A stadium that was a game changer they said, world class training facilities, they said… up the flippin’ creek without a paddle! came the reply.
Timothy Castagane was a long time Tottenham target.
Good spot from Ian Tuckey in The Sun today, who has quotes from the young Belgian players’ father, the aptly named Castagne Senior.
“He (Timothy) conducted a video conference with Jose Mourinho but Tottenham had to sell Serge Aurier first. With a little more money, they could have made an offer like Leicester.”
If my interpretation of this tale is correct, then the chances of Spurs weighing in for a second striker are gone – unless we can shift Serge Aurier this week. However, had we sold Aurier, the then the money would have been reinvested in another right-back anyway…
The only antidote to this underwhelming business might be, that Tottenham are planning to sell or loan out more players to free up capital.
Danny Rose is going to be a tough sell, especially once the Amazon episodes are released this week.
Has anyone got a ha’porth of tar?
I’m not sure I follow you about the buildings that ENIC was supposed to have bought… maybe you know something I don’t here but I’d be amazed if ENIC bought any buildings with THFC money that weren’t necessary to be bought in order for the stadium to be built. Anything bought “with THFC money” is the property of THFC – it has to be all accounted for.
I do agree with you that Levy and Lewis are going to make huge profit when the sell THFC, and that in itself doesn’t sit too well with me. I’ve stated that a few times now. I think that is their main aim.
The debt repayments are about £35m a year, and the extra revenue it will generate compared to the old place is £100m+, so for me it’s a no brainer. We will have an extra £60-70m coming through every season compared to if we’d have stayed in the old place, that’s money that can be spent on wages and transfers. What’s not to like about that?
Global revenues will increase massively – and if/when success on the pitch comes, they will rise massively again – as you point out.
Think about it this way, put yourselves in the shoes of Lewis and Levy and let’s say their business goal is to make as much money as poosible from us. They will only make this money when they sell the club, so they want to make the club as valuable as possible. They don’t take dividends shares, so any money made by the club stays in the club. How do they boost their investment? They will invest in the team.
I’m glad we never took the chance
Mate, every sports team and band big enough to fill it wants to play at our stadium. No one is cancelling unless pandemic related. it’s regarded as one of the best venues in the world for hosting these events, why wouldn’t you want to be here?!
We’ve not even had a full season there yet. Do you not like the place?
Some murderers have good reason to murder. Ie for killing the type of people you mentioned above. I’ve met some lovely murderers in them places. Things ain’t always black&white as you seem to think.
OK never. Better?
Arsenal can’t earn what my club can earn. Do you wish they could?
“CAN THEY CHUCK US OUT? DO WE PAY THEM RENT? HAVE WE GOT A TENANCY AGREEMENT? ” anchor Tennant’s? We just let people RENT out our stadium when we are not using it. Spelling/grammar ain’t my strong point but I’m sure “dum is spelt with a b.
Yes Joe Lewis 👍
Enic have Tottenham by the short and curlies 😏 They have a fantastic and very loyal fan base and I have to give them credit in the way they have marketed Tottenham Hotspur across the globe especially in America. Only time will tell whether us fans lose patience with the dream of one day we might actually win something. The club charge a lot of money for tickets and that will start to irritate supporters who are paying to watch an average squad of players at the moment, that cannot continue without causing angst amongst the fan base.
Our billionaire owner is not interested one iota in spending any of his massive wealth on the club he has deep in his heart , supposedly 😏 Enic as we all know create just enough interest for the fans to make us Want to believe this might be our season, enough to keep the income coming in., but never enough to win sweet f.a. How I would love to be proved totally wrong.
I don’t hate many people (apart from kiddie fiddlers, murderers and rapists), I don’t hate Levy, I just wish he’d f**ck off and leave it to someone who cares about football… you think he’s up to the job. Like the other mugs…
‘Soon’… 😂
How many events have we staged so far two NFL games and a gig for some 80’s has-beens that was cancelled anyway…
Present them here so they can be cross examined then…
No it didn’t.
I refer to an article written by HH some eleven month ago in which he quotes Aidan Mullaly, Tottenham’s Head of Business Development,
“It is an NFL stadium and that’s the key message. From the very start during the design phase, we have had the NFL in mind. The anchor tenant is Tottenham Hotspur, but this is designed to be a permanent home for the NFL outside the US. The NFL has been involved in the design process from the get-go.”
Do you get it now Dum Dum ?
My austerity analogy was more to do with the lies past on to the British people and the lies Levy perpetuates to the fans. The Government made the public sector workers the pariahs of the economic downturn and with it the media blamed them for it. With the slashing of public spending, the government still proceeded to more than double the debt investing in their own and their Billionaire backers’ interests.
Levy has used the Club and stadium to buy land under the ENIC umbrella to ‘regenerate’ the area. If this isn’t profiteering from the club, I don’t know what is. Some call it shrewd, some call it social cleansing! The money Joe and Danny will make off selling housing isn’t coming back to Spurs is it, but they put the club in to a massive generational debt to fill their pockets through a total mismanagement of the project? I understand the £40-£50m interest repayments are not going to kill the club (8 full home games pays it off) , but was it needed?
For me Levy was 10-15 years too late in building the stadium and greater success on the pitch would have increased global revenues. You cannot fault Levy as a businessman, but his ignorance of creating success on the field has a lot to be desired. Arsenal still haven’t recovered from moving out of Highbury. We are constantly fed the ‘poor’ lie, we never compete with the big spenders and the TV money certainly allowed us to, yet despite being one of the richest football clubs in the world we simply don’t behave like one that is going to win serial trophies.
‘Successful as possible’ is a term that has many caveats. Bournemouth were successful as possible weren’t they, but we deserve better. Spurs won trophies throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. If winning one trophy in 20 years is successful as possible then we’ve been fed a lie. Having faith in Levy is like waiting for your millionaire Aunt to die and then she leaves all her cash to the Cat’s Home! I admire your optimism and at least you can debate without getting ‘angsty’ and come that day when we do win something again, all Spurs fans will be cheering, but the last 5 years will be forever remembered with bitterness for me of what should have been.
Tottenham are a Tennant of ENIC? Can they chuck us out? You narf talk nonsense.
What does it say about them when they know how bad it is for them? Weak willed, addiction to something harmful. Not good for people, neither are ENIC.
We only played a handful of C.L matches at the new place in the end, most of it happened at Wembley. Yes, we didn’t even have a home ground and we were doing better than ever. I’ve been to four matches at the new place, all under Maureen. Nice stadium, sh*t football. So far anyway…
Not Wembley. OUR PLACE? Your man is to blame for us not being in the champions league. Relegation with him beckoned.
Right…
About 7 at Wembley. Real Madrid, ahhh those were the days…
Locomotive Plovdiv coming up, it’s a brave new world! 😂
How many champions league games did you get to?
“How many games did you get to home or away including the lamex? Any cup is glory for me
I do. The facts are out there
League Cup, Ropey is glory for you is it? I guess it depends on how high you set the bar, you’ve got it at the second rate bar. Just where Levy wants you and the other mugs…
If you say so…
Is that the best you could do? You’re getting weaker. You’re not worthy of my clubs incoming glory. How many games do you get to home or away? That includes the lamex
I respect your opinion but none of this is based on anything tangible. Did you read HH’s blog and the debt levels?
It’s always ‘in another few years’ under Levy, one League Cup in over 20 years suggests your optimism is completely unfounded… 😂
Mr freebie tickets, preaching about who he thinks the real fans are I just cannot take seriously.
The reality is that probably about 75% (minimum) of our support are of the same mind as me. So this 25% of diehards like you who don’t go away or travel more than a few miles to watch their club are the bedrock of our support are they? Dear oh dear… 😂 😂
Haha ok if you’re putting me on the spot, I’d guess in 5 years time I think we’ll be in great shape.
Albeit due in part to our CL run last year, we’re already ahead of both Arsenal and Chelsea, and we haven’t even had a full season in our stadium yet. But the question you ask is why more than Arsenal when they have a simlar sized stadium.
Our stadium is a money generating machine. we make enormous sums from the catering and hospitality. Because of it’s multi use aspect – which Arsenal don’t have and never will – we can host more events than them. A lot more.
Exposure to NFL gains us massive exposure in the US, as does hosting gigs for world famous music acts. This exposure in turns helps our sponsorship revenue, commercial revenue and potential stadium sponsorship to.
In a few years when we’re properly up and running and the pandemic is behind us, we’ll be miles ahead of Arsenal in terms of revenue generation. the question is what you believe they will do with that revenue – pocket it or spend on the squad.
I’ll try to address a few of the points you make, but important to say I do respect your take on it. No one knows for sure and I accept of course it’s more than possible I’m just being overly optimistic.
On austerity, the government runs a defecit every year. It’s their choice as to how much. Football clubs can’t do that, the money has to come from somewhere. Some are backed by sugar daddies, some try to make ends meet, others go bust. We’re run in the “trying to amke ends meet” category. FFP has attempted to force all clubs to do this, but some still get round it of course with dodgy sponsorships and loans. But the money does have to come from somewhere. Lewis has never put his own money into the club, and he never will, that’s something we have to accept. So we’re left with trying to make ends meet, and obviously the pandemic has stripped us of a chunk of funds.
When you say they want to keep the club austere while profiting, I’m not sure how. From the company accounts over the years you can see they do not take out shareholders dividends, so all the money the club makes, stays in the club, bar the money they pay on Levy’s wage (of course this should be lower, but no one ever doubted Levy wants to make his money somehow).
The point they will make all their money is the point they sell up. At that point a more successful club will be worth more than a less successful one, so even if you think that Lewis and Levy are only profiteering, it’s still in their best interest to be as successful as possible.
The dare sky walk is brilliant for my manor. Its all good.
Our revenue is already higher than theirs. They spend £150m more than us on wages and they’re still $h!t. Can’t compare their crappy analog stadium to my stadium. Plus Islington council have them by the balls. My club has Haringey council by the balls.
The promised land. Soon.
People still smoke.
All you do is moan about the man/men you hate so much. Nothing proactive. Not even a enic/levy out banner. Joke ting. When we break out the open top bus and if i see you in Tottenham celebrating I’d run you out. You deserve nothing from my club. None of the “wonkys” do. Fk the weak & faithless. Go support Leeds now they’re back in the premiere league like the rest of the cretins
They win everything in France, eventually they’ll win that too. The point is, is that they’re in the mix.
They win everything in France, eventually they’ll win that too. The point is, is that they’re in the mix.
Why would our revenues be significantly higher than Arsenal’s? They’ve got a shiny 60k stadium and guess what it’s already paid for. So what puts us and what we’re doing so much further ahead of them revenue wise? Just the NFL games?
They already spend about 150m a year more than us on wages, Cheatski about 250m more than us on wages alone. We’ve got to catch them up, let alone spend more.
None of what you’re saying stacks up I’m afraid. FFP doesn’t really exist if you’re a big club so how are things going to change dramatically? The only way is if we’re sold…
I wonder how Wilson And Frazer will go for the Maggies, happy they are not coming here. Unless we don’t sign anyone of course.
Of course they don’t have to use their own money if they don’t want to.
It’s the business model that’s the problem, it’s not based around success on the pitch. It’s all about pouring concrete in a previously/currently run down part of London and seeing big returns way down the line. It’s all about property development and not football.
Some people seem to think we are a bubble, immune to all the accepted logic around how to win big things and become a successful team.
As if none of it applies to us and that the spending going on around us is irrelevant. Liverpool, Citeh, Chavs, Utd and even a few others are outspending us by to an embarrassing degree…
Explain where that is, and when it’s likely to happen if you’re so sure….
That’s what they said about smoking, in the end they banned it. It was harmful and eventually it was dealt with because of people taking about it
Shhhh.. keep quiet about it, don’t moan or the players might hear us and play badly! 😂
They are an exception to the rule David. In general Eastie is right, the more you spend on better players the better your chances of success.
Think we will sign a striker, might not be a very good one, but we’ll sign one, otherwise Levy would be playing Mourinho for a fool and I don’t believe he can afford to do this so early in the “partnership”.
From a neutral perspective I’d like to see the Saints do well next season and forensically analyse the intense cheery Bielsa post match conference interviews.
Should be fun!
Seemingly the most attractive options are Troy Deeney, Josh King and Benteke – ouch!!
A poor start to the league campaign will surely raise the temperature especially if quietly improving Arsenal get out the traps quickly!!
Mourinhio is simply feeding on scraps!
Same here! Bypass the homepage by bookmarking the Harry Hotspur profile! I came here for the Harry blog, not the transfer tavern!
Well made points.
Ultimately we need a sugar Daddy running the club. Anybody out there?
The pandemic could well be an excuse to impose austerity measures for the next few years on to the club, much like how the government forced the public in to austerity for 10 years when it was far from needed. The pandemic and not getting Ch Lg is a ‘perfect storm’ for Levy to keep transfer activity to a minimum, whilst he and Lewis profit off the club. Much like how during austerity the rich got richer and the proletariat were forced in to food banks. 4 years ago we saw what was happening to our squad, yet Levy did little to address it. We are far from the team we were then, and we won nothing. We have Doherty and Hojbjerg instead of Walker and Dembele! Would you have taken that 4 years ago? It is always small steps with Levy and without risk, and you can’t keep asking for patience off the fans. One League Cup in 20 years is abysmal and Newcastle are now beating us to alleged transfer targets. Levy is doing nothing to get the fans on side and giving Mourinho scraps is hardly going to get us winning trophies. Doherty and Hojbjerg are good additions for a team in 6th, but neither are stellar, world class stars are they? Fans have been screaming out for a striker for years, still nothing. Levy papers over cracks too often for my liking and the problem with asking for patience is that if Levy and the club knew we were going to outspend other clubs in a few years time he would have taken more risks because winning trophies would have increased our worldwide fan base, which generates more revenue through sponsorship and merchandise. It was a risk worth taking, but Levy couldn’t have cared less. The future is important, but the here and now is where we are at.
Neymar, Mbappe et al, cost millions!
East your argument collapses when talking about PSG.
The owners have literally spent millions. Have they yet won the CL, the answer is no!
Anybody who is deceived by his impressive montage of video clips of Aurier at PSG will surely be overwhelmed by his “excellence” as we were duped into the signing!!Either that or our scouting system at the time was defective!!
Ditto the illogical signing of NDombele when what we clearly needed is a quality creative midfielder! Whilst Monsieur Dembele had his critics and failings for by his own admission not scoring enough goals with his sweet left peg on this blog frustratingly IMO nobody has bettered him since!!
Lorente was at least an effort to address the issue with an experienced player. I can see Giroud coming in, only problem is that Levy will want a third of what is already a thin squad sold off to facilitate that.
One step forward two steps back it should be the ENIC motto… in fact it might well be! 😂
Correct Ronan, there is a clear correlation between what you spend and what you win. Everyone knows that who work or who have worked in the game.
Anyone in denial of these facts is an idiot.
I know🌚
I know🌚
We’re going to get there, and it will feel damn good too.
I can’t understand fans running out of Patience now. year one at the n€w lan€ we were doing fin€ The money was starting to roll in and we were starting to spend, then C19 landed. The “are we there yet” lot, kicking the seats and moaning the whole journey and still doing so at the destination (stadium) I don’t get it. Give levy&Jose a chance at the n€w lan€ I say.
There’s newsnow for that nonsense. I prefer the cut nd thrust of tearing apart those charlatans ENIC
No. I’m talking about the entire world beyond one or two people on this site,
From the previews I’ve seen or heard nobody within the professional game or media is predicting silverware or top 4 for this team.
I am not sure how they funded buying the land and businesses required to build the new stadium but it was probably funded from debt not equity, secured on the football club’s cash flow. It was not funded by Lewis and Levy personally. When a figure of £2 bill is mentioned as a valuation of Enic, not the club which is a tenant of Enic’s, it is a gross figure which does not take into account Enic’s debts.
Enic is a property company which could become overstretched if it’s business model fails to work. Intu properties is in administration and there are a lot of commercial property companies in trouble. In some ways we are in a worse position than most clubs, particularly if the debt becomes difficult to service which could happen. Nobody could have foreseen Covid-19 coming but did we need to spend a billion on a new stadium? I wonder why Trevor Birch was appointed to the board? Although this has not merited much comment, I feel it might be significant.
I wanted Castagne because I never in a month of Sunday’s thought we had a prayer in getting Doherty.
No striker is a forking error is an understatement! no striker last summer was a forking error, no striker in Jan with kane injured was an absolute sh!throw which backfired tremendously with son getting injured! Btw this is why you wouldn’t hakf load a gun and go to war! If we didn’t sign a striker this summer its a sackable offense!!! Probably why the director of football operations has come in so it isnt levy being fired!!!!! Hasnt addressed a major issue in so long its suicide! God after typing a that i hope I didn’t swear
Woulda been nice to get both of them players.
Some wonky spurs fans dont want us to so they can say “see, told ya” well that won’t be happening.
Plus no bratva
Yeah it’s so frustrating watching other teams play by different rules. If we were bought by someone like Abramovich it could have been different but we can’t change what’s happened.
If you look to the future you should see something to believe in. We’ll get there in a few years mate. And when we do, we’ll be able to keep ahead because our revenue will be significantly higher than Chelsea or Arsenal.
Yeah it’s so frustrating watching other teams play by different rules. If we were bought by someone like Abramovich it could have been different but we can’t change what’s happened.
If you look to the future you should see something to believe in. We’ll get there in a few years mate. And when we do, we’ll be able to keep ahead because our revenue will be significantly higher than Chelsea or Arsenal.
Exactly!
Exactly!
I’m just despondent and looking at other clubs like Chelsea buying class to win things now and not when my mind starts going would be nice. Honestly mate I hope I’ve got it wrong and they change.
I’m just despondent and looking at other clubs like Chelsea buying class to win things now and not when my mind starts going would be nice. Honestly mate I hope I’ve got it wrong and they change.
They will. What can one do? Fk all.
They will. What can one do? Fk all.
That’s right, but ENIC own THFC, and they stand to make £2bn profit when they sell up. Levy and Lewis will make a fortune.
Tottenham’s stadium.
Well the money generated by the football team has gone into the stadium.
Yeah it’s like some sort of sick joke. The moment we could have been looking forward to competing on transfers and wages, we get hit by a pandemic!
Personally I’d understand any fan running out of patience. It’s a fair position. Maybe because I’m optimistic I like to believe it will work out. Time will tell what the true motivations are. They have finally run out of projects to spend money on so football is the only thing left!
If they bought the club for £22m how much more did they have to spend on buying all the land and businesses required to clear and demolish before building the new stadium,including rates and securing them for years before getting started,or is this included in the price of the stadium?.Every time the value of the club gets mentioned it seems to go from anything between £1.5 billion and £2 billion,but we still owe nearly £1billion ?on it,and with no revenue coming in anytime soon I would have thought the value would have been dropping. With recent developments regarding live match day broadcasts will there be less money coming in also while the payments and interest for the stadium still has to be paid. I don’t pretend to know the complexities of it all but with so much borrowing against the stadium and the other events planned to increase the revenue Rugby,NFL,Concerts etc all on hold are we not in a worse state than other clubs when it comes to buying players,until things get back to some sort of normality.
Nonsense. A lot of it. Tottenham money has NOT bought ENIC any property
Key word’ eventually ‘ always excuses,,,and when they run out of excuses will they then funnel money to the team ? Personally I don’t trust them anymore . As above with all clubs are affected ,we will see by the end of the window who is affected most or choose to be affected . Sell to spend again virtually since I can remember..
Bruce Grove does the tittle tattle, HH does the meaty stuff.
This is a good point regarding the value of the club. It’s one I have wrestled with in my mind too. Levy and Lewis are due to cash in to the tune of £2bn when they choose to sell. It’s an incredible feat of profiteering.
That said, I’m not against the stadium build. It will enable our club to move to a higher level. It’s an amazing place I love going there. I don’t understand those who say they don’t like it. It’s a wonderful place.
The thing that was always holding us back was not so much the transfer fees but the wages. Our turnover was restricting our wage budget to much lower than our rivals. We could splash the cash on players instead of the stadium but with a low wage budget we’d never get that far. The new stadium will eventually enable us to properly compete with our rivals on wages. That’s the key thing.
It’s a particularly painful time because of the pandemic and cash flow is low. All clubs are affected by this and we’re no different. I don’t know how wolves are doing it but perhaps they plan to sell player too?
That’s the plot for the porn film I watched last night. Much more fun than what’s going on with our transfer policy.
As usual, you make a good point. They did not make any promises to put their own money in, but the question you might ask yourself is are they enriching themselves at the expense of the club’s success? Before work started on the new stadium, there was approximately £350 mill on the club’s balance sheet. Some of these funds could have been used to strengthen the team at the time that Poch was imploring the board to be brave. Instead the funds went to the new stadium which then went 100% over budget and was a year late in delivery. You claim that we are self financing but I contest this. Lewis might not take funds directly out of the club but a £22 mill investment has morphed into a reputed £2 bill valuation. This happened by using monies engendered by on field activities to invest in property directly owned by Enic at the expense of football success. Levy was also awarded an enormous bonus. What for? For going 100% over budget on the new stadium. I prefer the Liverpool model which identified the players they needed to win trophies before making plans to extend Anfield’s capacity.
In the 20 odd years that they have owned the club correct me if I’m wrong ,but I don’t remember them promising to use their own money to finance the buying of players,so if their personal wealth is in the millions or billions, is that not immaterial. We all know it’s run as a business so there will always be limited funds.Getting back to Castagne I believe Jose was interested but surely that dropped the minute his friend Jorge Mendes told him he could have Doherty .Leicester do run a good football club on all accounts.
In the 20 odd years that they have owned the club correct me if I’m wrong ,but I don’t remember them promising to use their own money to finance the buying of players,so if their personal wealth is in the millions or billions, is that not immaterial. We all know it’s run as a business so there will always be limited funds.Getting back to Castagne I believe Jose was interested but surely that dropped the minute his friend Jorge Mendes told him he could have Doherty .Leicester do run a good football club on all accounts.
You are completely missing my point I believe that .Mourinho’s first choice was Castagne and that is borne out by the piece from the Sun above but any Spurs manager seldom gets the players he wants. Leicester have a much better scouting and transfer record than us. Witness the signings of Mahrez, Vardey, Maddison, Pereira., Kante., N’Didi and Soyuncu. They are a properly run football club, but not withstanding the comparison, the whole point of my blog was to ask the same question which is asked by the Spurs fans every transfer window, WHY ARE THE FUNDS LIMITED? We are the eighth richest club in the world with two billionaire owners. I am sick of hearing excuses for these parasites.
Anybody who’s seen Aurier play isn’t going to pay much for his services. Certainly not if they’re in the market for a defender. A position he plays in, but just not very good at.
H… On a slightly different note. Does your protege Bruce Grove Garner his headlines from Newsnow ? I have to confess I rarely if ever read his threads because of the similarities.
maybe replace “would” with “could”
Ollie Watkins would be a good signing, young, quick and can score goals, and he’s English…more of a risk than Wilson but Levy may prefer him this as his value could increase..
That journey gave me travel sickness, but no back up striker is forking error.