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Spurs owners, the Lewis Family, and CEO Vinai Venkatesham speak out with message to fans

Spurs owners, the Lewis Family, and CEO Vinai Venkatesham speak out with a message to fans after avoiding relegation.

A complete reset is needed at Tottenham after they sealed their survival with a win on the final day of the 2025/26 Premier League season.

It has once again been miserable season for the fans, who have protested, with banners in the stand calling for change, the performances, especially at home, have been lacklustre, and the club suffered back-to-back 17th place finishes.

A statement from the Lewis Family, from the club website, read: “To the fans,

As owners of 25 years, we have lived the highs and lows of Spurs with you.

Finishing 17th this and last season does not reflect the stature or potential of this football club. We are bitterly disappointed and share your frustration. You, and we, expect more than this. We know this must never happen again.

Our approach to running the Club is, and has been, to trust the experts to do that, while backing them to be successful. The problems we found were deeper than we realised and were allowed to build over the last few years. We know that has eroded trust and we have to win that back. As owners, we take ultimate responsibility for the situation in which the Club finds itself.

We also take responsibility for rebuilding Spurs. Our ambition is to recapture the spirit of the Club and bring back the excitement, the fearlessness and the bold football we have always felt defined us. That means football comes first. The Board and Executive team have laid out their plans to meet this ambition.

This will require investment โ€“ in our teams, the academy, our backroom functions and more – and we are fully committed to this. We are not selling the Club. We are all in. We are investing in it. You will see more of this in the coming months.

We care deeply about Spurs. The rebuild the Club needs, and you deserve, has begun. The change required is deep. It will take time and commitment, but change is happening.

We know that actions will speak louder than words.

The Lewis Family”

Tottenham Hotspur CEO Vinai Venkatesham gave a 50-minute interview with BBC Sport. Below are quotes of his, tweeted by Chris Cowlin.

On Tottenham avoiding relegation: “I think it was just a huge outpouring of relief. But obviously feeling relief at the end of the season is nowhere near the standard of the football club.”

He said: “On my very first day, what I thought would be a realistic target for the men’s first team would be competing for European places.

“If you’d have asked me a few months after I joined, when I was no longer an outsider, I would have told you the club was in a significantly worse state in some places than I thought.

“That is absolutely not meant to be a criticism of anyone or anything. It was just what I found. It was very clear that this wasn’t some form of turnaround that was required of the club in quite a few areas. It was really a complete reset.

“If I had to generalise, I would say on the non-football side of the club, in particular around stadium operations and commercial, that the club was and is really strong.

“I think if you look at the football side of the club, over a timeframe of five years or so, there has just been an explosion in progress across the Premier League.

“I’m not saying that Tottenham didn’t improve in that period. But what I can tell you is that when you look at where Tottenham were in many of those areas, compared to where I believe other Premier League clubs are, there was a significant gap. In some areas really quite worryingly so.

“I don’t think that there was what I would call a relentless obsession with football success.

“Our training centre is amazing, one of the best, if not the best in the world. But when you look around, it looks more like a five-star hotel than it does a performance environment. That will change over the summer.
“I think there are many areas where the club hasn’t got the right level of expertise.”

On trying to bring in De Zerbi after Thomas Frank and the risky appointment of Igor Tudor: “Obviously, we were very disappointed when it became clear that we wouldn’t be appointing Roberto on a permanent basis [in February].

“We were then, in the interim market, which is generally not the broadest. There were a number of reasons why Igor was selected: he had managed in very high-profile and high-pressure environments – we didn’t want somebody that was going to wilt under that pressure.

“He has a history of making an immediate impact. He has managed in big clubs. He has quite a different personality to Thomas and we felt like something different was needed.

“But of course we were really aware he had no Premier League experience. Was it a risk in appointing him? Absolutely.

“It didn’t work out. I think it’s very clear it didn’t work out. And I don’t think that is in question. I don’t think anybody would argue anything else.”

 

On the fans: “I understand the frustration around supporters. I think Tottenham supporters have been frustrated for some time. This is two 17th-place finishes in a row.

“It’s clearly not good enough. I think that is rational, normal, sensible, and, is what we would expect from supporters.

“The club had some serious challenges that it needs to address on the football side. We know what those are. We are addressing them. We are fixing them. Those challenges have not disappeared overnight.

“They built up over many years. I wish I could wave my magic wand and fix them overnight, but that is not possible. It takes some time to fix those issues.

“So I have complete confidence in what we’re doing, how we’re doing it. But supporters are rightly impatient. So I have to weather that storm.”

On dealing with criticism: “It’s not easy. You have to develop a thick skin.

“I’m helped by the fact that I’ve been in football for a while, for the last 15 years, so it’s not new to me.

“It’s a game of opinions, and I have absolutely no problem with being criticised. I’ve got no problem what anyone in the game being criticised, it’s just part of the job.

“The challenge in football is that that criticism frequently goes way past the line for players, referees, executives.”

On on Roberto De Zerbi: “I think he has made an extraordinary impact so far.

“We have to recognise that it’s early days, and we also need to recognise that he’s come into a very specific situation.

“It is hard to underestimate the scale of the challenge he walked into. And it’s hard to describe what a significant impact he has had in the dressing room with all the players.

“I think he’s an excellent coach, and we think that he plays the style of football that our supporters and the broader football public want to see.”

On the Tottenham squad and the summer transfer window: “The squad needs work and the squad hasn’t got the right balance.

“We need experience and leadership and also that kind of physical robustness to play in the most demanding league that exists.

“We need to strengthen the club over multiple transfer windows but this transfer window, in particular, is going to be critical.”

Tottenham chief issues open letter to fans; James Maddison gives passionate post match interview

Here’s how social media users reacted after the Spurs owners, the Lewis Family, and CEO Vinai Venkatesham speak out with a message to the fans…

@MatthewHookey: Heard it all before, infact the word rebuild has probably been used every year for 25 years. It’s just empty words on paper, means nothing

@lordbroxbourne: Recruitment been abysmal. Start the restructuring by immediately firing Johan Lange, a total fraud. Listening to him after the Jan window, as effective and significant as a silent fart in a force 7 gale.

@NannyVeg: Weโ€™re sick to death of them saying but not doing. They have made disastrous appts in Vinai & Lange. Show us you mean it & get rid of them for starters. To Dare is to Do. Do it then, stop taking us for fools. Either sell up or put your money where your mouth is.

@Craig1Osullivan: No more words from now on. Actions will talk far louder and I now expect the biggest transfer window in our history. You however canโ€™t expect anything less than scepticism.

@thfckostka: “It will take time” just feels like a fuck you and wait rather than a lets do this together. I understand that I can’t be instant but they should put their bollocks on the table and make a statement signing or something, SHOW some intent

@LyndenCFT: Big statements from The Lewis Family, Charrington and Vinai. Nothing more than what we’ve already been told for the last 25 years. A big summer ahead for the club, and CFT will hold them responsible if they don’t follow through with their words

@ianjk23: So Vinai, Charrington & the Lewis family have stated never again, things will change, so we can now truly hold them to account, they said it, not levy or conte ranting, their words they need to own it. Lets see, I am 100% sceptical

@HarkNowHearCOYS: Peter Charrington, Lewis Family & Vinai Venkatesham, all with statements now weโ€™ve barely avoided relegation. No more words. No more promises. We only want actions. #COYS #THFC

@brendonb86: I’ve seen 3 statements now, one from the Non chief executive, one from Vinai and one from the Lewis family. Is it me or are all of them saying Levy have fucked this club up and they didn’t realise that until they pushed him out

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