The easy summary of ENICs tenure:
- First 5 years – take a mid-table club with a mid-sized ground and bring it closer toward regular European football.
- Second five years – reach Champions League quarter-finals and win Carling Cup.
- Third five years – sell the best player to RM, reinvest proceeds badly, so have to find a manager to bring regular Champions League football on a shoestring budget, and bring forward plans for updating training facilities to best-of-breed and construction of the best stadium in world football.
- Fourth five years – deliver stadium (delayed and over budget), reach Champions League final, then lose manager. Hire a proven winner, then sack him a week before a cup final. Drift downwards under COVID-19 restrictions, which caused a loss of £150m in stadium-associated revenues. Starting reinvestment in a team with significant 2021 investments.
So after 20 years of ENIC: club infrastructure is now second-to-none. Five seasons of Champions League delivered (previous owners: zero). One trophy was won.
The test of ENIC is now: they don’t have any excuses anymore not to invest in the team. The training ground is done. The stadium is done. The club has been consistently near the top of the EPL for a decade and more. To build the commercial brand it needs a great story on the pitch….
Man City’s owners didn’t need to build a stadium – Manchester City Council did it for them. The same can be said of Newcastle.
Liverpool have no greater financial firepower than Tottenham, they do have a much richer history of trophies though.
At the moment, Liverpool are showing the way on the pitch. There’s no financial reason why Tottenham can’t do exactly the same. If they have the skills, the vision, and the persistence.
If ENIC doesn’t have the desire or the skill set to do that, then they cannot be surprised if the fans say: ‘Thanks very much, but time to bring in someone who does….’