As I patiently wait, along with the rest of the fanbase that currently funds Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, for the next episodes of Amazon’s All or Nothing documentary series, Football London have quotes from our illustrious leader, on the complexities of the transfer markets.
The hurdles that Daniel Levy has always faced, since the Investment company ENIC came into our lives some two decades ago, have largely been of their own making. Indeed, one could easily suggest that ‘Audere et Facere‘ shouldn’t have been replaced with a translation, but with the phrase, ‘Better Safe Than Sorry’.
Hesitancy to spend is not up for debate, THFC’s net spend has always been abysmally low when compared to other sides in the division, and routinely only bumped up when the equally routine of selling our best players created room for greater purchasing power.
The fear of doing a Leeds was a specious device, as only Leeds have behaved with such fiscal recklessness, that it makes no sense at all to cite an example which is so utterly atypical. One may go full on crazy and start warning folk of the dangers of doing a Ranulph Fiennes. The chances of anyone else having to take a Black and Decker to their own frostbitten fingertips are equally beyond remote.
It was only when the idea of scaling up the ENIC business model landed, did it become acceptable for Daniel Levy top sign off checks like a drunken lottery winner. Now, many years on, and White Hart Lane is demolished, and the supersonic ‘Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’ looms in its stead.
Few predicted the Coronavirus pandemic, however it must go on record that a modest tennis club in Wimbledon was the only business cited as having taken out the necessary insurance – back in 2005 when the SARS business went rogue!
12 years of premiums from an operation that only plays for a few weeks in the summer – and yet Tottenham’s biggest commercial partner, AIA is an insurance firm, and Levy didn’t have himself covered on a billion pound stadium.
Back to the quote from Daniel and I suggest to you that the salient line is ‘we have a budget’. The devil is always in the detail.
When ENIC decided to press ahead with the brave new world, £340million was magicked up and thrown into the project, “on the acquisition of land, the planning process (including a compulsory purchase order and legal challenges),” said a club statement at the time. So there’s your budget. Several budgets, in fact.
Yes, negotiating the transfer markets is a tough business, and no, the conditions are not always aligned to get every player you want. However, I put it to you that Levy’s aims and objectives for Tottenham are very different from say those of Fenway Sports are, for Liverpool. Liverpool Football Club, that is not run by Bond villains, but is operated as it ought to be, with the unflinching primary focus being the football team.
Spurs have needed another striker for Harry Kane, essentially since before Kane became the sole striker. Instead, we’ve had this dreadfully unsatisfying mess featuring Soldado, Lorrente and Janssen.
Buy cheap, buy twice, better safe than sorry, find the lady, press hard seven copies. Perhaps the best alternative motto for us was best devised by Hunter Davies.
“Oh dear, it’s f*cked,” is what I’ve always taken it to mean. I do have O-level Latin.“
…for The New Statesman