Tottenham Hotspur's furloughing U-turn: Did Daniel Levy really have an ethical change of heart?
After enduring weeks of backlash following Tottenham Hotspur's initial decision to use the UK government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), club chairman Daniel Levy recently managed to get back on the good books of the Spurs faithful and the general public with one shrewd move.
At the end of March, the 58-year-old had announced that all 550 non-playing staff would receive a 20% pay cut and be placed on the government's furlough scheme. Fans' patience with the chairman was already wearing thin and this decision seemed like the final straw for them. The Essex-born businessman received fierce criticism from Spurs fans as well as general citizens, and an almost palpable divide was created between the supporters and the club.
However, after prolonged and intense pressure, Tottenham Hotspur finally made a sensational U-turn by announcing that all non-playing staff will be paid in full at least until the end of May. Furthermore, all board members, including Daniel Levy himself, will take a pay cut instead.
The decision was glorious music to fans' ears and it got even better as it was also announced that the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would become a drive-through COVID-19 testing facility for NHS staff and their dependants, making it the first Premier League ground to be used for coronavirus testing.
So, did Daniel Levy really have an ethical change of heart? Did he listen to the fans or the Supporters' Trust? Or did he, once again, make a financially-based decision?
Levy is infamous throughout the world of football for his cut-throat negotiating and brinksmanship. Sir Alex Ferguson once admitted that dealing with the chairman "was more painful than [his] hip replacement". There are countless other comical anecdotes about the businessman such as the time former Spurs striker Mido was instructed to run through an airport to get good seats on an Easy Jet flight.
However, the chairman's U-turn amid the coronavirus crisis is unlikely to be added to the same list. The current situation has affected millions of individuals across the globe and people will not simply forget who shirked responsibility and who genuinely stood tall in the midst of it all.
Levy is acutely aware that Spurs are an ever-growing, global brand and the stakes for negotiating sponsorships are increasing by the day. The north London giants possess one of the most modern stadiums on the planet, which can be used to market other entertainment event contracts. It is also the stadium with the most expensive season tickets in football and the chairman knows they would be hard to sell to an irked fan base.
In addition, Levy still has to deal with the stadium's naming rights, which is now rumoured to be a record £25 million deal with Amazon. Such figures dwarf a couple of months' worth of wages to the club's groundsmen, hospitality staff, etc.
The dramatic U-turn leaves Tottenham Hotspur as a much more attractive entity to be associated with - something the Liverpool owners quickly noted before their reversal of the same decision. Levy is one of the shrewdest businessmen around and he is mindful of the importance of public perception; it's fair to say more so than Mike Ashley - the Newcastle United chairman who once got sick in a fireplace during a boozy meeting and whose club remains the most high-profile on the furlough scheme.
In the end, however, Daniel Levy made the most beneficial decision for all parties involved. His ultimate call has saved the taxpayers' money, helped many households in the Tottenham area from potential economic hardship, and possibly even saved some lives through the stadium's new and temporary role. For that, he deserves a good pat on the back.