pm kick-offs in London for various transport reasons, but with Tottenham set to fly to Norway immediately afterwards for a Tuesday evening Champions League match against Bodø/Glimt, I can only assume the league thought a Saturday late match was better than pushing them to Sunday, when they’d have one less day to prepare for Champions League. Even so, three matches in a week feels… excessive? Not sure there’s much that can be done to avoid it, though.

No matter what it’s going to be a run of fixtures with very little recovery and prep time. We should probably get used to that — it’s the nature of football and so long as Spurs are competing in four competitions, the matches will come thick and fast. I can only imagine that Spurs will likely rotate pretty heavily against Doncaster, moderately against Wolves, and go full-tilt against Bodø/Glimt. That’s why we have a squad!