How Daniel Levy's former right-hand man helped build a model club

Paul Barber (left) celebrates Brighton's promotion to the Premier League in 2017 with chairman Tony Bloom. Photo: Getty Images/Mike Hewitt

On Saturday, two old friends will cross paths in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium's sumptuous executive lounge.

Paul Barber has been Brighton's chief executive since 2012, but before that managed Tottenham for six years and credits Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy as a key influence on his career.

“I am highly respected. for him and what he achieved with the Spurs,” says Barber.

Tottenham, under Levy, has long been seen as a model for those clubs who aspire to constantly compete in the top flight of the Premier League without irresponsible spending or an unsustainable dependence on a wealthy owner.

And yet who could really look at Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur in recent seasons and still argue that it is Saturday's visitors who have the most to learn from their hosts, especially when it comes to the delicate science of upgrading coaches and renewing squads.

Brighton's annual revenue is around £300m less than Spurs, but they can still move up within one point of their fifth-place rivals on Saturday, and that's it that's with two games in hand and an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley against Manchester United. k.

While Tottenham have been pushing for Christian Stellini to become their interim manager since the departure of Antonio Conte nearly two weeks ago, there is a glaring contrast to how Brighton acted so forcefully in appointing Roberto De Zerbi after Graham Potter's shock departure . at Chelsea.

A similar lack of destabilizing uncertainty has been seen since other past changes, especially when Potter was appointed following the sudden removal of Chris Hughton.

Brighton's contingency planning is so deeply built into the structure that 25 keys turn on and off. — the outfield positions have been determined and the club is constantly updated with a short list of potential replacements for each role.

This process has gone into what owner Tony Bloom called «overdrive» after Potter started talking to Chelsea , but De Zerby, who was out of a job after the Ukrainian war cost him his job at Shakhtar Donetsk, was already the preferred candidate.

Brighton carefully assessed De Zerby's reputation long before Chelsea owner Todd Boly probably even recognized Graham Potter's name, especially two seasons at Sassuolo, the small Italian club, which he led to an eighth straight Serie A spot.< /p>

But it's no longer enough just to notice that a manager has a club that surpasses him in weight in another major European league. Anyone with internet access can manage this. The critical part is that Brighton consistently know who they aspire to be and then have the necessary analysis, intelligence and judgment to find their opponent.

Thus, it was noted how De Zerbi's Sassuolo played during the first offensive press, as well as the perceived fit with Brighton's style of play, and an assessment of the nature of whether De Zerbi this player matches the values ​​that every employee should embody .

Roberto De Zerbi proved to be the right character for Brighton. Credit: PA/John Walton

«We're trying to make sure we were to lose any of these 25 [key employees] on any given day, any year, we know what we'll do to replace them,» says Barber . «We can never predict when Chelsea will come for Graham Potter or when the CFO says he wants to spend more time with his grandchildren.

“What we can do is try to anticipate these opportunities and make sure we have a replacement either in the building (ideal scenario) or outside the building. And what do we know about them then? Changes will happen — no matter who you are — and they will have an impact if you don't plan for them.”

Barber spoke to Telegraph Sport only in the context of Brighton and before Conte. care, but it's a look that certainly makes you wonder about comparative complexity elsewhere.

The same goes for Spurs, where despite all of Levy's success with the stadium and Champions League qualification in five of the last seven seasons, it's becoming increasingly difficult to define a long-term vision around which to shape the next managerial shortlist.

Indeed, while there are clear commonalities in Brighton's transition from Houghton to Potter to De Zerby, a striking feature of Tottenham's managerial family tree is the sudden shifts from malleable manager-managers to strict disciplinarians. .

So in the last 19 years we have had Martin Yol, Juande Ramos, Harry Redknapp, André Villas-Boas, Tim Sherwood, Mauricio Pochettino, José Mourinho, Nuno Espiroto Santo and finally Conte. It is a sequence that suggests that managerial appointments were shaped more in reaction to what came before than any solid identity and foundation. So it's no surprise that the playing team also struggled to move from the heights of the Pochettino days between 2014 and 2019.

«No manager, no football director and the uncertainty around our star player and our finish at the end of the season ', the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Foundation said in a statement. “The fans deserve to hear a clear presentation of the strategy from THFC, so that the board of directors will convince them that they plan to achieve success and stability in the club.”

This is true, and in formulating this strategy, “ Tottenham could do a lot worse than learn from Saturday's guests.