Tottenham confirmed on Friday that managing director of football Fabio Paratici will step back from his role following FIFA’s decision to uphold a worldwide ban from the sport.
It’s always a great sign when a senior member of a club’s setup is even in earshot of such trouble, let alone the centre of attention, right?
This was a scenario which both should never have happened and yet was completely conceivable. Paratici arrived in 2021 as the man to take away football power from chairman Daniel Levy, but amid a haze of confusion at how his long-term spell with Juventus petered out and the Turin side stumbling from one PR disaster to another in his final years.
It was important for Levy – rightfully criticised for the appointment of Jose Mourinho as he believed he was still ‘one of the two best managers in the world’ in the year of 2019 (twenty-nineteen) – to hand over the keys to footballing operations. But Paratici’s suspension and expected exit will bring further question marks over his esteemed business acumen too.
Levy and ENIC have done an excellent job in transforming Spurs from a sleeping mid-table giant to one of football’s bigger brands, a club that was at least in the position to try and kick-start a European Super League. If Tottenham fans think their tenure has been poor, then they were living in the depths of Hell under previous managements.
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Problems arose when Mauricio Pochettino challenged the club to think differently, particularly in the transfer window in a demand to refresh and rebuild his squad in 2018. Levy and co immediately followed this plea with an 18-month spell in which no signings were made, infamously suggesting in a meeting with the club’s supporters’ trust that transfers were difficult and slack should be cut. Aw, diddums.
But even then, there was the excuse of a new £1bn stadium to fall back on, a long-term signal that a change of strategy was on the horizon. Levy has actually put big money on the table to his head coaches since, though now there is an issue with the club’s various approaches on and off the pitch.
Upon Paratici’s arrival, there were immediate red flags and flashing sirens. Sure, an experienced professional was put in charge of football matters, but having come from Juventus of all clubs, it did seem like just another lazy win-now move, crucially one that wouldn’t be their last.
The search for a successor to Mourinho began with Antonio Conte, who was flattered but wanted time away from the game after his…
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