Vinai, Vidi, Vici?

One day, in my final year at St Pauls C of E Primary School in Winchmore Hill, a ceremony was held to hand over the keys for a new minibus to a local charity. It would have been 1975, or possibly 1976. The whole school, staff and pupils, assembled on our football pitch for the event, a piece of land which sloped markedly from one end to the other. This was something I was acutely aware of. As the school goalkeeper I had to contend with it being dry as a bone in one goalmouth and a permanent mud bath in the other.

The mature Horse Chestnut trees behind the lower goal, providers of our annual supply of conkers, rustled in a strong wind. It was one of those breezy English days where the natural light switches up then down as the fast moving clouds alternately shade then clear the path of the morning sun. After the keys were duly handed over, a long line of excited school children formed in front of a hastily arranged table, behind which sat the celebrity guest. A large man with a thick mop of hair nearly down to his shoulders, he appeared somewhat incongruous in the setting. Reaching the front of the line, I took great pride in informing him that I was the school goalie. He was a man of few words but he smiled amiably and passed me a signed photograph. As he did so I realised just quite how large his hands were, and not only compared to mine. He was my Spurs idol.

Like me, many of you will have become a Spurs supporter at a young age. When I speak to Spurs fans about why they became a fan of a club which, let’s be honest, is not the most adept at winning trophies, usually they will name players. Fabulous players. Ginola, Gascoigne, Greaves or even Blanchflower, depending on their vintage. I was a goalkeeper when I started going to Spurs with my dad as a kid, so the man I got to meet that morning was my hero. Pat Jennings.

Every now and again I see one of those polls that people put on social media asking who was the best ever Spurs goalkeeper. The answers are divided between those too young to have seen Jennings play and those old enough to have had the privilege. The former might choose Lloris or Thorstvedt. The latter will say Jennings, always. He was peerless amongst all goalkeepers, let alone those that have played for Spurs.

And then there was Hoddle. Don’t get me started…

We love football and we love Spurs because that is what we grew up doing. Our passion was ignited at an early age.

All of which is to highlight a point about our club Chief Executive Officer, Vinai Venkatesham. Much has been said about the fact that he’s a former Arsenal man. The thing that concerns me about him is not that he spent 14 years on the wrong side of North London and became the CEO at our fiercest rivals. It is that, as far as I can tell, he’s not a football fan at all. Not in the sense that I am (and probably you are). 

If you’ve considered submitting an article to The White Hart Review you may have read the submission guidelines (please do, by the way). These state that “AI-generated content is not accepted (AI tools may be used for editing or fact-checking)”. In the role of copy editor and fact checker though, it’s a fabulous tool. I pushed it a few times to go and find out about the young Vinai. What I discovered about his childhood football allegiance is this:        .

No, that’s not a typo. It’s a nothing.

Vinai was born in England, of Indian heritage, and it is thought that he grew up in the Twickenham area. Maybe he was more into rugby than the round ball game. He attended the Latymer Upper School (not to be confused with The Latymer School in Edmonton, just up the road from Tottenham, which yours truly attended). From there he went to Oxford to study Economics and Management, later working in corporate roles including as a strategy consultant for Deloitte. 

As you can tell Vinai is a very intelligent man and, judging from what I’ve heard from those who have engaged with him, a very charming and eloquent one. 

But here’s the bottom line: there's nothing in the public record that suggests he was a fan of a particular football club as a child, or that he followed football at all when he was growing up. His route into football leadership appears driven by professional experience and opportunity, not lifelong fandom. Follow the money, as they say.

In some ways he’s a perfect fit for the club that Tottenham Hotspur has become, with his expertise in economics, management, and strategy. His intelligence, professional experience and opportunism remind me of Levy. His charm and eloquence less so.

He’s not one of us, but he wasn’t a Gooner when he went there either. During the four years he was their CEO he improved their commercial position, but guess how many trophies they won? None. And his part in the Thomas Partey situation reflects even less favourably on him.

It could be said it's been a chequered start to his career at Spurs. Personally, I’d describe it as disastrous. What is not yet clear is how much of it is his fault. Will he turn out to be another failed appointment? Or is he a brilliant man who was initially stuck between a culturally mis-aligned manager and an ownership family that is never going to invest the funds needed to compete at the highest level? 

Either way, judging by the current mood on social media, he's surely feeling the heat. He's failed to impress much of the supporter base, including me.

It's 50 years since I stood on my school field, bursting with excitement at being in the presence of my hero. My affinity for the club has waxed and waned since that time, but it's always been there.

And what about Vinai? When did the most influential man in the organisation start caring about Tottenham Hotspur Football Club?

April 2025.

Vinai, vidi, vici? He came, he saw, but will he conquer?

My latin joke, of which I confess to being disproportionately proud, reminds me that Caesar was slain on the Ides of March (15th), leading to the rise of the Roman Empire. We've got Liverpool away that day. Of course I'm not advocating the ceremonial slaying of the CEO, but there may be an omen in there.

The rise of a new empire would, after all, be most welcome.

Andrew Pettifer is the author of "When the Final Whistle Blows: Glory, Grief and Tottenham Hotspur"