I read an exchange on social media between two fans this morning that perhaps sums up Tottenham’s current woes with the summer transfer window, which is about to close in a matter of days.
‘Still trying for Reguilon.’
‘Trying, just pay the money, no?’
Daniel Levy just put out one of his usual impossibly well worded statements, this time via the Amazon Prime documentary, where he lamented the average supporters’ naivety when it came to transfer deals and their inherent complexities. This from a man, it ought to be noted, demolished a perfectly good football stadium and replaced it with generational debts that are closer to a billion pounds than anyone might have thought imaginable when the project began.
So how did we arrive in this curious position of being a Deloitte Darling, yet incapable of winning anything, because our squad has so many holes in it, and we are too broke to fix them?!
At the risk of being boring, we need to divest ourselves of the ‘it’s all COVID-19’s fault’ go-to excuse, and start asking questions that the regular mob of journalists at Hotspur Way pressers would never ask, because they would have their privileges withdrawn faster than you could say ‘Baldrick, I’d like you meet the Lord High Executioner of Dunny-on-the-Wold…’
Tottenham don’t have any money for a few reasons, the first is that they sank a club record into a player without undertaking due diligence. We asked a year ago why Spurs had bought a player with a bad track record when it came to staying fit and training properly. Only a few months later the reality of Ndombele sank in, with Mourinho saying “I would imagine this is the 10th injury”
Now back to the pandemic. If you want to truly lose yourself in a stimulating corner of the Internet, then I suggest the insurance sector. Oh boy, what fun. The COVID-19 didn’t arrive out of the blue. In fact, one could quite calmly make a case for trouble brewing having been brewing for night on two decades.
By April 1, 2003, insurance companies began issuing SARS-specific endorsements on policies and, by mid-April, the SARS exclusion was almost universally issued.
policyholderpurse
What I continue to struggle with, is that the home of British Tennis, Wimbledon took out cover against a pandemic, yet ENIC didn’t bother. The last time I looked, Wimbledon’s biggest commercial partner makes high-end wristwatches, and Tottenham Hotspur’s is an… yep, an insurance company.
Back to the exchange on Twitter at the top of the page, and there is no reason why a big club like Spurs ordinarily would be elbowed out of discussions for some less than blue chip players that we have been linked with this window. But these are not ordinary times – for Tottenham.
For other clubs, these are pretty ordinary times, more or less. A cursory glance at today’s Premier League pages in The Telegraph proves that.
Kai Havertz completes move to Chelsea for £62million
Wolves to break transfer record with £35million signing of teenager Fabio Silva
Newcastle beat Aston Villa to sign £20m Callum Wilson from Bournemouth
Exclusive: West Ham make £27million bid for Burnley defender James Tarkowski
Spurs do get a mention. “Spurs open to Danny Rose departure”.
Match day revenues have been hit, but that’s become small potatoes over time, as clubs have been engulfed in cash for competition and broadcast rights.
ENIC are poised for an historic fail at Tottenham. 3 months ago, we brought you the news that THFC’s debt repayments were set to overtake the transfer spend.
- Tottenham’s total debt up to £852million
- £215million of the bill is composed of interest
- Some debts will still be outstanding until 2050
- Repayments will average £37m-a-year until 2042
- Over the last 5 years, only £21m-a-season was spent on transfers
That was before Mr Levy had to snatch an additional low interest loan from the Bank of England for £175million.
I put it to you that ENIC ought to have left White Hart Lane well alone, and gone and built their spaceship some place else. We’re now shackled to this debt, with just the hope that by 2050, we might, just might, get treated to some modest rewards.
A club our size should never have been a mid table side. Being as we are now top six (seems that’s where we are at) should not have taken 20 years. It’s ridiculous…
To be a European Cup /CL Champion,you first have to qualify for the competition.In my lifetime supporting Spurs, 50 plus odd years we have only qualified for the top competition five times,all under the current regime. 🤔 getting to within (90 mins) of winning it. It’s interesting that you now think we are to be compared or expected to be at the level of one of the best teams around even if we managed to finish above them on several occasions,it goes to show how far we have come from being that mid table side of 20 years ago. Would a domestic cup or two make us any bigger a side in the eyes of the top teams in Europe,or has those years competiting in the CL done more.
Yeah but they won’t just be building a football stadium will they. (Like you think we should’ve. No money in it, ask arsenal. They’ll be copying the TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM. them stadiums you mentioned cannot be compared. why do you find it hard to feel proud of our home that is the envy of the world?
Cant think of much worse than spending the rest of my life sunning myself in Spain. each to their own though. Ola
Wait a minute the chavski’s are staying within the rules of Financial fair play just like us aren’t they 🤦♂️😂
Yeah, but they win stuff, big stuff. 6x European champions and now English champions. I’d rather play in a sh*t hole if that’s what happens! 😂
Is he? Sunning himself down on the south coast of Spain? Ok… Poor old Marbs! 😂
Great post Marbs. The list is probably longer than that!
Honestly, when I saw him on the atrocious reality TV show he lived up to all my worst preconceptions I had of him. Clearly a micromanaging bore full of his own self importance. Always trying to remind everyone how ‘hard’ it is being him, and how running a Premier League football club really is virtually impossible… 😂
Spot on and well said, up to our eyes in debt but we’ll be spending like Chavski in a cuppla years, just you wait! 😂
So Real Madrid are following us? Their current stadium holds 80k, all stadiums need to be renewed or rebuilt at some point. What’s so ground breaking about us?
Benfica did theirs about 15 years ago, Woolworth did theirs. Our place will look dated in 10 years when Chavski build theirs etc, it’s just the way it is. Apart from the capacity and nice design, I’m not sure what the big deal is. Yeah, we can put on NFL and other events but so can many other places.
In London we have the O2, Wembley, several other very large music venues, not to mention the other football stadiums like Wet Spam’s and the infrastructure of the Olympic Park around it, that lot down Seven Sisters. What are all these huge events we’ll get over the O2 like big fights?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely stadium and I like it very much.
However, i don’t see how with all that competition in a shrinking sector, why our stadium is going to generate these amazing revenues. It’s like it was dreamt up 20 years ago… oh, it was! 🤔 😂
Ok Crappaspur…
You are bang on. Liverpool have done it well without breaking the bank. It is still a frugal club, no big signing in 2 years, but they invested well enough to win a fair few trophies over 2 seasons. WHL could have been redeveloped like Anfield, their surrounding areas were bought with CPO (awful on the residents but we did it with the stadium) so we just needed patience. We should win a trophy for having the best stadium though! Some fans will be made up and stick it next to the Audi Cup.
I’m assuming Mourinho sees Ben as a first choice, which I don’t have a problem with, and if transfer funds are how they appear, then he will prioritise other positions instead.
The lad Watkins can play anywhere across the front three,if we do sign him he should also get a chance to play with Harry as well as a back up.
We need Davies to be the back up not first choice.
Ben Davies needs a back up, it looks like Mourinho is keeping Sess for that reason, one big signing would be a big boost.
I don’t know – JM seems to like Davies and Gold says Striker & CB incoming and that’s it (unless a value midfielder like Bergwijn becomes available).
Fk poch
OK😂 stupidest man on the internet. Come better than that least stand
Ex European champions,Bayern Munich top dogs now,Anfields still a dump.If they make it any bigger,it will just be a bigger dump.
This, innit.
You don’t love the club, you just love the building. I’ve sussed you now, no wonder you bang on about being a real fan. You know that you ain’t…
Liverpool are building stand by stand at Anfield and it will be great when all of it’s done. The next new stand will take them above our capacity and they’ll still have two more to do when they need to. To top it all off, they aren’t in £850m in debt.
But that’s a rubbish idea apparently, but I guess being English and European champions Gives them something to console themselves with, poor loves…. 😂
😂 brilliant!
Poch lead us to the big boy table ,not enic or the stadium. Let’s see how long we stay there ? Not long if no top 4’s for the next 5 years,look at le arse.
For Mr Crawford above.
Ha ha yeah maybe but maybe not if he had backed poch and we had 2 titles in the bag. I would be far more relaxed a lifelong itch scratched etc.
That’s a lot of resentments. No wonder you’re miserable.
If Levy was the CEO of a publicly listed company, he would have been sacked by now on the grounds of continuing incompetence. I will list the details of his policies.
1. £850 mill of debt which means by the time we pay the interest and capital, there will be little money for new players for those of you who believe that Levy will start splurging the cash in the transfer market.
2. Failure to arrange insurance cover against a pandemic. You might argue he was unlucky but you make your own luck.
3. Failure to secure naming rights for the new stadium.
4. Going 100% over budget on the new stadium and completing one year late. To add to this, he took season ticket money in advance, knowing we were going to have to spend another year at Wembley.
5. Furloughing the staff, proving that despite his PR advisors, Levy has a tin ear. For those of you who continue to sing his praises, you can console yourselves that Levy at least offered selected members of the groundstaff the opportunity to mow the lawn at Levy Towers.
6. Continued errors in the hiring and firing of managers and assorted ancillary staff, costing the club a fortune in compensation pay.
7. Continued mistakes in the transfer market costing the club millions of pounds by his determination to play football manager and head scout, all rolled into one, a role he is clearly not suited to.
In short, the only thing he has done of any note is to enrich Lewis and himself whilst starving the fans of success.
It least my bottom and head isn’t stuck in the past with poch at the old lane
The dumb dumbs down voting facts😂
You dont need to make it up. Its reality unfortunately
Big clubs will follow. The big Spanish two already planning on copying us. Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Years a head. Wicked.
I know you are, the funny thing is your perception, and what you find acceptable. Head up bottom… 😂
Possibly not, however there is no other club in world football that spent £850 million on a new stadium, with the specific business plan of monetising said debt via sporting and cultural events requiring public attendance.
They don’t. The poorer area’s pay the most council tax
Hmmm. Refer to earlier comments…
I get that tappa but chelsea didn’t have to and as much as I love n17 they must pay more in their poxy patch.
Annual reports tell you everything you need to know about this. They are available to the public.
Don’t forget 100 ball cricket🌚. And all the N15 N17 jobs.
This one is actually possible to answer with clarity. As the financial reports – which are available to the public – will show you is that no dividends are paid to shareholders meaning the money stays in the club. If this changes, there will be uproar, and I’ll be there with my placard!
I am? 😂 OK.
Don’t be silly now, don’t doubt my support for the club. You’re making yourself look like a fool.
50,000 would have given us a small lift i revenue. Nothing close to the new stadium.
Just think, a capacity of 50,000 seats and we would be behind Arsenal and other teams forever. We’d have missed an open goal to push ahead of them.
Now we have more seats, more and better corporate hospitality, brewery and catering built into the fabric of the building, and because it’s such a good stadium with amazing acoustics, bands want to play here, boxing NFL, Rugby etc all want to be here too. Personally I don’t see myself enjoying much of that stuff but the point is all those events gain us revenue and exposure. This in turn generates more comercial revenue.
We haven’t even had a full season of crowds there yet. Once all the other events are in full swing as well as the football, it will prove itself a money making machine.
Compare that to a few more seats in the old place!
Did any other club in world football have that cover? Should he say to Joe he wants less wages?
I’m not belittling you my friend, nor the club. The target of my diatribe is perfectly clear. If I am the highest paid chairman in the EPL, being paid north of £2 million per annum and I fail to insure against the only feasible type of event that could derail my core business plan, a plan which has racked up a £852 million liability secured against my football club, then such lack of foresight and administrative incompetence warrants being called to account and I am doing just that.
Fans pay the highest prices coz we’re here in London. London ain’t cheap. £900.000 a week council tax. £110.000 a day.
Well the fans who pay the highest prices in world football are entitled to ask why that money was needed to be borrowed dont you agree?
I’ve guessed at £35m. HH says £37m based on a newspaper article. It’ll be something in that region. Either figure could be wrong though.
So what if other clubs didn’t feel the need to do so?
The fans. And yes they do have a right to know why no other club felt the need to do that but ours did
Another few signings and a concentrated effort in the Europa league can see us back in the CL through the back door,probably at the expense of our league position.
Something else for you to belittle us with
The debt repayment and even the debt itself are not the game changers here, the pandemic and a failure to insure against such an event is. It was arguably the one insurable disaster that could have derailed ENIC’s cash cow vision for the shiny new edifice, so why was it not covered? One might surmise that Levy was too cheap to stump for the insurance premiums, but whatever the reason, such lack of foresight from our highly paid supremo, a 1st class honours degree in land economy notwithstanding, was a calamitous error.
In truth, once the dubious panacea of a vaccine is available, the Marxist mandarins running the nanny state will likely allow full attendance at sporting events again, which will enable the stadium once more to produce the kind of income envisioned prior to its construction. However the negative economic impact of the intervening hiatus may take several years for THFC to overcome. The habitual poverty pleaders running ENIC, having found the perfect pretext for justifying their preternatural parsimony, don’t expect a return to the promised land of the Champion’s League any time soon.
Especially if you’re a hater. When rivals coat us off do you join in with them or stick up for us?
Needs to be explained” to who?
Callum Wilson signs for Newcastle. Reportedly for £20m
Give it a bit a time. Top players coming
Give it a bit a time. Top players coming
I’d say it needs to be explained. Failing that I’ll go to HSBC and ask for a 100m loan. The point is we are constantly told the stadium has no effect on transfers, yet we still dont make transfers… not top players
You will be seeing real stars. Only been here 5 mins.
Does it have to have a specific purpose at that price? I see it as just a bit of covid cover. Nice nice bit a work.
Does it have to have a specific purpose at that price? I see it as just a bit of covid cover. Nice nice bit a work.
Where is it going then? And I’m being serious I need to know what it’s being used for
Anyone who knocks that move is stupid
So is a Mars bar for 27p but it dont mean its gonna help my football club🤣
Coz it was cheap 0.5% great move.
I know your the eternal optimist but how come nobody else had to do that? I know those rent boys are spawny sods but that ban has enabled them to bring they kids and save money to spend as well. We have been utterly underwhelming again. Not bad signings by any stretch but a billion pounds stadium should be seeing real stars for me
THFC
Defo another striker. Ideally left back also
Alex grimaldo (benfica) I would.
If we can get Reguilon to add to Hojbjerg & Doherty as first choice starters with Watkins as back up to Harry I will be a lot happier.
Who is the additional 175m borrowed by, is it spurs or enic?
The problem is the year or so of no signings has actually caught up now and theres too many holes to fill
Let’s have it right. Every single window theres a problem. Oh this player has image rights. This one is owned by a third party. I got an idea. Ask the manager who he wants early enough to chase him and or any other potential recruits should there be an issue. Someone other than that turgid little Hitler do the due diligence on players so we know absolutely everything these is to know. Oh and dont suddenly start with the messi to spurs rumours in a couple of weeks. Some of us are old enough to remember rivaldo writing to hoddle etc. And some of us are old enough to remember signing the stars of the day, Klinsmann, gascoigne etc.
Does anyone else think bringing in an upgrade for Davies like Reguilon is more important than another centre-back? We have Toby,Sanchez,Dier and Tanganga while trying to sell Foyth. I know a back up to Kane is the priority.
Dem nah rob we
I don’t know, never said it did. You did though.
Napoleon also said that he would rather lose ground than time. Levy’s managed both.
Well yes, it does thank you.
Does Harry’s info above answer your questions regarding the debt.?
How do you know, are you?
I think you’ll find that last question has been emphatically answered,
How do you know are you ITK.
What are the new stadium debt repayment?
None was. That’s just people chatting rubbish. No dutty money is washed here either (unlike another London club
I love it in there. I love it on my plot. I love Tottenham. Oh, loved being on the project too. 🌚
What we’ll never really know is, how much of the extra income, after outgoings, was going in Bahamas-bound duffel bags and not into the mystical transfer kitty?
Yet at the old place people wanted us to buy top top players and pay them big big wages. How?
When all is said and done, whatever side of the fence you sit on, Levy is and will always be a cheapskate, one of the reasons we have missed out on so many good transfer targets over the years.
So what. It is what it is.
If Levy had only extended the ground to 50,000 and given it a lick of paint everyone on here would be saying typical cheapskate,they went overboard to build the best stadium imaginable.
It’s how ENIC sees it, not the way I see it.
If you see it that way.
12,000 more souls for ENIC to do what they do best at.
‘Still trying for Reguilon.’
‘Trying, just pay the money, no?’
Is that you, Poch? I’m sure he’s had that one with Levy at some point.
Coz we’re rolling with the big boys now. 50.000 ain’t enough, plus 12.000 more fans can go watch their team.
That’s £82mill for debt repayments and Haringey council alone. A lotta dough
Why did we not extend the capacity of the old stadium? I read somewhere that we could have increased it to circa 50,000, ( not stating that’s true), as we had already bought the adjoining land. This would have brought our debt down sharply, as well as our interest payments, allowing us to spend some money in the transfer market. Levy can blame Covid as much as he likes, and you could argue that he has been unlucky but like Napoleon said, “I would rather have a lucky general rather than a good one”. In short, Levy would have found an excuse not to spend money in the transfer market, it’s in his DNA. It’s his competence to run a PL club that is open to question.
Yes true, but the irony is hard to ignore! 😂