Whenever he makes it known that he “absolutely believes X is the man to turn the team around”, what he’s really doing is establishing the expectation that X will win the next game. If X wins it, then Levy looks like a cool head who knows his business; if X loses it, then Levy looks disappointed rather than culpable. Then the inevitable move to replace the manager seems like something he’s been forced to by the manager’s incompetence rather than by any fault of his own.

This dynamic is obviously not unique to Tottenham, but it stands out more there because Levy is so much better at manipulating the press than, say, Mike Ashley, without being particularly skilled at putting together a team.

I think we’ve “spoken” about this before, but the sheer lazyness of the British football press and their willingness to disseminate and perpetuate pre-packaged “truths” fed to them by publicists simply cannot be underestimated.