Flashspur
Well-Known Member
- Jul 28, 2012
- 6,883
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From the mouth of our own Michae Dawson.........I feel better now to know that for Lewis its just not a business but there is passion there. How lucky are we to be owned and managed by real fans?
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...ootball-news+(Daily+Express+::+Football+Feed)
Michael Dawson’s happy to sail along with Joe Lewis
IT TURNS out there are two types of Premier League owner – the haves and the have yachts.
By: Matthew Dunn
Published: Sat, September 28, 2013
0Comments
Michael Dawson says meeting Joe Lewis has given him a new perspective [GETTY]
It was only when long-serving Spurs captain Michael Dawson finally met reclusive billionaire owner Joe Lewis for the first time during the summer that he realised Tottenham can count themselves among the very biggest players in English football.
At 233ft, Lewis’s yacht is less than half the size of Roman Abramovich’s floating palace. Similarly, at an estimated worth of £2.6billion, the 76-year-old has some way to go to catch the Chelsea owner’s Forbes-assessed fortune of £6.34bn.
But having been welcomed aboard the Aviva III with the rest of the team during a post-season tour of the Bahamas in May, Dawson finally gets where the club is coming from, the genuine love of football possessed by Spurs’ mysterious benefactor, and the ambitions that could see Lewis “do an Abramovich” over the next five years.
“I had never met him before, so it was nice to go over there and a great experience,” said Dawson.
“What a really nice guy. And that yacht is unreal! But he’s just a normal guy. You could chat to him about anything. He tunes into all the games, he loves it. We just sat there chatting. He made us feel so welcome over there. It was relaxed. A lot of team-bonding together.
“It helps to be able to put a face to the person investing so much in this club he wants to be successful.
“He’s always watching. He knows what goes on. He would remember every game, every little thing.
“Having met him, I think everyone knows now how the club works with players. You go out there and you’re committed. When you pull that white shirt on, you cross that line and you go out there to win football matches.
“There’s one thing you don’t do and that’s come off having not given it your all. You certainly fight for one another and try to win. Sometimes you do win and sometimes you don’t. But if you don’t work hard it’s certainly not acceptable.”
Abramovich, while resolutely silent, remains a very public figure at Stamford Bridge and has even been known to march angrily into the dressing room after games. By contrast, the rarely-photographed Lewis watches most of the games on the box and on the handful of occasions he does get to White Hart Lane each season he is anonymous as he slips in and out of the directors’ box.
When it comes to signing the cheques, though, Spurs’ statement of intent in breaking their own transfer record three times in the same window shows that, where it matters, the two owners of today’s opponents are not such different animals after all.
Dawson said: “Is there a feeling that Spurs can do something great? That’s what we are striving for with the investment that the chairman has made. We want to win things. We want to win trophies, we want to be in the best competitions.
“We keep improving but it doesn’t change overnight. It takes time. But the manager is doing that, and the players we have are a great group, with great spirit.
“In five years’ time Spurs could definitely have won the title and be one of the big teams that people always talk about. But it’s no good talking about it, you’ve got to go and do it.
“You end up where you deserve to be and we have to produce as players on the pitch. The chairman has backed us and spent. Now it’s down to us to perform.”
Edited: come on, you know not to post copyrighted images, especially Getty ones - Rob
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...ootball-news+(Daily+Express+::+Football+Feed)
Michael Dawson’s happy to sail along with Joe Lewis
IT TURNS out there are two types of Premier League owner – the haves and the have yachts.
By: Matthew Dunn
Published: Sat, September 28, 2013
0Comments
Michael Dawson says meeting Joe Lewis has given him a new perspective [GETTY]
It was only when long-serving Spurs captain Michael Dawson finally met reclusive billionaire owner Joe Lewis for the first time during the summer that he realised Tottenham can count themselves among the very biggest players in English football.
At 233ft, Lewis’s yacht is less than half the size of Roman Abramovich’s floating palace. Similarly, at an estimated worth of £2.6billion, the 76-year-old has some way to go to catch the Chelsea owner’s Forbes-assessed fortune of £6.34bn.
But having been welcomed aboard the Aviva III with the rest of the team during a post-season tour of the Bahamas in May, Dawson finally gets where the club is coming from, the genuine love of football possessed by Spurs’ mysterious benefactor, and the ambitions that could see Lewis “do an Abramovich” over the next five years.
“I had never met him before, so it was nice to go over there and a great experience,” said Dawson.
“What a really nice guy. And that yacht is unreal! But he’s just a normal guy. You could chat to him about anything. He tunes into all the games, he loves it. We just sat there chatting. He made us feel so welcome over there. It was relaxed. A lot of team-bonding together.
“It helps to be able to put a face to the person investing so much in this club he wants to be successful.
“He’s always watching. He knows what goes on. He would remember every game, every little thing.
“Having met him, I think everyone knows now how the club works with players. You go out there and you’re committed. When you pull that white shirt on, you cross that line and you go out there to win football matches.
“There’s one thing you don’t do and that’s come off having not given it your all. You certainly fight for one another and try to win. Sometimes you do win and sometimes you don’t. But if you don’t work hard it’s certainly not acceptable.”
It helps to put a face to the man who is investing so much in us -
Michael Dawson
Meeting with the owner just makes things more personal. The players now understand who – as far as their pay cheques are concerned – they are doing it for, even if most Tottenham fans would not recognise the man who bankrolls their football if they met him in the street.Michael Dawson
Abramovich, while resolutely silent, remains a very public figure at Stamford Bridge and has even been known to march angrily into the dressing room after games. By contrast, the rarely-photographed Lewis watches most of the games on the box and on the handful of occasions he does get to White Hart Lane each season he is anonymous as he slips in and out of the directors’ box.
When it comes to signing the cheques, though, Spurs’ statement of intent in breaking their own transfer record three times in the same window shows that, where it matters, the two owners of today’s opponents are not such different animals after all.
Dawson said: “Is there a feeling that Spurs can do something great? That’s what we are striving for with the investment that the chairman has made. We want to win things. We want to win trophies, we want to be in the best competitions.
“We keep improving but it doesn’t change overnight. It takes time. But the manager is doing that, and the players we have are a great group, with great spirit.
“In five years’ time Spurs could definitely have won the title and be one of the big teams that people always talk about. But it’s no good talking about it, you’ve got to go and do it.
“You end up where you deserve to be and we have to produce as players on the pitch. The chairman has backed us and spent. Now it’s down to us to perform.”
Edited: come on, you know not to post copyrighted images, especially Getty ones - Rob
