ENIC’s Debt Repayments Bigger Than The Transfer Budget As Rivals Spend Spend Spend

The Boy

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that the regular mob of journalists at Hotspur Way pressers would never ask, because they would have their privileges withdrawn faster than you could say ‘Baldrick, I’d like you meet the Lord High Executioner of Dunny-on-the-Wold…’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.

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.