It’s the way of things that people only look for negatives when things go wrong. If everything is going right then all is forgiven, sins are forgotten and the past is put firmly behind us. At the merest hint of a wobble though, people generally cast around for someone else to blame; it’s the finger pointing culture which has permeated almost every aspect of modern society.

That’s why, just a few short seasons ago, you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting countless blog posts, social media rants, tv interviews, newspaper articles or podcasts telling us all how Daniel Levy was all that is wrong with Tottenham Hotspur. He had no idea what he was doing. He employed the wrong people. He cared about the money too much. He bought the wrong players. He sacked the wrong managers. Pretty much, he was the root of Spurs’ ails.

Funnily enough, I’ve not heard anyone mention any of that for a while now.

In fact, the only time I’ve heard his name over the last 18 months or so has been when people have uttered the phrase “in Pochetino, he’s finally got his man”. Poch is widely seen as the manager Levy always wanted, so he’s happier than a pig in the mud.

Do you know what that says? Levy had vision. He had a clear vision, and by hook or by crook he’s worked his way towards it. Looking back at the more oft-cited reasons why some can’t wait to see the back of him, hopefully even the most myopic of fans will begrudgingly admit in hindsight he’s got it right more often than not.

1. He never signs anyone good

Levy has been at the club since 2001, which was a year after our signings included Ben Thatcher, a declining Sheringham and a second-hand Poyet. Admittedly not every player has been a hit (Milenko Acimovic, anyone?) but at the times they were signed they all had either potential or were actually quite good.

Over those years he has signed Bale, Modric, Van der Vaart, Lloris, Berbatov, Keane, Defoe, Carrick, Dawson, Robinson, Lennon, Vertonghen, Lamela, Eriksen, Aldeweirald, Alli, , Rose, Walker, Dembele, Dier and more. He has signed players who went straight into the team, players who worked their way into the team and players who ended up being sold on for huge profit. Some of these were planned purchases, others were deadline day coups, but for every Andy Reid is an Edgar Davids, for every Michael Brown is a Niko Kranjcar. And he’s not done it in dribs and drabs either; he brings players to the club in numbers if the manager wants them. Nope, he signs good players, or at least players that should be good if managed properly, which brings us to…

2. He fires managers too quickly

Okay, eight managers have come and gone since 2001 (plus a couple of caretaker arrangements), but looking back it’s nowhere near as bad as it looks. Gooner Graham was never popular among the fans and I don’t know anyone who pined for him to remain at the helm rather than seeing verified club legend Hoddle have an interesting (but ultimately mediocre) spell in charge. Santini, who had built Lyon up to European giants, proceeded to join and then walk out on us almost immediately, which can hardly be blamed on Levy.

Levy admittedly handled the Jol situation disastrously, though despite us loving the big, bald Dutchman it was clear that he had taken us as far as he could and needed to be replaced, which is why Levy brought UEFA cup winning Ramos in. On paper this was the right move; as it happens it didn’t quite work out the way it should have, with Ramos famously leading us to a disastrous start to the campaign (which Arry still delights at mentioning). Replacing him with Arry was a great bit of business, and the carpark-reporter-bothering cockney manager did better than could have been hoped for. Eventually though he got too big for his boots, too mired in controversy and too flirty towards the England job, and was let go; again, arguably the right decision.

For every Andy Reid is an Edgar Davids, for every Michael Brown is a Niko Kranjcar. And he’s not done it in dribs and drabs either; he brings players to the club in numbers if the manager wants them

Bringing AVB in again made sense; he came off the back of an almighty, all-conquering, European silverware winning time with Porto, he was young, advocated a high tempo game and was the very epitome of a modern day manager. Yet again, on paper it made perfect sense but it didn’t work on the pitch, so after 18 months and little improvement to our style of play or results he got rid of him. Tactics Tim was his only real mistake; otherwise, hindsight notwithstanding, I can’t blame him for any decision he’s made with regards to who sat on the bench.

People are saying Poch is the perfect fit for Levy; that’s no coincidence. He’s been looking long and hard and has finally found someone ideal, and is giving him every single thing he asks for. It’s taken a while, but Levy hasn’t given up and deserves huge credit for bringing Poch to the club.

3. Football shouldn’t be about the business

Football, in its purest sense, is about what happens on the pitch. At least, it was in the days of yore, back when Bruce Forsyth was starting out in acting and Diego Costa celebrated his real 15th birthday during the post-war years. These days, football is a mega business, and needs to be treated as such.

Success off the pitch equals success on it – it’s no coincidence that Utd spent £150m on players at the same time as announcing a £750m deal with Adidas and a £53m a season deal with Chevrolet. Financially we are the envy of the footballing world, which is amazing when you consider that we are based in a relatively poor corner of north London with little in the way of recent silverware bothering history behind us. No-one can knock Levy’s business acumen with any seriousness, and with the new tv deal pushing our balance sheets through the stratosphere and a mega-stadium on the way we will be able to afford the very best from around the world for years to come.

4. He doesn’t spend enough money

Many point to net spend being low as if it’s a bad thing; it’s not. Levy spends mega-bucks bringing players in; something north of £581m over the years. Yes, he tries to balance the books (and should have a statue made with a plaque reading “turned a profit on Mido”), but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t also put his hands into his pockets.

City, Chelsea and recently Utd have skewed the situation significantly, but we have done exceptionally well to keep pace despite lower attendances, our saving for a new stadium, less ability to pay big wages and an academy which hasn’t exactly had its own class of ’92 until now. Sometimes he doesn’t spend it on the right people, but that’s down to Pleat/Arneson/Commoli/Baldini not always getting it right.

Paul Mitchell will hopefully change that run of form, unearthing a few more gems for us and showing there is indeed value in the market, but over the past couple of years he has proven time and again that if the manager wants a player, he is willing to pay the money. When he signs players he always gets the right deal; after all, anyone who can get paid £1m for a goalkeeper who never played or even signed for us is alright in my book.

5. We’re underachieving with him at the helm, if he can’t do it then we should get in an oligarch

Let’s get this straight – before this season we were pretty much exactly where we should be. We have no right to win the league by default, and with all the constraints we have had, we have probably overachieved in recent years. A recent record of 4th/5th/4th/5th/6th is actually pretty good when you consider it all.

That being said, this season has shown that we are just about ready to step up a level. It’s taken other teams to drop away hugely (don’t be the idiot that thinks we are coming to the end of anything other than a freak season), but we’ve built on previous consistency and are actually doing what we always threatened to do before but never could thanks to our inability to defend.

While I think about it, I actually don’t want to be bought by some dodgy Russian or Middle Eastern family to be used as a plaything until they get bored; I quite like the fact that we rely on ourselves for our money

While I think about it, I actually don’t want to be bought by some dodgy Russian or Middle Eastern family to be used as a plaything until they get bored; I quite like the fact that we rely on ourselves for our money, have a Spurs fan at the helm and are consistently challenging the top teams, knocking on the door to joining Europe’s elite. Throw a cup win or two in and another season where we show we aren’t a one-season-title-challenging-wonder and life is pretty darn good thank you very much, and Levy is doing all he can to make that happen.

You can’t blame him for just about all of the ridiculous things that have happened under his watch; we’ve been pretty unlucky over the years. However, you can blame him for what is going right on and off the pitch at the moment. We don’t hear much about him these days which is a shame, as he definitely deserves more credit for what is happening, but if his disappearance means we continue to be this new Spurs then long may he stay silent.

Thanks Daniel; don’t go anywhere any time soon.