Last night, Eric Dier was prompted to clamber into the West Stand in order to confront a home supporter who, it is alleged, was insulting Dier’s brother, who was at the game along with other relatives.
This unsavoury sideshow was merely symptomatic of the unmitigated chaos that Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has slowly slipped into over the last few years of ENIC’s meddlesome reign.
Of course the stadium is magnificent, indeed it ought to be, it cost in excess of a billion pounds, of which Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is liable to its various bankers to the tune of £637million, a number that even eclipses the behemoth debts accrued by Manchester United.
Hotspur Way is equally fine, and just looking at photos, one could mistake this training facility for a resort in Dubai. It ought to be, that was also paid for with loans, in the name of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
My laboured point in respect of both building constructions being… that neither were gifts to the club. There were calculated expansions for which, amongst his day-to-day duties, Daniel Levy has been compensated handsomely.
This new business model adopted by ENIC at Spurs has been revolutionary, make no mistake about that. No other successful English football club has ever opted to demolish their existing stadiums*, in order to magnify existing revenue streams and add previously unimagined ones. The convention up until ENIC, was to build teams, win silver-wear and grow their empires organically. The men most commonly associated with this method are household names to most fans. Bill Shankly, Brian Howard Clough, Alex Ferguson and Bill Nicholson.
*Arsenal demolished their Highbury ground, however some have suggested to me that they did this as they simply ceased trading.
The premise of the ENIC model is a financial utopia, where the football club would have unrivalled spending power from money generated by the broader portfolio that a huge, multifunction stadium would bring. Indeed, if one Google’s our current ground, and opts for the satellite view, the only branding visible is an NFL logo in the middle of the grass. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (naming rights still available) is not a football ground any more. ENIC have made this crystal clear.
While we wait for the utopia, the football itself has fallen to pieces, under Pochettino’s tenure, there was a sense of progression, or at least an implied threat of the same, despite a continued trophy drought. The focus on the stadium clearly proved too much of a distraction and even Paul Mitchell recently remarked that the challenge to manage the squad and the ground development had proved too much.
Poch was removed from post as the side drifted in a comatose state towards relegation. José Mourinho was brought in, on double Mauricio’s money, to rejuvenate the team. It’s pretty obvious that the task before the Special One is too onerous, even for the celebrated, wily Portuguese.
Dier’s storming into the crowd last night, hurdling row after row of seats, looked crazy because it happened spontaneously, live on TV in real time.
What ENIC have done to Spurs looked a lot less crazy because it has happened at a glacial speed, with every minutia of detail swathed in what appeared to be rational explanations and implied wisdom.
The bottom line is, the debt is generational and the core audience of this non-millennial blog won’t get to see the benefits of any financial utopia, IF it were to ever happen anyway.
Which will undoubtedly prompt accusations of “entitlement”? Yup, guilty as charged. I believe I’m entitled to say that I want to watch Spurs do well while I’m still alive, rather than suffer, in order that future generations might get to witness an advantage.
The damage to our football team is not Pochettino’s fault, the damage to our football team is not Mourinho’s fault.
Eric Dier shouldn’t have hurdled seats last night in order to confront a stranger he should have taken the stairs. ENIC shouldn’t have done what they’ve done, in order to confront what they clearly felt was a limited return on their original investment. Which was also a loan.
To dare is too dear. Unless of course, the dare is to knock down a much loved spiritual home, and replace it with a sports themed shopping centre. In which case …money’s no object.
