Daniel Levy sets Thomas Frank clear target and hits back at ‘completely unfair’ criticism

Daniel Levy has firmly rejected any suggestion he is involved in football decision-making at Spurs as he calls on Thomas Frank to use Europa League win as springboard to more success

Daniel Levy has set new Spurs boss Thomas Frank a straightforward target: to be competitive across the board. Frank is lining up for his Premier League debut in charge of Tottenham having taken over from sacked Ange Postecoglou.

Levy said a “collective” decision was made to part ways with Postecoglou in June, despite the Australian bringing badly-needed silverware to north London by winning the Europa League in May. That decision – the 13th managerial change since Levy became chairman in 2001 – came because of a dismal domestic campaign in which Spurs finished one place above the relegation zone.

And Levy has made it clear that now the team has tasted success new boss Frank, who has arrived from Brentford, must use his predecessor’s triumph as “a springboard” for more.

“Nothing has changed in terms of our ambition, that has always been the case, but having won the Europa League you get a taste of it,” Levy told The Overlap. “But it’s not enough. We know we need to use that as a springboard to keep winning.

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“We couldn’t lose sight of the fact that we finished 17th in the league. We lost 22 Premier League games, and it’s impossible for Tottenham to be in that position, and so we had to take the emotion out of it.

“We’re there to win and yes, we won a European trophy, and it was fantastic. But we also need to win on all fronts – and the Premier League says it all.”

“Thomas Frank is a highly-intelligent individual. He’s got a fantastic way about him in terms of communication. He gets the style of football we want to play. He understands that Rome wasn’t built in a day.

“We haven’t told 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. I very much hope that Thomas will bring all the right ingredients and bring this team to where it belongs – which is right at the top.”

Levy also hit back at gripes that he is overly involved with football operations at the club describing any suggestion of interference on his behalf as “completely unfair.”

He added: “People that have worked in this club and understand the workings of the football side, I do not interfere at all in the decision making of this player vs that player.

“It is always the coach, always the technical staff – the only thing I get involved in is when they decide which player they want to buy for instance or which player they want to sell; I will go out and do my very best for this football club. I’m not interfering in the football decisions.”

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