Why saviour Levy had to axe Hoddle

The two men regularly briefed the media against each other and their lack of a relationship had a destabilising effect on the atmosphere and morale at the training ground.

Pleat knew that if a new manager were to come in during the summer, his position could too be under threat. But if Hoddle stayed and later failed, as has transpired, he was perfectly placed to take over as caretaker and help play the role of kingmaker for a new boss.

While Levy continued to back Hoddle, the rest of the board, though their views were noted, had to take a back seat. However, Levy's confidence in Hoddle took several blows over the summer, most notably because of the manager's intransigence over Emmanuel Petit.

The two men never enjoyed the closest of relationships despite efforts by others at the club to convince the outside world that they did. Levy often became exasperated by his manager and would comment to people: "You know Glenn he is very difficult."

Nevertheless, Hoddle could not argue that this summer his chairman had backed him to the hilt.

But having taken an £8m gamble over Helder Postiga and Bobby Zamora, the chairman was surprised by the manager's insistence that he wanted to sign Freddie Kanoute from West Ham as well.

Still willing to back his manager, Levy, like most Spurs observers, questioned whether the club needed a defensive midfield player to help shore up a fragile team.

At this stage Hoddle disagreed, saying there was plenty of cover in that position. But with Kanoute secured, the manager returned to the board to ask for more money for the aforementioned midfielder.

In itself this was not a problem. There was still money available for the right player. In a rapidly changing and declining market, Levy was happy to spend on younger players such as Robbie Keane, Postiga and Zamora as they were more likely to hold, or increase their value, as opposed to older players. His blocking of Hoddle's desire for Kevin Phillips was a case in point.

But when he asked who was wanted, Levy was not happy. Hoddle wanted Emmanuel Petit from Chelsea, an injury-prone star who is 33 this month and had twice turned down Spurs before and had played for rivals Arsenal.