Simon Jordan: Tottenham’s new board has no football knowledge and this signing sums it up

The signing of Conor Gallagher proves Tottenham’s new board lacks football knowledge, believes Simon Jordan.

The north London side dropped into the relegation zone over the Premier League matchweek, and were unable to climb out of it when they succumbed to a 1-0 loss at Sunderland on Sunday.

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Nordi Mukiele’s second-half strike deflected in off Micky van de Ven, to inflict defeat on Robert De Zerbi in his first match as the Spurs boss.

The Lilywhites are now two points from safety with six matches remaining as they aim to avoid their first relegation in 49 years.

The former Brighton manager suffered a difficult start to his tenure at the club, becoming their third manager in ten months.

However Simon Jordan explained that the managers are not to blame for Spurs’ shortcomings but instead the new owners.

He said on White and Jordan: “If we keep discussing that this squad should be further up the league, they’re not a top six squad but they should at least be mid-table, so what’s the difference then, it’s not in the boardroom it must be the managers’ influence.

“But maybe they should have taken Thomas Frank out, maybe he became an isolated figure after the board chose him and they subsequently left, then Daniel Levy left.

“They’ve put people in there since then, and I have repeatedly told you, they don’t have football knowledge.

“And on their watch, after their proclamations of what they’re going to do and how they need to re-energize this squad and when they knew they were amongst it… they bought Conor Gallagher.

“That was their statement to the masses about how they are going to get themselves out of the challenges they were in because they didn’t realise the danger of the situation.

“They sold Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace and used the money to fund buying Conor Gallagher. That was their statement of intent to say, ‘we know we’re amongst it’.

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“It shows they do not have the football knowledge they should have to recognise the danger they were in.”

Since joining Spurs in mid-January, Gallagher has not featured on the winning side in a Premier League game, with the club not winning a league match since December 28.

Gallagher is also yet to have scored a goal in his first ten appearances for his new side.

Not on Levy’s watch

Levy left his role as Tottenham chairman at the beginning of the season having at the helm for 25 years.

Under Levy, Spurs were transformed on and off the pitch and financially in 2026 the north London outfit generated the ninth-highest revenue in world football, according to Deloitte.

With new personnel being welcomed into the club at the start of the season including new sporting director Johan Lange, it meant club ambitions were not aligned with recently appointed manager Thomas Frank.

Prior to joining the Lilywhites, Lange was at Aston Villa and played a key role in signing players like Emi Martinez, Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash.

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Former Crystal Palace owner Jordan stated the club would not be in this position if Levy were still in charge, saying: “I don’t think Spurs would get relegated if Daniel Levy was still there.

“I think decisions would have been made earlier and Thomas Frank would have had more support from those around him.

“It’s a disaster for Spurs, relegation is a real possibility and they will have huge losses in commercial revenue, in player salaries which they should find a way because they will have to sell them and rebuild.

“So even if Spurs go down and come back up again, which I think they will, I don’t think it’s a straight line into the Champions League again because players will not want to sign for Spurs.”

Mind the gap (in the bank)

Tottenham are ranked sixth for the most valuable squad and seventh in the Premier League for highest wages paid.

Their wage bill for this season has been estimated at £136.8million, in comparison to the highest in the Championship, which is Leicester City calculated at only £42.8million.

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Additionally, the capacity in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is 52,000 more than newly promoted Lincoln City and the club is only one million Instagram followers away from the combined total of every club in the second division.

Jordan said: “The club decided to get rid of a manager who they could have supported better. They decided not to invest in January other than the money they spent on Gallagher.

“And here they are now, going to have to reach right into their pockets and bridge the gap between what would be the cost of them going down or what it would be to keep them on a level they can go up again straight away with a decent group of players and can compete again.”

He added: “The commercial loss would be hundreds of millions because ultimately you’re carrying down a £250 million wage bill.

“You’re taking away major sponsorships from the situation, and it means £100million would be taken away from TV revenue, even with the parachute payment.”