November 7th 2024.
Since 2001, Daniel Levy has been the chairman of Tottenham. However, in a recent autobiography by former captain Hugo Lloris, the Frenchman has expressed his frustration towards Levy. During his 12-year tenure at the club, Lloris made 447 appearances but unfortunately, was unable to lift any trophies.
In 2019, Tottenham made it to the Champions League final, only to be defeated 2-0 by Liverpool in Madrid. Lloris reveals that before the match, the squad was bothered by something their chairman had done. Levy had arranged for luxurious aviator watches to be given to each player, with the support of a sponsor. However, upon opening the elegant boxes, they discovered that the back of each watch was engraved with the player's name and "Champions League Finalist 2019". Lloris and some of his teammates were disappointed and felt that it was not an appropriate gesture at such a crucial moment.
Lloris writes, "Who does such a thing at a moment like this? I still haven't gotten over it, and I know I'm not alone. If we had won, would he have asked for the watches back to have "Winner" engraved instead?" It was a decision that left a sour taste in the mouth and it affected the team's morale.
Additionally, Lloris also points out another issue caused by Levy - the filming of Amazon's All Or Nothing documentary. He reveals that the players and manager were not consulted before the decision was made to allow cameras and microphones behind the scenes. The invasion of privacy and the inconvenience caused by the filming was not appreciated by anyone.
Lloris explains, "We had to be careful all the time. The only place where we could speak freely was the training dressing room - we'd got them to agree that it would remain out of bounds." The team felt that they were being constantly monitored and it affected their daily routine and activities. The decision to allow filming for a hefty sum of ten million pounds also raised questions about whether the players would receive a cut, to which the answer was a clear "no".
Despite his respect and admiration for Levy and his contributions to the club, Lloris believes that there are certain things that the chairman is not sensitive to. He also admits that he has never worn the engraved watch, and would have preferred it to be left blank. These incidents have left a lasting impression on Lloris, even after his departure from Tottenham to join Los Angeles FC.
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