Potential Saudi investment, fan optimism, rivals worried – What’s next for Tottenham Hotspur after Daniel Levy’s shock departure

The winds of change have blown through Tottenham Hotspur at speed following Daniel Levy’s shock exit. But according to talkSPORT’s Chief Football Correspondent Alex Crook, there could yet be more to come in north London and on a much larger scale. GettyLevy is replaced by Peter Charrington, who becomes the non-executive chairman[/caption] Levy’s departure was suddenly confirmed on Thursday evening as his near-25-year association with Tottenham came to an end. It drew mixed reactions from Tottenham fans and ex-players, with former midfielder Jamie O’Hara one who paid tribute to the outgoing chairman for what he’d done but felt it was time for Levy ‘to move on.’ Who actually was behind Levy’s Tottenham exit? However, talkSPORT understands it wasn’t exactly all Levy’s decision. Instead, it is understood to have been driven by the Lewis family, headed up by Joe Lewis, who own a 70.12 per cent stake in ENIC. The remaining 29.88 of the shares in ENIC belong to Levy and his family. ENIC, of course, hold a 86.91 per cent share in Tottenham. Despite Levy’s exit, Tottenham confirmed in the statement announcing his departure that there would be no changes to the ownership structure of the club. Alex Crook’s hint on Tottenham’s future But Levy did say this was a ‘new era’ at the club and talkSPORT’s Alex Crook believes there could be ‘significant’ overseas investment coming into Spurs in what could mark the ‘first step’ in a change of ownership. “What it means for the future of Spurs I think is unclear at this moment in time,” Crook said immediately reacting to the news of Levy’s departure. “They’re saying that the way the club is run the ownership structure will remain the same but I’ve got to say there have been whispers and myself and Ben Jacobs have been sort of trying to find out more about this in the last few weeks that there is significant outside investment coming into Tottenham, probably from the Middle East, from the likes of Saudi Arabia. Lewis (left) and Levy enjoyed a partnership spanning over two decadesGetty “So you wonder if this is the first step to a change of ownership at the top of the club, despite what Spurs are saying at this moment in time.” Crook added: “I do sense that maybe he (Levy) just felt the time was right. “As I say, having delivered the stadium, having finally delivered a trophy and with the prospect of fresh investment coming into the football club. “So maybe this is a case of him deciding to step aside now on his own terms rather than potentially being pushed out by anybody who’s going to come in and invest in the club.” At the time of Levy’s exit, he had just overseen a £182million spend in the summer transfer window on incomings which included the signings of Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus to name two. Despite the large outlay, the likes of Manchester United – who will not compete in any European competition this season – and Nottingham Forest still outspent Spurs. Spurs have enjoyed a bright start to the campaign with six points from a possible nineGetty But should the club receive what Crook described as ‘significant’ investment from the Middle East, it could shake up not just the Premier League, but European competitions too. That’s largely because of Spurs’ perceived frugality under Levy’s watch as chairman, even though the club has forked out an eye-watering £1.04billion on signings since the 2019/20 campaign. How new ownership at Tottenham could shake up the Premier League However, with Levy no longer manning the club’s purse strings, former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy believes his exit could strike fear into the rest of the English top flight knowing how much Tottenham can spend, especially given they posted the ninth-largest revenue among all football clubs last year. “The problem is since the finances have come in and clubs have been allowed to spend huge sums of money, Spurs have never competed,” Cundy said on talkSPORT’s Sports Bar. “We go to my club Chelsea. When Roman (Abramovich) came in in 2003, he came in and bang, blew billions at the football. “Before that we saw Blackburn Rovers in the early-mid 90s. They’ve done that. After that, Manchester City came in. Things have changed. “The landscape of financial investment in a football club has changed. Newcastle have found that out to their cost. “Spurs always felt to me that they were a club that didn’t need huge investment like a Roman, like the Sheikh Mansour, like PSG have had. It always felt as if they were saying, ‘We’ll do enough. We’ll try and compete to get there.’ “You’ve come close a couple of times, by the way. You’ve got the Champions League final. You finished second. There’s a year that you finished third. You were in the title race.” Cundy added: “No-one should ever be afraid or scared or should be stopped from spending the most they can s

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Potential Saudi investment, fan optimism, rivals worried – What’s next for Tottenham Hotspur after Daniel Levy’s shock departure

The winds of change have blown through Tottenham Hotspur at speed following Daniel Levy’s shock exit.

But according to talkSPORT’s Chief Football Correspondent Alex Crook, there could yet be more to come in north London and on a much larger scale.

Levy is replaced by Peter Charrington, who becomes the non-executive chairman[/caption]

Levy’s departure was suddenly confirmed on Thursday evening as his near-25-year association with Tottenham came to an end.

It drew mixed reactions from Tottenham fans and ex-players, with former midfielder Jamie O’Hara one who paid tribute to the outgoing chairman for what he’d done but felt it was time for Levy ‘to move on.’

Who actually was behind Levy’s Tottenham exit?

However, talkSPORT understands it wasn’t exactly all Levy’s decision.

Instead, it is understood to have been driven by the Lewis family, headed up by Joe Lewis, who own a 70.12 per cent stake in ENIC.

The remaining 29.88 of the shares in ENIC belong to Levy and his family.

ENIC, of course, hold a 86.91 per cent share in Tottenham.

Despite Levy’s exit, Tottenham confirmed in the statement announcing his departure that there would be no changes to the ownership structure of the club.

Alex Crook’s hint on Tottenham’s future

But Levy did say this was a ‘new era’ at the club and talkSPORT’s Alex Crook believes there could be ‘significant’ overseas investment coming into Spurs in what could mark the ‘first step’ in a change of ownership.

“What it means for the future of Spurs I think is unclear at this moment in time,” Crook said immediately reacting to the news of Levy’s departure.

“They’re saying that the way the club is run the ownership structure will remain the same but I’ve got to say there have been whispers and myself and Ben Jacobs have been sort of trying to find out more about this in the last few weeks that there is significant outside investment coming into Tottenham, probably from the Middle East, from the likes of Saudi Arabia.

Lewis (left) and Levy enjoyed a partnership spanning over two decades

“So you wonder if this is the first step to a change of ownership at the top of the club, despite what Spurs are saying at this moment in time.”

Crook added: “I do sense that maybe he (Levy) just felt the time was right.

“As I say, having delivered the stadium, having finally delivered a trophy and with the prospect of fresh investment coming into the football club.

“So maybe this is a case of him deciding to step aside now on his own terms rather than potentially being pushed out by anybody who’s going to come in and invest in the club.”

At the time of Levy’s exit, he had just overseen a £182million spend in the summer transfer window on incomings which included the signings of Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus to name two.

Despite the large outlay, the likes of Manchester United – who will not compete in any European competition this season – and Nottingham Forest still outspent Spurs.

Spurs have enjoyed a bright start to the campaign with six points from a possible nine

But should the club receive what Crook described as ‘significant’ investment from the Middle East, it could shake up not just the Premier League, but European competitions too.

That’s largely because of Spurs’ perceived frugality under Levy’s watch as chairman, even though the club has forked out an eye-watering £1.04billion on signings since the 2019/20 campaign.

How new ownership at Tottenham could shake up the Premier League

However, with Levy no longer manning the club’s purse strings, former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy believes his exit could strike fear into the rest of the English top flight knowing how much Tottenham can spend, especially given they posted the ninth-largest revenue among all football clubs last year.

“The problem is since the finances have come in and clubs have been allowed to spend huge sums of money, Spurs have never competed,” Cundy said on talkSPORT’s Sports Bar.

“We go to my club Chelsea. When Roman (Abramovich) came in in 2003, he came in and bang, blew billions at the football.

“Before that we saw Blackburn Rovers in the early-mid 90s. They’ve done that. After that, Manchester City came in. Things have changed.

“The landscape of financial investment in a football club has changed. Newcastle have found that out to their cost.

“Spurs always felt to me that they were a club that didn’t need huge investment like a Roman, like the Sheikh Mansour, like PSG have had. It always felt as if they were saying, ‘We’ll do enough. We’ll try and compete to get there.’

“You’ve come close a couple of times, by the way. You’ve got the Champions League final. You finished second. There’s a year that you finished third. You were in the title race.”

Cundy added: “No-one should ever be afraid or scared or should be stopped from spending the most they can spend.

“Spurs haven’t done that. So maybe there is something in Spurs between now and the next five years… should the Premier League be scared?”

‘Sense of freedom’

Will Spurs dare to move to the next level?

Spurs fans will be feeling anxious about what lies ahead amid all the uncertainty, but talkSPORT presenter Majestic is optimistic.

“I know there’s a lot of people out there who have criticised him and it’s not good enough but what he’s left behind the foundations that he created of a football club in London for somebody to come in now and take it to the next step is really exciting as Spurs fans,” he said on Kick Off.

“And I feel that I just feel like there’s a sense of freedom this evening.”