Daniel Levy criticises time taken to conclude Man City investigation

Telegraph

6 hours ago

Daniel Levy has criticised the length of time it has taken for the Premier League's investigation into Manchester City's alleged 115-plus charges, claiming a resolution must be found 'for the good of the game'.
The Tottenham Hotspur chief executive made the public comments in a rare interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap podcast, in which he addressed the ongoing uncertainty surrounding City's alleged financial misconduct.
The Premier League announced at least 115 charges against City in Feb 2023, stemming from an investigation that was launched in December 2018 after German publication Der Spiegel published leaked documents from the club the previous month.
It had been hoped that the investigation would have concluded – including any appeal process – before the end of last season, but there remains no end to proceedings on the horizon. City have consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
For that reason, Levy has spoken out over the time it has taken to complete the process after nearly two-and-a-half years.
'I think it would be really unfair of me to talk about another club in the Premier League, all I would say is that it's going through a process which I think has gone on for far too long,' Levy said.
'It needs to be brought, for the good of the game, to a conclusion one way or another.' He went on to say: 'It's unfortunate that we haven't been able to resolve things internally rather than the recourse of the lawyers, who are earning a lot of money out of this.'
Levy also predicted he will get credit from Tottenham supporters critical of his time in charge once he has left the club.
Levy has long been the target of ire from fans who point towards a dearth of silverware under his direction as well as failure to build upon Premier League title challenges in 2016 and 2017 and the team's run to the 2019 Champions League final.
Last season's 17th-place finish – a record low in the Premier League era – was partly offset by victory in the Europa League final, which saw the club lift its first trophy since 2008.
Former head coach Ange Postecoglou, who was sacked days after the win over Manchester United in Bilbao, dodged the worst of the anger directed from the stands as the team plummeted down the table, with supporters instead targeting the chairman for the club's apparent regression.
'I think it's one of those situations [in which] when I'm not here I'm sure I'll get the credit,' he said.
'When you come here and look at this wonderful [stadium], and the fact that other clubs are now trying to copy what we're doing, that should be a sign that maybe we did do something bold, and something right.'
Spurs moved in to their 60,000-capacity stadium, built on the former site of White Hart Lane, in 2019 and it quickly acquired a reputation as one of the best sports venues in Europe, regularly hosting NFL fixtures as well as large-scale music events.
Yet frustration remains with the team's failure to mount a credible challenge for the Premier League and Champions League, though Levy admitted he was at a loss to explain the lack of success.
'Nothing has changed in terms of our ambition,' said Levy. 'Having won the Europa League – thank you to Ange – you get a taste of it, but it's not enough. It's never been enough.
'We've been in 16 or 17 semi-finals, seven finals, and we haven't won enough. We know need to use that as a springboard to keep winning. We've won two trophies in the last 20-plus years. We've been so close, so many times.
'I can't really answer [why], because I'm not the one that picks the team, motivates the team.'
Former Brentford manager Thomas Frank, who was appointed as Postecoglou's replacement in June, will take charge of his first competitive match when Spurs begin the new season at home to Burnley on August 16.
He will do so without stalwart forward Son Heung-min, who has announced he will leave the club this summer and was given an emotional send-off following Sunday's friendly against Newcastle in his native South Korea.
After last season's dismal league campaign, Levy encouraged fans not to heap excessive expectation on their new manager.
'He gets the style of football we want to play,' said Levy. 'He understands that Rome wasn't built in a day. We haven't set him, 'You've got to win the league this year'. We just want to compete at the highest level.
'We will support him to the best of our ability. If you look at transfer fees, we've been in the top four spenders since the stadium opened, we've spent close to £700m net on new players.'