The costly mistake behind Levy's fall at Tottenham

In an email to Tottenham Hotspur staff, new chief executive Vinai Venkatesham acknowledged that Daniel Levy's departure would come as "a shock to all of you" while insisting that "it is very much business as usual".

- MIGUEL DELANEY CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER

Such sentiments were undercut by the very fact that some people were stopped in their tracks, as well as the messages from elsewhere in the club.

Spurs, it has been insisted, will no longer be so much about business. They’re going to be about “sustained sporting success”. This was the primary reason that the Tavistock Group, under the ownership of the Lewis family, took the decision out of Levy’s hands. They wanted change. There had also been an awareness of fan unrest. Vivienne Lewis, the daughter of Joe, is now seen as an influential figure. “Business” in short, will not be the same again - and the impact may reach beyond Spurs.

The longest-serving chairman in the Premier League, and a central figure in its political and economic structures, is gone. That is more consequential than it sounds. Many of the most senior executives in football, some who would consider themselves friends of Levy, were stunned.

Multiple such sources spoke of how they’d heard of growing tension at the top level of Spurs, that had been bubbling away for years between Levy and ultimate owner Joe Lewis. This came across loud and clear in a statement given by the family to Sky News.

“Generations of the Lewis family support this special football club and they want what the fans want - more wins more often. This is why you have seen recent changes, new leadership and a fresh approach. In Vinai (Venkatesham), Thomas (Frank) and Peter Charrington, they believe they are backing the right team to deliver on this. This is a new era.” If so, the last acts of the old era were a series of insufficient bids for forwards, as the club desperately tried for another attacker in the last days of the transfer window. Some Premier League figures had long tired of doing business with Levy. His previously fearsome reputation in negotiations had long faded. People were just fatigued.