Daniel Levy's faith in Mauricio Pochettino is a key part of the Tottenham Hotspur success story

Prior to Pochettino's arrival at the club in 2014, Levy had a reputation as tight, tough and trigger-happy. But the pair's strong relationship is a key factor in Tottenham's recent transformation

Levy has never had such a strong relationship with one of his managers (Getty)

Over the past three seasons, the revolution Tottenham Hotspur have been making off the pitch has been every bit as important as the revolution they have been making on it.

And while the exploits of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen have been dominating most of the headlines, Tottenham’s steady, self-assured transformation from perennial mid-table team into title challengers would not have been possible without a series of decisions made at boardroom level.

From the club’s state of the art new training facility to their 61,000-capacity new stadium; from their redefined approach to talent management and player contracts to a new, hardened mentality: Tottenham are a completely different beast from the club Mauricio Pochettino inherited in the summer of 2014.

Spurs are a very different team now than the one Pochettino inherited (Getty)

But perhaps the most significant off the pitch transformation has also been the most unheralded. That is the relationship between Pochettino and the club chairman, Daniel Levy. Renowned as temperamental and trigger-happy before the Argentinian’s arrival, in Pochettino Levy has invested a level of trust never before seen in his 16-year stint as chairman.

Pochettino is grateful for the support. “Daniel deserves a lot of credit for these three years,” the manager said at Tottenham’s sparkling new training ground, ahead of their Friday night derby against West Ham. “His support is massive to myself and everything he has been doing has been great for the staff, the players and the supporters. And it is important that that is recognised.”

So smooth has Tottenham’s ascent to the top been since Spurs poached Pochettino from Southampton, and so striking the psychological transformation at the very heart of the club, that it is easy to forget that there were disgruntled supporters protesting against Levy’s running of the club as recently as March 2014. Two forlorn ‘LEVY OUT’ signs were spotted before a 1-0 loss to Arsenal at White Hart Lane. How long ago that seems now.

Spurs fans protesting against Levy, in 2014 (Getty)

Levy remains an intriguingly divisive figure among supporters. While his notoriously hard bargaining skills have delighted fans and frustrated rival clubs in equal measure – as one unnamed chairman told the Daily Mail in 2015: “Daniel likes to squeeze your balls until your eyes start to water” – there is no doubting that his parsimony has, at times, cost the club.

And then there has been the carousel of managers under his stewardship. Levy has overseen the hiring and firing of no fewer than 10 managers while sitting in the boardroom at White Hart Lane: as many as Spurs had in the preceding three decades before his arrival in 2001. He has also been absolutely brutal when he felt it necessary; sacking Martin Jol after first contacting his eventual replacement Juande Ramos, for example, and axing Harry Redknapp less than a month after he had steered the club to a top-four finish.

Levy is a notoriously tough negotiator (Getty)

It would appear that side of Levy has not got anywhere, as Pochettino would be the first to tell you. When asked whether Levy was a vastly different character from the Machiavellian character portrayed in the media, Pochettino laughed. “That is true and the perception is real,” he smiled. “He is so tough. And he is so hard. But he is a chairman and it is not easy to manage a club of this size. If you were a soft person it would be so difficult to manage, and so difficult to succeed.”

But Pochettino has also seen another side to Levy, a side that supporters of the club know far less about.

“I see a different side,” Pochettino nodded. “We spend a lot of time together – and a lot of time talking – and I am happy to see that other side to him. He is very human, and he is sensitive and clever, too. And he is funny. That is how I know him.”

It is testament to the impression that Pochettino has made on Levy that, even during the testing periods of his three seasons at the club, there has never been even the slightest suggestion that his position could be vulnerable. Spurs made a slow start to life under his tutelage and lost five of their opening 11 games to sit in an unimpressive 12th-place, for starters. There have also been a number of cup disappointments – such as defeat to Chelsea in the 2015 League Cup final, as well as an underwhelming Champions League campaign this year.

And then there was the infamous capitulation at the end of last season, when a 5-1 defeat to already relegated Newcastle United saw Tottenham conspire to somehow finish third in a two-horse race. But even then, Levy’s commitment to Pochettino remained steadfast.

Pochettino signed a new long-term deal last season (Getty)

“Of course he is my boss, so it was difficult,” Pochettino said of the club’s faltering finish. “But his reaction was so supportive, it was very good. I know him and he knows me too. I was so upset and so he gave me a few days with no messages and no calls and then he came to see me, face-to-face.

“He was supportive. And he said to me: ‘I know very well that you are so upset. And that is why I do not want to disturb you. But now we can speak because now – after two days – we are a little bit more relaxed.’ It was good. It was easy for him to blame me or the team, but he was very supportive.”

There is a chance that Pochettino will be hoping for a similar level of understanding from his chairman next season. Last week, it was announced that the club would be playing all of their 2017/18 home games at Wembley Stadium, ahead of the move to their new ground in time for the following campaign. Considering that Spurs have lost seven of their last nine matches at the national stadium, it is a daunting prospect.

Spurs will play all of their home games at Wembley next season (Getty)

Not that Pochettino is worried. “Daniel is the first person interested when it is all going well and when it is not going well he is the first person to try and find solutions because he is the most important person at the club,” he said. “It is still too far to speak about Wembley, about good or bad results there. You will see.

“But if we are not doing well and if the results are not good, then maybe Daniel will not be happy and maybe he will be tired with my face and say: ‘go home’. Because if the results are no good than the first to go is always the manager. But I understand.”

Given the transformation he has overseen at the club that looks an exceptionally unlikely possibility. Levy trusts Pochettino, and that is perhaps the most significant indicator yet that Tottenham are now ready to cement their position at the Premier League's top table.