Daniel Levy has stepped down from his role as executive chairman of English Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur after nearly 25 years.
The Lewis family, who own the club, have put a new leadership team in place with Peter Charrington, who was brought on to the board in March, stepping into a newly created role of non-executive chairman.
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As part of what the club calls its “succession planning”, the North London outfit has made several senior appointments in recent months, most notably hiring Vinai Venkatesham as chief executive.
Venkatesham, who was appointed in April, will grow further in influence, and one of the team’s principal goals will be to attract fresh investment.
Tottenham stated that there are no changes to the ownership or shareholder structure of the club.
Levy took over from Alan Sugar as the chairman in February 2001 after Joe Lewis bought the club through his investment company, ENIC.
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By GlobalDataHe has often been criticised by fans for the team’s lack of on-field success and accused of prioritising financial and commercial gains. Fans have, on several occasions, staged protests calling for him to quit.
Supporters have been frustrated by the lack of trophies during his tenure, although the team did win the UEFA Europa League last season, adding to the League Cup success of 2008.
But under Levy’s stewardship, Tottenham have become one of the richest clubs in the world and firmly among the financial elite in European soccer, largely due to his commercial nous.
According to Deloitte’s most recent Football Money League, published for the 2023-24 season, the club was the ninth-richest in the world with an annual turnover of £512 million.
Levy was instrumental in building a modern new stadium for Tottenham, along with a state-of-the-art training ground.
The outgoing chairman said, “I am incredibly proud of the work I have done together with the executive team and all our employees. We have built this club into a global heavyweight competing at the highest level.
“I wish to thank all the fans who have supported me over the years. It hasn’t always been an easy journey, but significant progress has been made.”
Charrington has links to Lewis, the Bahamas-based billionaire who, for years, was Spurs’ ultimate benefactor, controlling them through Enic.
The club’s ownership structure shifted in October 2022 when Lewis stepped back from his publicly stated position. He ceased to be a part of the Lewis Family Trust, which controls Spurs, transferring it to unnamed members of his family.
Charrington, a former chief executive of Citi Private Bank, is a director of Enic. He has also been a senior partner at Nexus Luxury Collection in the Bahamas, an operator of private member clubs and resorts, which was co-founded by Lewis.
Speaking on the management reshuffle, Charrington said: “This is a new era of leadership for the club, on and off the pitch. I do recognise there has been a lot of change in recent months as we put in place new foundations for the future. We are now fully focused on stability and empowering our talented people across the club, led by Vinai and his executive team.”
A notable backdrop to the significant and seismic change at Tottenham is the search for new investment.
In 2023, it was reported by the Financial Times that US-Iranian billionaire Jahm Najafi, chair of the MSP Sports Capital private equity firm, was eyeing up a takeover of the club.
The FT claimed that Najafi was working alongside a consortium to put a bid together, but it’s unclear if this materialised.
Earlier this week, MSP sold its stake in motorsport’s McLaren Racing at a $5 billion valuation of the business.
MSP was close to acquiring a stake in Everton in 2023 before a proposed investment deal ultimately fell through.
GlobalData Sport understands that, following its exit from McLaren, MSP is looking for new investment opportunities but will only focus on controlling stakes or significant minority shares in sports teams.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United have finally appointed a new chief executive after a 12-month search, bringing in experienced North American major league sports commercial executive David Hopkinson.
The club has been searching for a new CEO since September 2024 after Darren Eales announced he was stepping down for health reasons.
Eales has continued to lead Newcastle’s executive team over the past year while the club looked for a successor.
Hopkinson officially takes up the role today and will undertake a “comprehensive handover process” supported by Eales.
He joins Newcastle after serving as president and chief operating officer at Madison Square Garden Sports in the United States, where he led the business operations of the New York Knicks (NBA) and New York Rangers (NHL) franchises.
Hopkinson, who has more than 25 years of senior executive leadership and commercial experience across three countries, previously served as global head of partnerships at Spanish giants Real Madrid.
He also spent over two decades at the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment ownership group as chief commercial officer.
Newcastle chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, said: "David is an outstanding executive whose track record across global sport and entertainment speaks for itself.
"His experience and strategic capabilities will be invaluable as we continue to build on the club's presence locally and grow it globally on and off the pitch.
"David's leadership will be critical as we build upon what we have already achieved since the acquisition towards an exciting future and sustainable success."
