Vinai Venkatesham proves ‘classic corporate behaviour’ in criticism of Daniel Levy at Tottenham
Vinai Venkatesham has been critical of how Daniel Levy ran Tottenham Hotspur financially, and it doesn’t sit right with Premier League finance expert Kieran Maguire.
Venkatesham was hired by the Lilywhites back in April of 2025, becoming the club’s new CEO after over a decade with Spurs’ North London rivals, Arsenal.
He didn’t work with Levy for too long, but what he did see of the former Tottenham owner, he didn’t appear to like.
The Standard recently reported how Venkatesham took aim at Levy during a meeting with the Fan Advisory Board, ironically pointing towards the lack of on-field success under the latter’s reign.
Tottenham could lose millions with relegation a real threat right now, as Maguire has every reason to believe that Venkatesham’s public view on Levy has no backbone to it.
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Kieran Maguire calls Vinai Venkatesham’s view on Daniel Levy ‘garbage’
Spurs have been listed ninth on the global revenue rankings in football, proving Levy had a major part to play in the financial surge that the Lilywhites have made.
The club made £528million during the 2023-24 season, a campaign which Mr Venkatesham had nothing to do with, as the revenue readings post-Levy will be interesting to see.
While speaking on The Price of Football podcast, Maguire detailed why he disagrees with Venkatesham’s criticism of Levy, and suggested the £210m costs to run the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium over three years alone is enough to prove his point.
Maguire said: “Vinai has been critical of the Levy era. He’s said there wasn’t enough focus for on-field activities. I’ll be honest, Spurs spent an awful lot of money on players and wages [under Levy], although not as much as the big six.
“Spurs have a £70m a year infrastructure cost going through their accounts. PSR was assessed over three years, so you add back £210m into the calculations. The Spurs academy is probably another £15-20m. They spent a lot of money [under Levy].”
“But then he [Venkatesham] starts coming out and saying we can’t spend a lot of money this summer because of PSR, that is complete garbage. It’s classic corporate behaviour.
Just look at the lack of money the Lilywhites spent in the winter market, despite Joe Lewis supposedly having a £150m war chest for Thomas Frank.
Though he is not alone in the decision-making, Venkatesham could also be responsible for losing Tottenham up to £25m if they don’t secure a new and healthy front-of-shirt replacement for AIA.
Have Tottenham gone backwards since Daniel Levy’s exit?
There are plenty of points you could make to show how Tottenham have gone backwards since Levy left, just look how long it took the board to sack Frank.
They then followed that up by making what was always a bizarre decision to appoint Igor Tudor, regardless of whether he keeps the Lilywhites in the Premier League.
Levy was no saint, but it will remain a mystery whether Spurs would be in this position had he remained in charge.
One thing is for sure, though, and that is Venkatesham needs to start doing his talking with actions, because the projections only have Spurs losing even more money if things carry on the way they are.
