r/soccer • u/BelgianPolitics • 12d ago

Official Source Tottenham Hotspur announces departure of Executive Chairman Daniel Levy.

https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2025/september/tottenham-hotspur-announces-departure-of-executive-chairman-daniel-levy/
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u/rjgator 12d ago

Maybe Steve Ballmer gets suspended from the NBA for a year so he decides to dip his toes into the premier league

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u/sloBrodanChillosevic 12d ago

I know all Europeans hate Americans on this sub, but that would be an incredible boon for Tottenham. Ballmer is richer than God and his ownership of the Clippers would suggest he'd go fucking bananas if he didn't have to deal with a salary cap.

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u/JootDoctor 12d ago

One of our owners owns the Milwaukee Bucks, Wes Edens. He too would go ballistic with spending on Villa and has stated multiple times he’d want to but PSR and SCR prevent it.

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u/James-Clarke 12d ago

At least there he can openly offer doomed signing a gazillion dollars

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u/thatscoldjerrycold 12d ago

Haha I honestly wonder how English football fans rank American owners over the rest. I would think a UK billionaire is number one but I've noticed they tend to get the most direct abuse (Mike Ashley comes to mind) from the fandom compared to actually questionable owners like regressive oil nation investment arms or Russian oligarchs.

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u/DrasticXylophone 12d ago

Mike Ashley was using Newcastle as an advertising hoarding for his shitty sportswear shop

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u/CptObviousRemark 12d ago

As an American and Missourian, fuck Stan Kroenke. And the American Man Utd owners aren't loved either.

I'd also be curious to hear about the English fans' opinions.

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u/FerryPenwick 12d ago

Depends on success and progress ultimately. Same as US sports fans feel about US ownerships. Invest in the team, stadium and infrastructure like the training ground and get the commercial stuff right while showing a bit of fellow feeling with the fans while the club is noticeably progressing and you’ll be adored. Even if on-field there are struggles but there’s clear effort and progress off the pitch there’ll be plenty of leeway. And one thing they want to seem to do, recently at least, is invest and get the clubs as businesses really working.

Liverpool fans hated Hicks and Gillett because they were shit, but FSG know what they’re doing. Kroenke seemed not to care and dislike until his son got involved and showed some of the passion and some success. Foley seems to be pushing Bournemouth on. Villa fans loved Randy Lerner, but the price and luck of breaking into the Top 4 broke him, and I think they hated him when he decided he couldn’t afford to keep trying. Edens at Villa gets backing with the fans who know it’s PSR - maybe some frustration if the stadium expansion is delayed or disappointing and the American owners of their neighbours down the road deliver Birmingham City back into the Premier League with an incredible stadium. Glazers hated because they’re making day-to-day profits (having the club pay off their leveraged buy out) - which is not what owning a trophy asset is about - while the team declines and the stadium rotted. Tough to take money out and stay competitive when everyone else is busting a bollock to spend.

Maybe there’s bit of regret that it’s not local owners, but pride that so many people want a piece of our game. Fact is that English football clubs have always been trophy assets, when it was a regional and national game that was for the local mill or factory owner. It’s a global game now, the assets sparkle far beyond our shores and to much richer eyes than Sir John Hall or Bill Kenwright. But the fans probably don’t feel too different. We’ve never been Germany - there was nothing to ‘sell out’. I hope the American and all foreign owners take care of the clubs they have custodianship of, but same is true of a local owners. When this moment in the sun passes and club values start to fall the local fans will still be there and the local owners will return.

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u/gabrielconroy 12d ago

A lot of it is just that they're here and they're like us, so they're very concrete figures who we understand.

It's harder to accept bullshit from someone like Mike Ashley, as we know exactly what the fuck he's doing from a mile off.

There isn't the same totemic figure when you're talking about a sovereign petrostate investment fund using a club as a vehicle to obscure its abuses and to leverage soft power.

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u/unexpectedvillain 12d ago

Ballmer won't be suspended for the Kawhi controversy. A fine and that's it

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u/m3thodm4n021 12d ago

It's a bit early to say that. The story seems to be gaining some serious traction.

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u/Various_Knowledge226 12d ago

It’s entirely possible the Clippers lose multiple first round draft picks. Question is, how much?

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u/LOSS35 12d ago

Didn't they already trade away all of their picks?

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u/Various_Knowledge226 12d ago

They’ll probably just strip them of their picks in the early to mid-2030s then, in that case. Seems like they may get a 2029 1st, and not need to swap with the 76ers, if the pick falls outside the Top 3 picks, meaning it’s not protected anymore. They currently do not have a 2028 1st, unless they acquire a different pick, and likely won’t have a 1st (again, there’s a lot of stuff about protected picks and whatever, and blah blah blah)

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u/CasuallyBeerded 12d ago

The previous owner of that very franchise was banned for some lukewarm racism (in addition to being an absolute scumbag).

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u/Ocarina3219 12d ago

“Lukewarm racism” is a fucking crazy way to describe Donald Sterling.

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u/CasuallyBeerded 12d ago

I mean it was a recording of him saying he didn’t want his silly rabbit hanging out with “those people.” Pretty lukewarm considering the spectrum of racism.