Tottenham Hotspur finds itself in a crisis outside the field again, but this may be its biggest crisis in the era of club president Daniel Levy.
Tottenham are without a coach following the sacking of Antonio Conte, but now also face no sporting director after FIFA on Wednesday imposed a global ban on Fabio Paratici from all football activities for two and a half years.
The 50-year-old’s initial ban was overturned by the Italian Football Federation due to alleged financial irregularities dating back to his time with Juventus. Paratici has 10 days to appeal his international ban to FIFA’s Appeals Committee.
The timing is so bad for the North London club heading into the latter part of the season that Paratici was expected to lead the search for a new manager with the club currently in charge of Christian Stellini and Ryan Mason.
But Paratici wouldn’t be the first sporting director to suffer Tottenham’s misfortune sportsmail Looks at how the previous appointments went wrong under Levi.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy (above) is in a major crisis with the suspension of Fabio Paratici
Frank Arnesen (2004-2005)
Sporting directors were not new by the time Arnesen arrived at Tottenham in 2004, with David Pleat fulfilling a similar role under Levy having been appointed by Sir Alan Sugar three years before his ownership of the club ended in 2001.
But after an unlucky 2003-04 season in which Tottenham were on the brink of a relegation battle, Levy led one of the biggest summer revamps of his tenure.
At this point Plett was gone, caretaker manager, and took key positions in the club. It was Arnesen who would be overlooked by new coach Jacques Santini.
The Frenchman’s arrival was seen as a coup, and he agreed to join after leading defending champions France to Euro 2004. Martin Jol also joined as an assistant.
The trio made 10 first-team signings in the summer, led by Arnesen who scouted gems in his previous role at PSV, including Brazilian Ronaldo and future Manchester United stars Ruud van Nistelrooy and Jaap Stam.
But soon everything collapsed. After average results at best, Santini was gone by November and was replaced by Jol as boss.
By June and after just one year in the role, Arnesen was suspended by Tottenham after expressing an interest in joining Chelsea. Inevitably he moved to the west London club later in the month after he was spotted on board Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s boat, with the rivals agreeing a £5m financial settlement.
Frank Arnesen (left) arrived at the club in 2004 along with Jacques Santini (centre) and Martin Jol (right) but left a year later after becoming interested in a role at Chelsea
Damian Comolli (2005-2008)
Levy’s next step was to replace Arnesen directly with Damien Comolli who had previously worked as a European scout at Arsenal.
Spurs’ fortunes on the pitch took a turn for the better during his tenure, posting a best finish in the Premier League two fifth places later, but he had many disagreements with manager Jol who was not happy with the signings being made.
After Jol was sacked in 2007, Juande Ramos came in as coach, helping the club win the only trophy of the Levy era with the 2008 League Cup.
Ramos had a dreadful start to the 2008–09 season despite being sidelined with his coaching staff, and soon after Comolli also got the boot, with incoming manager Harry Redknapp wanting greater control over first-team affairs.
Comolli has brought in key Tottenham players during his tenure, including Gareth Bale, Dimitar Berbatov and Luka Modric.
Damian Comolli (R) was essential in helping Tottenham sign Luka Modric in 2008
Franco Baldini (2013-2015)
At the behest of Redknapp’s successor Andre Villas-Boas, Levy returned to a managerial model that included a sporting director at the end of his first Portuguese season at the club.
Baldini left Roma to take up his position at Tottenham but is not exactly a new face in England having previously been assistant to Fabio Capello during the Italian’s four-year reign as manager of the Three Lions until 2012.
It was a hectic first summer for the Italian, who had to deal with the world record transfer of selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for £86m and then use that money to fund seven infamous substitutes at a cost of more than £100m.
Roberto Soldado, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela, Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Étienne Capoue and Vlad Cheriches were bought but only Eriksen showed early promising promise, resulting in underachievement on the pitch and the sacking of Villas-Boas after a 5-0 home win. Defeat Liverpool in December 2013.
Baldini tendered his resignation after a poor start to the season, but even when players like Chadli and Lamela eventually became useful players, it wasn’t until the end of Mauricio Pochettino’s first season at the club in 2015 when he left White Hart Lane. after they were increasingly marginalized.
Franco Baldini has been brought in to help Tottenham chairman Andre Villas-Boas with the transfer market
However, he soon fell out of favor after spending £100m in the summer which resulted in several of his deals falling through. (from left to right), Paulinho, Christian Eriksen, Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Cherichis and Erik Lamela
Paul Mitchell (2014-2016)
While Baldini was still at the club, Mitchell joined Tottenham in late 2014 having previously enjoyed a positive working relationship with Pochettino during his time at Southampton.
His early work was positive and helped bring in a core of talent including Toby Alderweireld and Son Heung-min. Dele Alli also arrived, but Plett was acting as an advisor to Levy who would be key in landing the midfielder as Tottenham enjoyed a third-two finish in the Premier League as well as a Champions League final where the trio were heavily involved.
However, his role at Tottenham soon turned sour as he clashed with Levy, leading to his resignation ahead of the 2016-17 season and serving a 16-month notice period.
Paul Mitchell fell out with Daniel Levy before he served his notice and moved to RB Leipzig
Fabio Paratici (2021-present)
After Mitchell’s exit, Tottenham adopted a similar structure to the time Redknapp was in charge, with Pochettino having more of a role in player recruitment.
But once the Argentine and his successor, Jose Mourinho, walked out of the club, it felt like a sporting director was needed to steer Tottenham’s ship out of choppy waters.
Paratici came in after his stint at Juventus and got off to a terrible start helping the club try to appoint a new manager. The botched search saw moves for goals by Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso, while the eventual appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo was disastrous and he was gone in four months.
But the Italian then helped the club appoint Antonio Conte and then concluded important deals for Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski. The team qualified for the Champions League on the last day of the season after beating rival Arsenal.
However, the term has been dragged into the scandal by his time working at Juventus and his future at the club is now far from certain.
Fabio Paratici has had a mixed spell at Tottenham but his global ban, which will be enforced by FIFA, means he is now likely to leave the club by the start of next season.
Paratici’s 30-month ban extends to all football-related activities, whether administrative, sports or any other activities, at the national and international levels.
It is expected that this news will exclude him from having a role in the search for the new Tottenham coach, summer player transfers, or contract negotiations with star Harry Kane.
Since it emerged that Paratici had been suspended by the Italian Football Federation in January, the manager has been gradually sidelined by the club.
actually, sportsmail It was learned that Paracchi was adamant that Conte should see out the season at Tottenham. He is now likely to leave the club at the start of next season.
