- What do internationals bring us? Injuries and nationalism
- Why are there so many injuries at Arsenal this season?
Some time ago a bit of an argument broke out over the question of whether Tottenham was on the one hand hugely in debt or on the other hand the most debt-free club in the league.
Logic suggests that there must be a debt somewhere since someone must have paid for that bright shiny stadium with its ability to host American football matches. But a few of our correspondents seemed not to accept that.
We left the matter there as at the time there seemed to be no definitive information available that could help us resolve the questioin. But now the Athletic (which does tend to get things right when it comes to football finances) has helpfully published a review of the state of affairs at Tottenham, or what it calls “The Premier League’s oldest ownership group”.
What it also adds that the group is “among the most financially circumspect,” which is interesting. This is not to say that they don’t obey the laws of various lands in declaring what they have to declare, but things are arranged so that legally they don’t actually have to declare a lot.
The way this happens is that the organisation that owns Tottenham (ENIC) is itself owed by a family trust. That is the trust of billionaire Joe Lewis – and this is where it gets a bit more interesting because the Athletic at that point provides a link to Joe Lewis, which is, well, take a look…. Rather unusual for the publication that prides itself on being the heart and soul of football knowledge.
Anyway, we know that Levy and Lewis (who is head of the trust that owns Tottenham Hotspur and who was fined $5m and put on probation in a court case in New York not long ago) bought out Alan Sugar for £57m.
However that gave the pair under half the ownership of the club but they have been snapping shares hither and thither ever since and according to the New York Times are now on 86.58 per cent.
So when the Athletic says that “Tottenham carry the highest financial debt in the Premier League at £850million,” we have it confirmed that they are the most indebted club. But the point behind the argument is that this is not money owed to shareholders. It is all ownd to external organisations, which means that as long as Tottenham keep paying the interest, there’s no problem of money.
But there is a twist. ENIC, which as noted above, actually owns Tottenham has recently arranged a share issue and through that put another £150m into Tottenham.
One could therefore say that Tottenham Hotspur as a club is one of the most valuable in the country, but of course that is only true if someone were actually to offer to buy all the shares at a high price. And they might not because at the same time it is one of the most indebted clubs in the country because the stadium has not been paid for.
Of course none of that matters as long as there are fans in the stadium and an extraordinarily rich (if criminally convicted) man behind it all, so there is no suggestion that Tottenham could not meet their debts. But it is a bit of a twist of the logic to say that Tottenham has no debt, in that ENIC holds the debt.
Since the stadium is sold out for every match, one presumes it is meeting the financial expectations of the owners, and is slowly repaying its debt. But one might also wonder how long the owners will be happy with life outside the Champions League.
And that aspiration seems a little further away after Ipswich Toiwn recorded their first win in the Premier League for 22.5 years by winning at the fancily named Tottenham Hotpsur stadium.
For while as we have noted Arsenal have been given the toughest of fixture lists at the start of this season, playing most of the big six clubs away, Tottenham’s fixture list has in the last six games looked fairly easy, with matches against Brighton (currently sixth), West Ham (14th), Crystal Palace (18th), Aston Villa (9th) and Ipswich (now 17th thanks to beating Tottenham to secure their first win of the season).
And with three of those games at home, these should not be worrying matches for a club as mighty as Tottenham presents themselves as being.
Of course, it might be that Tottenham have a penchant for not doing quite as well as expected against lesser clubs, but it is interesting that while Arsenal have faced (as we noted the other day) a run of six away games that saw them visit Villa, Tottenham, Manchester C, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Chelsea) Tottenham really haven’t had it that tough.
Of course I am sure that Tottenham having an easy run of fixtures while Arsenal had a number of difficult away games is just the luck of the draw, and of course everyone plays everyone at the end, but it is interesting that few in the media really seem to make much of Arsenal getting that run, while Tottenham’s fixtures have included fewer difficult games.
But then I suppose that’s journalism for you..
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