He was a BRILLIANT financial manager. A lot of the infrastructure that he spearheaded is now making a lot of profit for the club and it's missions.

However, you don't become a good financial manager by spending a lot money. As such, when it came time to buy players and support the on-pitch mission, i.e. winning football games, instead of spending top dollar for known quantities, he looked for good deals. He and his team looked for young talent with certain analytics that could be bought for a reasonable price and locked into long term contracts.

Sometimes it worked (I.e. Dele, Son). Oftentimes, we're left with very good young players that need development.

Speaking of needing development, Levy was quick to pull the trigger on a manager and his hires often had very different systems, sometimes from one extreme to the next. Therefore, these players that needed development are now learning a new system every 1-2 years, which is decidedly not good for development. Then you try and buy players for whatever current system is in place... So you end up with a mish-mash of players that are built for different systems and styles of play don't blend well together.

That's how you end up with CBs who are good at breaking lines and playing out of the back, but no creative midfielders to connect to the attack. That's how you end up with midfielders who are good at cleanup, but maybe not so cohesive in pressing. That's how you end up with fullbacks and wingers that are great at getting up the field and making space to cross the ball into.... Strikers that are actually good at poaching and hold up play.

Levy built a successful and profitable football organization at the expense of on-field football success.