Keith Wyness: Vinai Venkatesham ‘wrong’ to slam Daniel Levy as Tottenham civil war erupts
Tottenham Hotspur chief executive Vinai Venkatesham should not have publicly slammed Daniel Levy’s time at the club.
That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa, and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes Venkatesham was not “best advised” before giving his assessment of Levy’s tenure.
Venkatesham claimed at a meeting with the Fan Advisory Board that an internal review has taken place about where Spurs fell short during Levy’s time as executive chairman, and that the club are under pressure to comply with financial rules.
Levy stood down from his role in September 2025 after nearly 25 years at the club, with Venkatesham taking charge of day-to-day operations.
Under Levy, Spurs became a financially stable club, and made progress on the pitch, but relegation from the Premier League and a huge reduction in revenue is a possibility this season.
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Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes the Lewis Family would be more to blame than Levy.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness thinks Venkatesham was trying to separate the current administration from Levy.
| Annual Turnover | £565.2m |
| Commercial Revenue | £287.2m |
| Matchday Revenue | £131.1m |
| Pre-tax Loss | £129m |
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “In terms of blaming Levy, the Lewis’ have been there as many years as Daniel Levy has been there, and they’ve been the ones providing the money, so they’ve been aware of everything that Daniel’s been doing.
“So it’s very hard now for Vinai to come around and say he’s going to blame Daniel Levy because the Lewis family were right there all every step of the way and sanctioned the spending. That’s where the money’s been coming from.
“So I find that hard to accept. I get that sort of politics of it and that he’s trying to separate the administration from Daniel Levy, but I’m afraid the fans aren’t stupid and they will know that it’s still the same owners in theory, the Lewis family, and it’s just a new operating arm to try and do that.
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“And I think that he’s probably not been best advised to take this sort of line of attack. And I think he would have been better advised to have just kept his head down, tried to avoid relegation, and then come out with a better plan and a new approach for next season.”
Igor Tudor one game away from Tottenham sack
Sources have told Football Insider that Spurs will sack manager Igor Tudor if they fail to beat Nottingham Forest next in the Premier League.
Whilst Tudor’s side claimed a point at Liverpool and victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, defeat against Nottingham Forest would leave Spurs in greater danger of Premier League relegation.
Nottingham Forest would leapfrog Spurs in the table with a win, and extend their winless streak in the Premier League to 13 games.
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