The captain, who lifted the cup, has gone. The match-winner, who scored the decisive goal, has been sold. The head coach, who said he would win it, was sacked. The chairman, who toasted a first trophy in 17 years, was pushed out.
Has any other football club ever won a title and then discarded so many of their leading figures? Son Heung-min, Brennan Johnson, Ange Postecoglou and Daniel Levy — the protagonists of Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League triumph last summer — have all gone within six months.
Postecoglou said the victory in Bilbao was one for the “true believers”, those who “never wavered”. But in the end it was more a farewell do in the Basque Country, a bon voyage from those who had already lost faith.
Son lifts the Europa League trophy after the win against Manchester United in Bilbao — but there have been plenty of changes on and off the pitch since then
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The next generation of the Lewis family, who own Tottenham, have assumed the reins, with Vivienne and Charles Lewis taking over from Joe Lewis, who formally ceded control in 2022. Vinai Venkatesham, the former Arsenal director, joined in June as chief executive and has taken over from Levy, who was ousted in September.
With Levy still in post, Venkatesham was a key advocate of the appointment of Thomas Frank, who is under pressure already. Tottenham face struggling West Ham United at home on Saturday, sitting 14th in the Premier League, having won only three of their past 14 matches.
For all the noise around Frank, the talk of “El Sackico” against West Ham and the clamour from many Spurs supporters to see him gone after seven months, Frank has felt supported in key meetings this week with club officials, Venkatesham included. The signings of Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid, Souza from Santos and Johnny Heitinga, as Frank’s new assistant, have strengthened his position.
He helped to choose Heitinga, after noting his reputation for working individually with players, including Mohammed Kudus, whom Heitinga was close with when they were at Ajax. Overall, the moves chime with Tottenham’s intention to give Frank more time. After five coaches in six years at Spurs, the owners, in particular, want to take a “sensible approach” and “stay calm”.
Frank is being judged every week and is in a run of three wins in 14 games, but the Tottenham board want to stay calm
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Frank is also just the tip of the iceberg, the public face of a club who have undergone root-and-branch review and change to personnel in just about every area. In total, there have been 12 new heads of department in the past year and three changes to the board. Venkatesham, Peter Charrington (non-executive chairman) and Eric Hinson (non-executive director) have joined the board, while there has been a new director of football operations, head of communications, chief marketing officer, commercial director, performance director, head of medical and head of performance, with further changes still to come.
Some departments, such as the medical department, are being revamped and revamped again. Dan Lewindon, who will join from Manchester City’s City Group as performance director next month, replaces Adam Brett, who was sacked last summer, after Brett took over from Geoff Scott in 2024, at the behest of the chief football officer Scott Munn and Postecoglou, who both departed last summer. Injuries have been a significant problem at Tottenham for three years. Frank has six players out for the game against West Ham; Postecoglou had 12 missing this time last year.
Frank is judged week-to-week but changes behind the scenes will need months, perhaps years, to bear fruit. New relationships are being formed and new chains of command worked through. After years of stagnation under Levy, and criticism of a lack of ambition, Tottenham’s new leadership are certainly not sitting on their hands. But within the game there is a perception Spurs lack figureheads during this transition. In the transfer market, some clubs are unclear about who takes the final decision while agents wonder who best to call.
Levy’s exit is a big part of that, the unavoidable loss of identity that comes after the departure of one of the game’s most established decision-makers. Off the pitch, Levy was Tottenham for most of the past 25 years when, for better or worse, there was no doubt about who had the final say. Some of Levy’s allies are still in the process of leaving, including Rebecca Caplehorn, the head of administration and football governance, who will go at the end of this month. Levy’s long-serving executive director, Donna Cullen, had already stepped down. But the culture also has to be reset. Some have enjoyed the extra breathing space in recent months, while others worry standards will drop.
Fabio Paratici’s move reinforces some of those concerns, with the Italian to join Fiorentina on February 4, only 3½ months after formally returning to Tottenham as co-sporting director. Paratici’s networking skills in the transfer market were valuable but he also drove high standards. Paratici insisted on rolling out the red carpet for new signings when they arrived and once, on a trip to Leeds United, hit the roof about the state of the dining facilities.
Paratici will be joining Fiorentina only months after returning to Tottenham as co-sporting director
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Tottenham’s desire for calm and patience around Frank is believed to have been a point of tension with Paratici, who has long been an admirer of Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille. Tottenham deny Paratici’s departure had anything to do with Frank and said it was “based on personal circumstances”.
The question is whether Venkatesham can fill the void left by Levy and how Johan Lange, Paratici’s co-sporting director, can adapt in the Italian’s absence. As Arsenal chief executive, Venkatesham was less involved in the football side of the club and more in charge of commercial issues, where his softer, smoother approach was well suited. In the split with Paratici, Lange was more focused on the academy, data and analysis than players, agents and transfers.
Tottenham are already making moves in that regard, with the idea that Venkatesham is responsible for appointing and managing football experts below him, even if Frank’s future, in theory, is in Venkatesham’s hands. The club want a more modern structure, after Levy allowed too many football brains to leave the building.
Michael Edwards, now chief executive of football for Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool, was a Spurs analyst under Harry Redknapp while John McDermott, now FA technical director, was Tottenham’s academy chief under Mauricio Pochettino. Paul Barber, Brighton & Hove Albion’s chief executive, was an executive director under Levy. The challenge for Venkatesham is to find or promote the smartest minds, rather than allow them to do their best work elsewhere.
Venkatesham is having to fill the void left by Levy, right
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In that context, Tottenham are expected to replace Paratici, although not necessarily directly with another sporting director. Raphael Moersen has come in as director of football operations from Manchester City, in what the club said on Thursday was a new position, with “football administration” a part of his brief. Moersen is expected to play a significant role in contracts and transfers at Spurs, after being known as “the closer” at City for his smart work on contracts, wages and administration around new signings. Levy was always impressed by the inner workings of City Football Group, an admiration that appears to have been inherited by his successors.
Tottenham are banking on all the upheaval paying off long term, after making the kind of painful changes the club feel were long overdue. Yet the churn does little to ease the pressure on Frank, for whom the need to find stability and rebuild a connection with deflated supporters is more pressing.
“Connecting is key,” Frank said on Thursday. “I think I’m quite good at connecting with people actually, so that’s one thing. But I also know in football there is only one way of connecting, and that’s winning.”