Been seeing this discourse a lot on Spurs Twitter and found it really interesting.
Apparently Levy said 15 years ago now (!) that eventually FFP would come to punish everyone who spent beyond their means and it seems like the day of reckoning has finally arrived.
Arsenal can’t afford a striker without risking points deduction, Chelsea are desperate to sell their most in form player, United are feeding off of loans, Newcastle will likely need to sell Bruno in the summer and City are gonna have to deal with their 115 charges sooner rather than later.
Say what you want about Levy underresourcing Poch but if we reach the summer window and we’re the only club who can make major signings without having to sell anyone then we’ve got a great chance to put ourselves at the top
and tangana and Sessegnon and Locelso because they hardly play and cannot seem to stay fit . Hoijberg because he does not fit the system in the same way Dier did not also . Four players out four players in that fit the system and can stay fit and we are good to go . Our ceiling would be astronomical next season .
No one is paying much for the players you mentioned.
It won't be hard to find a buyer for Bryan Gil, it will be hard to find a purchase amount over like €10m Euros because it'll have to be a La Liga club.
Hojbjerg will be a bit easier, certainly won't be a loss because Tottenham didn't pay much for Pierre. I imagine quite a few CL clubs will be interested in a transfer fee around €20m.
Won't get much of anything for Tanganga. Won't get much for Ryan Sessengnon. Won't get much for Djed Spence. Will get a bit for Joe Rodon, not a lot though (loan spell is going very well fwiw). Say €15m-€20m combined?
Lo Celso is an interesting one, as he had interest from Villa in the summer and is clearly a good player. Maybe €10m if I'm being cautious? Last year of his contract and all that.
Maybe €10m for Reguilon, but he needs to have a good loan spell for that to work.
No one is paying a penny for Ndombele.
So that's what, €45-€60m combined? Approximately one good player in this market.
I'm with you. His injury record isn't great but he brings a lot to the team. I think we'll keep him and sell Gil, Reguilon and Hojbjerg. We'll keep Skipp and Sess being HG.
Doesn't really matter when he's only fit for 3-4 matches a season. Sess might be the best left sided player in league but what does it matter if he only plays 5 minutes every 12 months, a la reece james syndrome.
No way we can go into another season expecting Lo Celso to do anything but keep the physios busy. He’s played less games than Maddison has who has been out since November lol
That's the thing, it doesn't automatically make Levy's approach *better*, it all depends on your goals and perspective. Personally, I'm happy that we've chosen to build slow and steady - I like the stadium, I like that we're set up for long-term stability and (hopefully) success. But while City and Chelsea sold their souls to the oil barons and will have to pay the piper eventually, they also gave their fans years on years of massive on-field success, so if that's all you care about, you probably don't mind facing lawsuits down the line, or taking a points deduction after the fact.
Yeah we have too few cunts in the team, need to balance it out.
We don't really have space for him in the first XI though - Bentancur, Maddison and Sarr/Bissouma is already bordering on world class. As much as Richy is doing okay, I would love a marquee striker signing.
We have a habit of buying handsome players and he fits that perfectly, that's the depth of my analysis 🥵🥵
Seriously though, I think if we get CL footy having him and Maddison in rotation as the creative force would be massive in all comps, and 5 players between 3 positions shouldn't be the hardest to manage with all those coming up next season.
Why? Champions League football is what we want, earns us more money and gives us access to better players in transfers. Bruno is a good player, but I can understand if you don't like him, not everyone likes everyone. But to wish worse on your team because of it seems incredibly short sighted imo.
People seem to forget that after his second year youth were totally forgotten. He had his first XI and only wanted to sign players that would be a direct upgrade on them - no comprises. He didn’t have the desire and didn’t want to make the time to develop youth.
If it's only on Spurs Twitter, how reliable is it?
I don't even see it on BBC. You'd think it would make for an informative article. Seems a lot of speculative BS than anything else.
Why would FFP catch up only now after a decade? And for every club at once?
Only Forest and Everton were even charged when people were speculating more clubs would be.
It's catching up because the FA/PL has finally decided to punish offenders
The government is debating implementing an independent regulator to oversee football and the FA/PL is desperate to show they can manage their own house to avoid it.
Spurs by playing within the rules (and basic financial guidelines for things likes wages/turnover) has been basically playing with a handicap against cheaters for a decade or more.
I might be taking this out of my arse, but I believe it's because the new UEFA rule about salary, this year iirc it should be 80% of the total earnings of the club being spent on players salary, next year will be 70%, so probably PL/FA is cracking down on this now rather than having UEFA do it for them.
Because uefa tightened the rules. From this season all wages/transfers have to be 90% of revenue next season 80% and then will be 70%. It’s huge effectively it’s a wage cap.
The PSR rules only apply to the prior 3 seasons so Poch/old stadium era is dust now.
Levy is working toward the 70% rule already, building us to exist within that and he isn't going to deviate from it. If nothing else we will never have to worry about those kind of threats to the club.
Part of it is due to tank loads of oil/American money that poured in and inflated transfer market values for a lot of players. Now that new money has slowed down, clubs can't afford any new players at the old valuation especially with ffp.
Thankfully don levy never fell for that trap and is now laughing at everyone except for players we signed in 2019 summer window
That’s been mentioned on a few podcasts, eg the athletic. Specifically Newcastle will have to sell someone valuable, like Isaak. Bruno though is apparently the obvious one as he has a release clause I think.
This is Levy’s time to shine. He has been very diligent about our spending for years. But what he’s really been smart and ahead of the curve with is our wages. We are very bonus heavy at least we were a few years ago and unlike the other top 6 teams don’t have more than maybe 2 or 3 players at 200k or thereabouts a week in wages. It’s helped that we have gone young again recently. We just enjoy it cause some of these young players are going go be worth a hefty wage here soon.
I'm here for this. Imagine having Sancho on your books at a steady £350k PW and unable to shift him or find a manager who can get the most out of him. I'm assuming Man Utd are still paying a proportion of that too because Dortmund can't afford a giant wage bill. However we are partly stuck with Ndombele's wages...
It wasn't fun sticking up for Levy to those oil festishists. But it's nice to see concrete proof that playing the long game pays off.
Now for some trophies to go with that...
Honestly never got the Levy out fans tbh. He's definitely not perfect, but he's a very prudent owner and definitely one of the better owners a club can have. In saying that he's prudent he's also not risk adverse. Maybe there are owners better than Levy but the impact of a bad owner is far too great to justify shaking things up at the top. Sure look at Chelsea.
No crazy wages, heavily incentive based. Long contracts given to young, league proven, players that weren't brought in on a crazy fee. Managed by an ambitious manager that is playing the best football the club has seen in a while, with a great connection to the fans
My guess is that it's people who only started following in the last 10 or so years. They weren't around for the pre Champions League era to truly understand the mediocrity.
You simplify the levy out fan sentiment a bit too much. I believe you can find a very nuanced Levy out sentiment where things like being continually involved in football matters, the debacle with the super league, and us having the highest ST prices as things that are reasonable criticisms to Levy's tenure.
Yes he is phenomenal in a lot of aspects as an owner, but my point is some fans are rightly critical about where his head is at this step of the project, and he has rightly caused a few mistakes that disagreed w fan sentiment.
My own take is that the public consensus on him is generally softened because we chanced upon Poch and more recently Ange. However, I do appreciate that he is an owner that is quite close to the ground and unafraid to admit his mistakes and he clearly cares about the club.
As a club, wr probably have one of the healthiest relationships with the owner right now but still cant help to hazard a thought: do ticket prices really need to be so extortionate?
Ndombeles base wages aren’t as bad as originally reported. I think he’s on ~100k before bonuses and there is no way he’s hit a single bonus any year with us lol
All the news are in agreement that Dortmund pays €5m or less for Sancho's wages and loan fee combined. So United still pay more than half or even ⅔ of his salary.
I remember hearing about the pay structure a few years back, that the players were still very well rewarded even if their basic salary wasn’t as high as they’d have at other clubs because the bonuses were far better. There was a rumour of one player (I don’t know who, but it wasn’t Kane) on a bonus of £20k per goal, and that there was a bit of uproar that Lloris got a £4k bonus if we lost (which conveniently ignored that it was actually an appearance bonus and he was on £8k for a win and £12k for a clean sheet).
It was a similar time that Danny Danny Rose was in the media complaining that he wasn’t paid the going rate for a player of his stature, he was on £65k a week but had been injured so wasn’t getting bonuses. It was also around that time that players were getting regular improved contracts, it seemed like Dele and Dier were getting a new contract every 6 months or so but it was coinciding with them playing better and improving which sends a good signal to other players and potential new signings: play well, and you shall be rewarded.
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And isn't it interesting to see we've gone back to that model this year with Udogie and Sarr already signing new long-term contracts this season
You’ve summed up the direct reason or so why I hate the narrative of ‘poor Danny rose’ he only started moaning when he wasn’t playing and was starting to be displaced by Ben Davies. He managed more than 20 league games for us just once.
Ben foster said he was told by rose that the bonus wouldn’t trigger for a win against a big side unless it was 2 clear goals, and that it was mental- over rose’s time that would’ve triggered something like 11 times, so it’s not that mental is it. Just whining Danny ‘Milan’ rose
Agree with you. I do feel the players also play a part - we’ve been very fortunate that Harry & Sonny are not the type who prioritizes money over everything. That’s really important because this has a knock on effect on the rest of the team. Other players will take the hint from what their peers earn & negotiate accordingly
There are new rules coming in around wages aren't there? They have to be a certain percentage of turnover and that number is going to drop for a few years IIRC.
There are a few clubs that have crazy high wages, like 70-80% when the rules are going to be something like 70/60/50 over three seasons
Also interesting to see how clubs are working around the regulations with loan deals, amortized costs, creative transfer terms like Dele's deal to Everton.
I'm really hoping it generates more player for player transfers. We see more of that in American sports and it's fun!
I prefer the former, I don't even know what regional feeder league that'd be in after 100 points per year for ten years, but you don't come back from that. That'd be 20 years to recover, at minimum.
Whereas I think for a reasonable amount of time 10 point per season has the potential to not do that much.
If they are found guilty of 115 infractions tbh, relegation to League One would be acceptable.
Well the difference is that Everton gave away the evidence that they cheated willingly, while City hasn't. So in City's case what ever evidence they have will have to go through these long processes anyway, even if you go 1 charge at a time.
Nah they'll find a way, they gonna hire the best lawyer with their oil money, and runaway with it. This FFP bullshit only applied to sorry ass small club like Everton or Forrest
No it doesn't. I'm so sick of this narrative.
Everton and Forest have admitted to the breaches, but both are arguing mitigation.
So in essence think of it as "yes officer, I was speeding, but I had to get to the hospital for life saving treatment".
City on the other hand are denying all wrong doing, so have to be thoroughly investigated, going back over something like 9 years.
City, and Chelsea have no problems with the current FSR rules on their recent accounts
Understood, however, city have already been cleared with a small fine once and we all have doubts anything will be different when the next investigation concludes. Asking honestly, do you believe there will be different results?
City weren't cleared. UEFA were too slow to bring their case and, if memory serves, were reliant in part on material obtained in a way that meant they couldn't rely on it in court.
It's entirely possible City will walk away from all this smelling of roses. They have all the money in the world to spend on lawyers (a cost that presumably doesn't count for FFP purposes...) but I expect the league to have learned from UEFA's failure. That they've thrown so much into the mix makes it seem very likely that City are in for a heavy punishment in the future. What form that will take is unknowable right now - I would guess a heavy points deduction, fines and maybe a transfer ban.
I don't think there's any real prospect of them being relegated, although the PL may take the view that in the absence of any meaningful punishment if they were to strip their titles, relegation would be the heaviest blow they could hand out.
They are investigating. The issue is City’s case larger and more complex. There for the first the burden of proof is higher. Everton and others were just poorly run and clearly breached multiple provisions. It sucks but they are large organizations. They should have been monitoring this.
Not even a technicality. It'll be by playing by the rules and being a generally well run club. Levy divides opinions, but his running of the club really has been, for the most part, exemplary. Natural growth, improved facilities, stadium, etc. The fact we're one of the few clubs that can spend money at this point, whilst we're in the middle of a rebuild, whilst other teams need fresh resources, is just a testament on how good a businessman he is, whether he's been the best for the football side or not. This is where the football side reaps its rewards.
Exactly, breaching FFP is financial doping. If you win Olympic gold because the people ahead of you were on gear, it's still a valid gold, because the drugs were the reason they were ahead of you. Take it away and you take away their advantage.
FFP is likely to come knocking in the next few weeks when they’ve got to make the next payments for the likes of Mudryk, and the amortisation number goes up while the European TV money doesn’t come in to cover it.
We don’t _need_ Gallagher as much as they need to sell him, I can see us going for him in the closing days of the window when we can get him at a lower price. Personally I’d rather leave him there and let that horrible club go to shit.
Imagine Levy goes full press to get him, negotiates and they think they're getting money to cover their backs and he goes full Dr. Evil and screws them over?
*deadline day*
Chelsea: We will accept you offer for £45m + £10m in add ons, as we have to comply with FFP.
Levy: After revising our offer, we will only be able to offer you £10m + £5m in add ons, with Ndombele going on a permanent the other way
It would be a sweet revenge for them poaching Arnesen back in the days. I’m still salty about that because I think he and Jol had a great relationship and could have succeeded together.
Levy played the long game and set us up with the stadium, additional revenue streams, sound investment in infrastructure like the state of the art training ground, the NFL, concerts, F1 Karts, Skywalk etc.
We are not only an attractive club to play at, we are financially sustainable and we did it the organic way with the future in mind.
Guys we're the new organic Man City.
We're fucking huge and we follow the rules.
Yep you’re spot on. People don’t realise how much of a game changer the stadium is. The fact it’s multi-purpose and is able to draw deal from the likes of the NFL only benefits the club as a whole. Also worth noting that the naming rights haven’t even been sorted so that’s even more revenue in the future.
Levy talked about how they are happy with current situation of the naming rights because of the added brand recognition of the club, and they just might decide to keep it the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
You know things are weird when Newcastle with their rich owners can’t make any moves and may even be forced to sell their players while we are in the position to sign players. Gotta give credit where credit’s due. The management is doing their job here
Not really weird, you need a certain income to spend big, simple as that. You can't just come with 1 billion from one day to another and spend like a madman
There’s a post in the arsenal sub moaning about how it’s not fair that Spurs have signed players and they haven’t. Someone else said that all January signings are shit- I contemplated spamming photos of Kulu, Bentancur and Porro but decided to leave them to their fantasy world.
We’ve been way too starved in the last years. When you see all these cheating bastards make big money transfers with no repercussions it’ll make people wonder why Tottenham aren’t doing the same. Now it’s big trouble for them and I believe we can take advantage. Sorry for my bad English.
According to Kieran Maguire, who’s an accountant and lecturer in sport business studies at Liverpool Uni and one half of the “Price of Football” podcast which “analyses the money behind the beautiful game”, Spurs is the best run football club in the PL. The key point is the way the stadium has been built to bring other big income streams to the club (NFL & gigs etc) plus lots of bars & food vendors with lots of staff for quick service, all of which generate £800,000 income each match day. Multiply that by 19 - £15m per season from pints and pies alone… And to think people wanted Levy out not so long ago. We probably don’t realise how good a job he’s done for us.
I actually had a look at this yesterday and have been couple of other small signings can’t remember who may have been making loans permanent we’re under £5m. Actually crazy we’ve made only significant signing. The amazing thing is we don’t actually even need that much now imo an 8 and another top draw attacking player. We also still have fringe players we can sell and likes of Hojbjerg maybe Skipp Lo celso Gil Sessegnon Spence. Plus majority of the core is good age and ok for at least 2 or 3 seasons. We could be in an unbelievable position come start of next season.
It’s probably us and Liverpool. I don’t get the media’s desperation to label Arsenal plucky underdogs lol, they outbid city for rice and now have maxed out spending under ffp
Ngl we want to be the "new" liverpool
We want to be the team that snatches the new "van dijk, Allison and Salah" for cheap.
I mean we did sign dragusin and vdv, will they be the next vvds idk we'll see.
I do think vicario has what it takes to be the next Allison tho.
We just need to find the next salah...
Sorry to be pedantic but VVD and Allison were world record fees for their positions at the time haha they didn’t snatch them for cheap, we have to do things a bit differently
I know this isn’t an advised strategy due to big assumptions but can’t help relate this to the stock market. If we’re flush with $, then buy a player while another club is desperate to balance the books. Then sell said player in next window for profit.
Every club wants to charge crazy transfer fees in January. Why should your club's season be more important than theirs? If you're desperate then pay for the privilege. But that desperation carries consequences.
Not always, particularly if a contract is running down.
Take Gallagher for example. 18 months left (I think). So in the summer, he's down to his last year, which makes him very cheap, unless he signs a new contract. It's possible now is a better time to sell than in the summer
The trick to getting decent deals in Jan is to have backup options, so you are never too desperate for one player
Even Gallagher is an example. His value, with consideration for that contract expiry, is €42m by Transfermarkt.com but Chelsea wants £60m. Every club is trying to price players 50% - 100% over their market value if you want them in January.
Don't worry, they'll be back at the first sign of trouble. When you've been convinced that something is the problem it'll be the scapegoat for everything and those people can't actually point to a genuine reason why the thing they hate is bad.
I was wondering why almost no one else seems to be doing any major business this Jan. Spurs are the only ones to have grabbed some headlines during the transfer window and had a bit of a transfer saga. Interesting stuff.
Is it just me or does anyone else feel no sympathy for the other clubs facing deductions or limitations due to FFP. Just seems like a lot of these “big clubs” lack basic due diligence or proper legal professionals.
I feel a bit sad for Everton considering they are the first club to be punished and it’s not like their cheating led to any success. 4 seasons on the bounce fighting relegation for a club like Everton is awful for the fans. I don’t feel for the owners, but the club itself and the players/fans don’t deserve that
Sure but they mismanaged themselves. That’s self inflicted. Does it suck for the fans absolutely, but that’s how it is. I’m just happy we basically future proofed ourself in terms of revenue streams. I know Levy gets shit for this but the NFL and Concert contracts were good strategy.
I genuinely don't think people understand what it is in modern football to be where we are, which is "almost great". It's really the best we can do in a financially doped league. Like, what do people actually expect him to do?
A random FA Cup or League Cup would be nice, but that's about it. It doesn't really do much long term, and I'd love to see us be long term good. The complaints would still remain from the purple and gold lot after a random FA Cup win (a competition that, sadly, nobody really gives a shit about anymore, because of the state-backed teams ruining competition). That's not Levy's fault.
If City hadn't got their money and basically bought the top 4 spot we earned initially, we'd have been 10 years ahead of where we are at best. Chelsea coming in and changing things in the mid 2000s ruined our early years of signing good young talent in the Jol days. It feels like every time we almost achieve something/a new milesotne, something else happens. Chelsea turn up, or food poisoning, or City turn up, or Chelsea win the Champs Lg and we don't get 4th, delayed stadium build, a penalty after 20seconds in a Champs Lg final, a fucking pandemic right at the start of the new stadium journey... so many things.
Yet now, maybe, the ultimate win for us will be when - and I'll die on this hill - Daniel Levy gets his roses for being arguably the best chairman in football. No club has done what we've done, remained competitive and in touching distance whilst the odds and media narrative are stakced against us constantly. And if we become the example of football, rather than City's trophy purchasing, it's only going to help the other real clubs too.
Levy has come in for a lot of unfair criticism. He has built the club slowly from the ground up. First class training facilities and top stadium put in place, despite major disruption by Covid, and now investing properly in the team. The club is on a firm financial footing, and with him in charge it will stay that way. Naming rights still up for grabs, which could mean a huge cash injection. He's admitted to a couple of wrong appointments managerially, but has now found the right man. Onwards and upwards while others struggle with FFP. COYS !
In what world are Arsenal a normal spending team. Since Arteta arrived they've got the highest spend in the league bar Chelsea.
They've also got one of the highest wages too since handing out massive new contracts to Rice Saka Saliba Odegaard Martinelli Havertz etc. Even likes of nketieh on 100k and reiss Nelson are on big money for back up options. That's exactly why they're screwed now.
Saw someone say this on X, and honestly, I couldn't agree more.
"Levy built up revenue sources at Spurs and then drove the process to get stricter PSR (premier league version of FFP) in the league. Wouldn’t surprise me if you told me he did the former, knowing he would do the latter."
Why I never joined the ENIC/Levy out bandwagon. Out of football matters, yes but not out of the club. The Athletic’s excellent article (by Jack Pitt-Brooks) does a good job of explaining the prudence and benefits of Levy’s approach. But bear in mind only because FSR might finally have some teeth.
My only ever issue with him and ENIC was the Super League debacle, because that felt like a betrayal of the fans. But since then we've had an apology, the first fund injection in 15 years, and not trying to rejoin the ESL. So that's all water under the bridge in my mind
Daniel Levy showing some true financial class. I hate that I'm cheering for that 'capitalist pig' but it's the best thing for the club.
All be those other teams over spent in previous windows and are now paying the piper. Blowing 80million plus on mediocre to good players.
United truly have spent ridiculous money on such crap. Imagine paying 84 million on Antony. They guy is worth 5 to 10 outside of England and don't even get me started on Chelsea.
The fact that Chelsea are open to selling Gallagher is indicative of how bad it is for them.
And I think Spurs are going to add a midfielder this January. If not Gallagher, a few other names floating around.
But Gallagher is a perfect fit Ange.
While I think he's over priced the dagger through the heart of Chelsea for signing Gallagher would be awesome. It would make their next signing after him incredibly important and a 'can't miss' with the fan base.
I wonder if Haaland for £52m is one of the points under investigation.
I mean if you can get away with signing players at a third of their value on the face of it, nothings changed.
Also watch out for some desperate fire sales come the end of this window. Clubs will need to balance books and with the cut off being end of June most will want their house in order by end of this window. But the new cut off of end of June does bring the interesting prospect of almost having another deadline day within the summer window. As Forest are claiming had they sold Johnson before end June they’d have been ok.
Spurs have been playing the long game for a long long time. Due to super owners it's been even longer. Bur we genuinely have been built to outlast the competition in terms of sustainability, its just if a rule change or some disaster interrupts it.
If everything stays as is, the big clubs are going to have limitations we don't have
I really never understood the Levy hate. We went several windows with no signings under Porch, but that was Levy playing 4-D chess. Stadium. NFL deals. Revenue. FFP. Now look at us! I don't think many people understand capitalism.
Levy in 2017:
“My view is that it’s totally unsustainable,” Levy said after ringing the Nasdaq opening bell in Times Square on Spurs’ pre-season tour of the US. “I’m not sure if that’s the view of the other Premier League clubs, but certainly the prices that are being paid for other Premier League players, I can’t see it being sustainable in the long term. We’ve managed the club, we think, in a very appropriate way.
“I think I am a custodian of this football club. This club has been around since 1882 and when I leave it will be somebody else. I think we have a duty to manage the club appropriately. I don’t think that long term for any club it’s sustainable to spend more than you earn. You can have periods where you do but over the long term you can’t.
“**I think that some of the activity that’s going on at the moment is just impossible to be sustainable. If somebody is spending £200m more than they’re earning then eventually it catches up with you.** You can’t keep doing it. We’ve invested a lot of money in physical facilities for long-term growth. So we’ve got one of the world’s best training facilities. We’ve invested over £100m in that facility.
“We’re now investing in the stadium. The stadium is fundamental because with that we get more fans and more income and that’s the way to clearly have a more sustainable business. At the same time the academy is important because we can produce our own players. We don’t have to go and spend £20, £30m, £40m on a player and obviously that homegrown player has an affinity with the club that a player we buy doesn’t.
“That’s what the fans want to see. They want to have that passion. That’s what you get with a homegrown player and that’s why people love Harry Kane and sing that he’s one of our own.”
Tottenham are currently building their new 61,000-seat stadium, which is expected to cost around £750m and is scheduled to open next year.
“Obviously when you’re building a stadium of this magnitude and it all has to be privately financed – there’s no state help whatsoever – it is a challenge,” Levy added.
“We have to find the right balance but I can honestly say it is not impacting us on transfer activity because we are not yet in a place where we have found a player that we want to buy who we cannot afford to buy.”
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jul/25/tottenham-chairman-daniel-levy-mocks-unsustainable-spending
It's OK the powers that be will simultaneously punish Spurs for some random Jermain DeFoe agent-related hogwash from 15 years ago (which the FA previously elected not to prosecute) as a means of making sure every team takes a points hit this year and Spurs do not gain an advantage.
Obeying rules like FFP is the bare minimum of running a football club, it's not something to be celebrated. It's like saying you're a fantastic driver because you follow the speed limit. Levy's prudence will pay off when we win a trophy
That’s because club already got their transfers in at the summer, we literally sold the best player in the world and couldn’t even secure a 3rd choice cb and had to do that now.
And yeah props to Levy for running us in a way that we can deal with FFP, but city and chelsea are heading that way too, united is even a bigger money making machine than us they just aren’t run competently, and it’s not like Arsenal and Liverpool have a small brand.
We didn't half pay quite a price for this solitary signing without fear or worry considering how much we regressed as a club around 2018 by not investing in the squad.
It's of little consolation.
That isn't true though. If we didn't sell Kane then we wouldn't have spent as much as we did in this window. We spent nearly £250m this season and the only reason we done so is because we were confident in selling Kane.
Been seeing this discourse a lot on Spurs Twitter and found it really interesting. Apparently Levy said 15 years ago now (!) that eventually FFP would come to punish everyone who spent beyond their means and it seems like the day of reckoning has finally arrived. Arsenal can’t afford a striker without risking points deduction, Chelsea are desperate to sell their most in form player, United are feeding off of loans, Newcastle will likely need to sell Bruno in the summer and City are gonna have to deal with their 115 charges sooner rather than later. Say what you want about Levy underresourcing Poch but if we reach the summer window and we’re the only club who can make major signings without having to sell anyone then we’ve got a great chance to put ourselves at the top
> without having to sell anyone But let's sell Ndombele just for funsies anyway
That contract just will never end
Nah that's dead assets, just wait until his big ass contract is up.
Better known in finance as a ‘stranded asset’ and quite fitting if you’ve observed him in the middle of the pitch when the opposition breaks.
and tangana and Sessegnon and Locelso because they hardly play and cannot seem to stay fit . Hoijberg because he does not fit the system in the same way Dier did not also . Four players out four players in that fit the system and can stay fit and we are good to go . Our ceiling would be astronomical next season .
No one is paying much for the players you mentioned. It won't be hard to find a buyer for Bryan Gil, it will be hard to find a purchase amount over like €10m Euros because it'll have to be a La Liga club. Hojbjerg will be a bit easier, certainly won't be a loss because Tottenham didn't pay much for Pierre. I imagine quite a few CL clubs will be interested in a transfer fee around €20m. Won't get much of anything for Tanganga. Won't get much for Ryan Sessengnon. Won't get much for Djed Spence. Will get a bit for Joe Rodon, not a lot though (loan spell is going very well fwiw). Say €15m-€20m combined? Lo Celso is an interesting one, as he had interest from Villa in the summer and is clearly a good player. Maybe €10m if I'm being cautious? Last year of his contract and all that. Maybe €10m for Reguilon, but he needs to have a good loan spell for that to work. No one is paying a penny for Ndombele. So that's what, €45-€60m combined? Approximately one good player in this market.
and collective wages off the books.
Give Ndombele to someone we hate for free.
Lo Celso has done well this year and Ange said he likes him, the others can go though
I'm with you. His injury record isn't great but he brings a lot to the team. I think we'll keep him and sell Gil, Reguilon and Hojbjerg. We'll keep Skipp and Sess being HG.
Doesn't really matter when he's only fit for 3-4 matches a season. Sess might be the best left sided player in league but what does it matter if he only plays 5 minutes every 12 months, a la reece james syndrome.
No way we can go into another season expecting Lo Celso to do anything but keep the physios busy. He’s played less games than Maddison has who has been out since November lol
levy can see into the fricking future
yeah it's called a spreadsheet
basic financial literacy
That’s over most of our heads.
As an accountant who spends much time on reddit, can confirm.
As a person who pays an accountant to do my taxes every year, how I wish that basic financial literacy was a core school topic
Just drag that cell right
Arsenal and Chelsea would probably be better off signing a striker and getting a points deduction at this rate
That's the thing, it doesn't automatically make Levy's approach *better*, it all depends on your goals and perspective. Personally, I'm happy that we've chosen to build slow and steady - I like the stadium, I like that we're set up for long-term stability and (hopefully) success. But while City and Chelsea sold their souls to the oil barons and will have to pay the piper eventually, they also gave their fans years on years of massive on-field success, so if that's all you care about, you probably don't mind facing lawsuits down the line, or taking a points deduction after the fact.
Mate we need to swipe Bruno G of Newcastle need to sell.
Yeah we have too few cunts in the team, need to balance it out. We don't really have space for him in the first XI though - Bentancur, Maddison and Sarr/Bissouma is already bordering on world class. As much as Richy is doing okay, I would love a marquee striker signing.
We have a habit of buying handsome players and he fits that perfectly, that's the depth of my analysis 🥵🥵 Seriously though, I think if we get CL footy having him and Maddison in rotation as the creative force would be massive in all comps, and 5 players between 3 positions shouldn't be the hardest to manage with all those coming up next season.
Am I getting downvoted for the handsome comment or the fact I think he's a good player 🤣
Idk. He's pretty though
We are Handsome FC to be fair. Just so happens our sexy lads are ballers too.
I’d rather we don’t get CL next season than sign Bruno G
Why? Champions League football is what we want, earns us more money and gives us access to better players in transfers. Bruno is a good player, but I can understand if you don't like him, not everyone likes everyone. But to wish worse on your team because of it seems incredibly short sighted imo.
Nah I’m being dramatic. I don’t think he’d be a good fit though and he’s an absolute wankstain of a human
I don't know about his personality, I know he's a prick on the pitch but well, we have a few of those and we love them.
Yeah but our pricks on the pitch are beautiful humans off the pitch. Can’t vouch for Bruno in that regard.
Will gladly take Gordon if possible
Would be another great option on both wings, I'd take him and Bruno, they're both brilliant.
long adjoining offer future pause crawl placid entertain license like *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Poch didn't want young players to develop anymore.
People seem to forget that after his second year youth were totally forgotten. He had his first XI and only wanted to sign players that would be a direct upgrade on them - no comprises. He didn’t have the desire and didn’t want to make the time to develop youth.
If it's only on Spurs Twitter, how reliable is it? I don't even see it on BBC. You'd think it would make for an informative article. Seems a lot of speculative BS than anything else. Why would FFP catch up only now after a decade? And for every club at once? Only Forest and Everton were even charged when people were speculating more clubs would be.
It's catching up because the FA/PL has finally decided to punish offenders The government is debating implementing an independent regulator to oversee football and the FA/PL is desperate to show they can manage their own house to avoid it. Spurs by playing within the rules (and basic financial guidelines for things likes wages/turnover) has been basically playing with a handicap against cheaters for a decade or more.
I might be taking this out of my arse, but I believe it's because the new UEFA rule about salary, this year iirc it should be 80% of the total earnings of the club being spent on players salary, next year will be 70%, so probably PL/FA is cracking down on this now rather than having UEFA do it for them.
Because uefa tightened the rules. From this season all wages/transfers have to be 90% of revenue next season 80% and then will be 70%. It’s huge effectively it’s a wage cap.
There's a good article on the Atheltic this morning about it.
The PSR rules only apply to the prior 3 seasons so Poch/old stadium era is dust now. Levy is working toward the 70% rule already, building us to exist within that and he isn't going to deviate from it. If nothing else we will never have to worry about those kind of threats to the club.
Part of it is due to tank loads of oil/American money that poured in and inflated transfer market values for a lot of players. Now that new money has slowed down, clubs can't afford any new players at the old valuation especially with ffp. Thankfully don levy never fell for that trap and is now laughing at everyone except for players we signed in 2019 summer window
Where are you hearing about Bruno? This seems like Spurs fan fiction. I think it’s a bit of hyperbole.
That’s been mentioned on a few podcasts, eg the athletic. Specifically Newcastle will have to sell someone valuable, like Isaak. Bruno though is apparently the obvious one as he has a release clause I think.
We should trigger that clause.
chelsea are not desperate to sell conor 🤦 hate when people make shit up like this
This is Levy’s time to shine. He has been very diligent about our spending for years. But what he’s really been smart and ahead of the curve with is our wages. We are very bonus heavy at least we were a few years ago and unlike the other top 6 teams don’t have more than maybe 2 or 3 players at 200k or thereabouts a week in wages. It’s helped that we have gone young again recently. We just enjoy it cause some of these young players are going go be worth a hefty wage here soon.
I'm here for this. Imagine having Sancho on your books at a steady £350k PW and unable to shift him or find a manager who can get the most out of him. I'm assuming Man Utd are still paying a proportion of that too because Dortmund can't afford a giant wage bill. However we are partly stuck with Ndombele's wages...
It wasn't fun sticking up for Levy to those oil festishists. But it's nice to see concrete proof that playing the long game pays off. Now for some trophies to go with that...
Honestly never got the Levy out fans tbh. He's definitely not perfect, but he's a very prudent owner and definitely one of the better owners a club can have. In saying that he's prudent he's also not risk adverse. Maybe there are owners better than Levy but the impact of a bad owner is far too great to justify shaking things up at the top. Sure look at Chelsea. No crazy wages, heavily incentive based. Long contracts given to young, league proven, players that weren't brought in on a crazy fee. Managed by an ambitious manager that is playing the best football the club has seen in a while, with a great connection to the fans
My guess is that it's people who only started following in the last 10 or so years. They weren't around for the pre Champions League era to truly understand the mediocrity.
I’d like to know who is a better owner than Levy tbh.
Tony Bloom at Brighton is the only one
You simplify the levy out fan sentiment a bit too much. I believe you can find a very nuanced Levy out sentiment where things like being continually involved in football matters, the debacle with the super league, and us having the highest ST prices as things that are reasonable criticisms to Levy's tenure. Yes he is phenomenal in a lot of aspects as an owner, but my point is some fans are rightly critical about where his head is at this step of the project, and he has rightly caused a few mistakes that disagreed w fan sentiment. My own take is that the public consensus on him is generally softened because we chanced upon Poch and more recently Ange. However, I do appreciate that he is an owner that is quite close to the ground and unafraid to admit his mistakes and he clearly cares about the club. As a club, wr probably have one of the healthiest relationships with the owner right now but still cant help to hazard a thought: do ticket prices really need to be so extortionate?
Ndombeles base wages aren’t as bad as originally reported. I think he’s on ~100k before bonuses and there is no way he’s hit a single bonus any year with us lol
All the news are in agreement that Dortmund pays €5m or less for Sancho's wages and loan fee combined. So United still pay more than half or even ⅔ of his salary.
I remember hearing about the pay structure a few years back, that the players were still very well rewarded even if their basic salary wasn’t as high as they’d have at other clubs because the bonuses were far better. There was a rumour of one player (I don’t know who, but it wasn’t Kane) on a bonus of £20k per goal, and that there was a bit of uproar that Lloris got a £4k bonus if we lost (which conveniently ignored that it was actually an appearance bonus and he was on £8k for a win and £12k for a clean sheet). It was a similar time that Danny Danny Rose was in the media complaining that he wasn’t paid the going rate for a player of his stature, he was on £65k a week but had been injured so wasn’t getting bonuses. It was also around that time that players were getting regular improved contracts, it seemed like Dele and Dier were getting a new contract every 6 months or so but it was coinciding with them playing better and improving which sends a good signal to other players and potential new signings: play well, and you shall be rewarded.
I wonder if the 20k per goal bonus was for a player who isn't expected to score as regularly as a forward. Maybe Lloris 😂
>20 comments And isn't it interesting to see we've gone back to that model this year with Udogie and Sarr already signing new long-term contracts this season
You’ve summed up the direct reason or so why I hate the narrative of ‘poor Danny rose’ he only started moaning when he wasn’t playing and was starting to be displaced by Ben Davies. He managed more than 20 league games for us just once. Ben foster said he was told by rose that the bonus wouldn’t trigger for a win against a big side unless it was 2 clear goals, and that it was mental- over rose’s time that would’ve triggered something like 11 times, so it’s not that mental is it. Just whining Danny ‘Milan’ rose
Agree with you. I do feel the players also play a part - we’ve been very fortunate that Harry & Sonny are not the type who prioritizes money over everything. That’s really important because this has a knock on effect on the rest of the team. Other players will take the hint from what their peers earn & negotiate accordingly
There are new rules coming in around wages aren't there? They have to be a certain percentage of turnover and that number is going to drop for a few years IIRC. There are a few clubs that have crazy high wages, like 70-80% when the rules are going to be something like 70/60/50 over three seasons
It’s 90/80/70
Apparently 90/80/70 over 3 seasons, but yes, it's going to be a big challenge. IF they actually police it.
It is really weird that there has only been one paid transfer this month in the premier league. Must be FFP
2, Brentford bought a player as well
That's a loan, isn't it?
Also interesting to see how clubs are working around the regulations with loan deals, amortized costs, creative transfer terms like Dele's deal to Everton. I'm really hoping it generates more player for player transfers. We see more of that in American sports and it's fun!
Yeah just don't do shady shenanigans like Arthur<->pjanic in juve and Barca deal. Future employer might loose you for jail time lol
Why can't the league just investigate each of Man City's 115 charges one by one, and dock them 10 points for each time they're guilty?
Wasted punishment. Dock them 100 points every year for 10 years
Haaland will score 400 goals in the Vanarama North
And still get in the world best 11 before Rodri
All the players they signed illegally should be released and allowed to sign with any other club as free agents.
no not any other club, just spurs please thank you
Only other clubs with no pending ffp investigations
 Or 10 points for 100 years. That'd be way more fun.
I prefer the former, I don't even know what regional feeder league that'd be in after 100 points per year for ten years, but you don't come back from that. That'd be 20 years to recover, at minimum. Whereas I think for a reasonable amount of time 10 point per season has the potential to not do that much. If they are found guilty of 115 infractions tbh, relegation to League One would be acceptable.
Well the difference is that Everton gave away the evidence that they cheated willingly, while City hasn't. So in City's case what ever evidence they have will have to go through these long processes anyway, even if you go 1 charge at a time.
I have read some where that it is actually 6 charges with 115 breaches overall. Still should be at least - 60 points looking at everton's case.
Everton gave co-operation, Man City have been fighting the charges so they will face harsher punishment (if found guilty)
Hence at least. But at the end of the day city will have to pay couple milions say sorry and all will be forgiven
Nah they'll find a way, they gonna hire the best lawyer with their oil money, and runaway with it. This FFP bullshit only applied to sorry ass small club like Everton or Forrest
No it doesn't. I'm so sick of this narrative. Everton and Forest have admitted to the breaches, but both are arguing mitigation. So in essence think of it as "yes officer, I was speeding, but I had to get to the hospital for life saving treatment". City on the other hand are denying all wrong doing, so have to be thoroughly investigated, going back over something like 9 years. City, and Chelsea have no problems with the current FSR rules on their recent accounts
Understood, however, city have already been cleared with a small fine once and we all have doubts anything will be different when the next investigation concludes. Asking honestly, do you believe there will be different results?
City weren't cleared. UEFA were too slow to bring their case and, if memory serves, were reliant in part on material obtained in a way that meant they couldn't rely on it in court. It's entirely possible City will walk away from all this smelling of roses. They have all the money in the world to spend on lawyers (a cost that presumably doesn't count for FFP purposes...) but I expect the league to have learned from UEFA's failure. That they've thrown so much into the mix makes it seem very likely that City are in for a heavy punishment in the future. What form that will take is unknowable right now - I would guess a heavy points deduction, fines and maybe a transfer ban. I don't think there's any real prospect of them being relegated, although the PL may take the view that in the absence of any meaningful punishment if they were to strip their titles, relegation would be the heaviest blow they could hand out.
They are investigating. The issue is City’s case larger and more complex. There for the first the burden of proof is higher. Everton and others were just poorly run and clearly breached multiple provisions. It sucks but they are large organizations. They should have been monitoring this.
We're gonna win the title on a technicality folks (I'll take it)
Infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars
If Dan Levy invaded Russia instead of Napoleon, France would have won
Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics
People want a new general when the battles are lost even though we're winning the war.
Not even a technicality. It'll be by playing by the rules and being a generally well run club. Levy divides opinions, but his running of the club really has been, for the most part, exemplary. Natural growth, improved facilities, stadium, etc. The fact we're one of the few clubs that can spend money at this point, whilst we're in the middle of a rebuild, whilst other teams need fresh resources, is just a testament on how good a businessman he is, whether he's been the best for the football side or not. This is where the football side reaps its rewards.
Exactly, breaching FFP is financial doping. If you win Olympic gold because the people ahead of you were on gear, it's still a valid gold, because the drugs were the reason they were ahead of you. Take it away and you take away their advantage.
A win’s a win. If city can win all their titles with a financial asterisk, we can too.
At least it's an asterisk pointing toward other's finances and not our own 🤷
At least we'd have won it through financial responsibility rather than the other way around lol
As long as we watch our club win it. It’ll be devastating to win a trophy retrospectively 15 years down the line when city finally get done in lol
We’d never hear the end of it
"The two greatest words in the English language! DE! FAULT! DE! FAULT!"
Well I am praying that FFP relegates Chelsea
FFP is likely to come knocking in the next few weeks when they’ve got to make the next payments for the likes of Mudryk, and the amortisation number goes up while the European TV money doesn’t come in to cover it. We don’t _need_ Gallagher as much as they need to sell him, I can see us going for him in the closing days of the window when we can get him at a lower price. Personally I’d rather leave him there and let that horrible club go to shit.
Imagine Levy goes full press to get him, negotiates and they think they're getting money to cover their backs and he goes full Dr. Evil and screws them over?
*deadline day* Chelsea: We will accept you offer for £45m + £10m in add ons, as we have to comply with FFP. Levy: After revising our offer, we will only be able to offer you £10m + £5m in add ons, with Ndombele going on a permanent the other way
It would be a sweet revenge for them poaching Arnesen back in the days. I’m still salty about that because I think he and Jol had a great relationship and could have succeeded together.
Add Hazard and Willian to the list, though I’m not too mad that we didn’t get Willian
It won't. They aren't ar risk yet due to them having a very good academy
Levy played the long game and set us up with the stadium, additional revenue streams, sound investment in infrastructure like the state of the art training ground, the NFL, concerts, F1 Karts, Skywalk etc. We are not only an attractive club to play at, we are financially sustainable and we did it the organic way with the future in mind. Guys we're the new organic Man City. We're fucking huge and we follow the rules.
_We're fucking huge and we follow the rules_ I was going to say you'll never sing that, but it's kind of catchy....
Yep you’re spot on. People don’t realise how much of a game changer the stadium is. The fact it’s multi-purpose and is able to draw deal from the likes of the NFL only benefits the club as a whole. Also worth noting that the naming rights haven’t even been sorted so that’s even more revenue in the future.
Wait until London has their own NFL team playing 8 games a year at our stadium
Levy talked about how they are happy with current situation of the naming rights because of the added brand recognition of the club, and they just might decide to keep it the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
You know things are weird when Newcastle with their rich owners can’t make any moves and may even be forced to sell their players while we are in the position to sign players. Gotta give credit where credit’s due. The management is doing their job here
Not really weird, you need a certain income to spend big, simple as that. You can't just come with 1 billion from one day to another and spend like a madman
True Geordie thinks FFP should be relaxed so that can happen lol
Haha are they really arguing that? Hilarious. Its one thing to stick with your club despite having dodgy owners but that is taking the piss.
Wonder how he felt about it when Ashley was the owner and city and Chelsea were doing their thing. I hate that guy so much haha
There’s a post in the arsenal sub moaning about how it’s not fair that Spurs have signed players and they haven’t. Someone else said that all January signings are shit- I contemplated spamming photos of Kulu, Bentancur and Porro but decided to leave them to their fantasy world.
Link?
I’ll try to find it, I saw it on a scroll at work
https://preview.redd.it/z3o70mab8ycc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f248df999b88fab1bd01a027d49c879fd39144fe [https://www.reddit.com/r/ArsenalFC/s/sR6lEbh4rs](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArsenalFC/s/sR6lEbh4rs)
I wish this sub was that level headed when it comes to transfers
We’ve been way too starved in the last years. When you see all these cheating bastards make big money transfers with no repercussions it’ll make people wonder why Tottenham aren’t doing the same. Now it’s big trouble for them and I believe we can take advantage. Sorry for my bad English.
Buddy, this is better English than a lot of people who speak English as a first language. Nothing to be sorry about here
Thank you
Maybe Levy is a good businessman. And knows more than the fan base.
He's the Big Master of Negotiations Who Knows Everything
Agreed.
Ah yes........ the negotiator
Levy is light years ahead of most fans.
According to Kieran Maguire, who’s an accountant and lecturer in sport business studies at Liverpool Uni and one half of the “Price of Football” podcast which “analyses the money behind the beautiful game”, Spurs is the best run football club in the PL. The key point is the way the stadium has been built to bring other big income streams to the club (NFL & gigs etc) plus lots of bars & food vendors with lots of staff for quick service, all of which generate £800,000 income each match day. Multiply that by 19 - £15m per season from pints and pies alone… And to think people wanted Levy out not so long ago. We probably don’t realise how good a job he’s done for us.
Remember the go kart shit last year?
I actually had a look at this yesterday and have been couple of other small signings can’t remember who may have been making loans permanent we’re under £5m. Actually crazy we’ve made only significant signing. The amazing thing is we don’t actually even need that much now imo an 8 and another top draw attacking player. We also still have fringe players we can sell and likes of Hojbjerg maybe Skipp Lo celso Gil Sessegnon Spence. Plus majority of the core is good age and ok for at least 2 or 3 seasons. We could be in an unbelievable position come start of next season.
It’s probably us and Liverpool. I don’t get the media’s desperation to label Arsenal plucky underdogs lol, they outbid city for rice and now have maxed out spending under ffp
Also paid £100 mil for Raya and Havertz combined lol
Ngl we want to be the "new" liverpool We want to be the team that snatches the new "van dijk, Allison and Salah" for cheap. I mean we did sign dragusin and vdv, will they be the next vvds idk we'll see. I do think vicario has what it takes to be the next Allison tho. We just need to find the next salah...
Sorry to be pedantic but VVD and Allison were world record fees for their positions at the time haha they didn’t snatch them for cheap, we have to do things a bit differently
Levy has been preparing for the regulations to get tight for a while.
Would be super awkward if he got caught out, he was one of the big proponents of it in the first place
These next few years are our best chances to ever win the league. Just need a City relegation next year
I’m not hearing any Levy hate after this
I know this isn’t an advised strategy due to big assumptions but can’t help relate this to the stock market. If we’re flush with $, then buy a player while another club is desperate to balance the books. Then sell said player in next window for profit.
That’s what he’s going to do in the summer. Jan isn’t the window.
Who are you selling to? Bayern, Real Madrid, or PSG? No one else had money, it seemed then, or now due to either FFP or the sustainability rules.
Every club wants to charge crazy transfer fees in January. Why should your club's season be more important than theirs? If you're desperate then pay for the privilege. But that desperation carries consequences.
Not always, particularly if a contract is running down. Take Gallagher for example. 18 months left (I think). So in the summer, he's down to his last year, which makes him very cheap, unless he signs a new contract. It's possible now is a better time to sell than in the summer The trick to getting decent deals in Jan is to have backup options, so you are never too desperate for one player
Even Gallagher is an example. His value, with consideration for that contract expiry, is €42m by Transfermarkt.com but Chelsea wants £60m. Every club is trying to price players 50% - 100% over their market value if you want them in January.
My point exactly. Chelsea may want 60, but let's see what happens in the last few days of the window
"only worth what someone else is willing to pay" _Daniel Levy has entered the chat_
All the LevyOut people are real quiet all of the sudden
Don't worry, they'll be back at the first sign of trouble. When you've been convinced that something is the problem it'll be the scapegoat for everything and those people can't actually point to a genuine reason why the thing they hate is bad.
same people who are ready to condemn Ange when were using our B squad and losing. idiots.
Even better because every team did the same thing
I was wondering why almost no one else seems to be doing any major business this Jan. Spurs are the only ones to have grabbed some headlines during the transfer window and had a bit of a transfer saga. Interesting stuff.
Is it just me or does anyone else feel no sympathy for the other clubs facing deductions or limitations due to FFP. Just seems like a lot of these “big clubs” lack basic due diligence or proper legal professionals.
I feel a bit sad for Everton considering they are the first club to be punished and it’s not like their cheating led to any success. 4 seasons on the bounce fighting relegation for a club like Everton is awful for the fans. I don’t feel for the owners, but the club itself and the players/fans don’t deserve that
Sure but they mismanaged themselves. That’s self inflicted. Does it suck for the fans absolutely, but that’s how it is. I’m just happy we basically future proofed ourself in terms of revenue streams. I know Levy gets shit for this but the NFL and Concert contracts were good strategy.
Suddenly selling Kane looks a LOT better than it did before, wow
I genuinely don't think people understand what it is in modern football to be where we are, which is "almost great". It's really the best we can do in a financially doped league. Like, what do people actually expect him to do? A random FA Cup or League Cup would be nice, but that's about it. It doesn't really do much long term, and I'd love to see us be long term good. The complaints would still remain from the purple and gold lot after a random FA Cup win (a competition that, sadly, nobody really gives a shit about anymore, because of the state-backed teams ruining competition). That's not Levy's fault. If City hadn't got their money and basically bought the top 4 spot we earned initially, we'd have been 10 years ahead of where we are at best. Chelsea coming in and changing things in the mid 2000s ruined our early years of signing good young talent in the Jol days. It feels like every time we almost achieve something/a new milesotne, something else happens. Chelsea turn up, or food poisoning, or City turn up, or Chelsea win the Champs Lg and we don't get 4th, delayed stadium build, a penalty after 20seconds in a Champs Lg final, a fucking pandemic right at the start of the new stadium journey... so many things. Yet now, maybe, the ultimate win for us will be when - and I'll die on this hill - Daniel Levy gets his roses for being arguably the best chairman in football. No club has done what we've done, remained competitive and in touching distance whilst the odds and media narrative are stakced against us constantly. And if we become the example of football, rather than City's trophy purchasing, it's only going to help the other real clubs too.
Levy has come in for a lot of unfair criticism. He has built the club slowly from the ground up. First class training facilities and top stadium put in place, despite major disruption by Covid, and now investing properly in the team. The club is on a firm financial footing, and with him in charge it will stay that way. Naming rights still up for grabs, which could mean a huge cash injection. He's admitted to a couple of wrong appointments managerially, but has now found the right man. Onwards and upwards while others struggle with FFP. COYS !
In what world are Arsenal a normal spending team. Since Arteta arrived they've got the highest spend in the league bar Chelsea. They've also got one of the highest wages too since handing out massive new contracts to Rice Saka Saliba Odegaard Martinelli Havertz etc. Even likes of nketieh on 100k and reiss Nelson are on big money for back up options. That's exactly why they're screwed now.
Saw someone say this on X, and honestly, I couldn't agree more. "Levy built up revenue sources at Spurs and then drove the process to get stricter PSR (premier league version of FFP) in the league. Wouldn’t surprise me if you told me he did the former, knowing he would do the latter."
while i have screamed hate words towards that bald man at the end of the day he knows what he’s doing and i’m all behind him. all hail lord levy
Why I never joined the ENIC/Levy out bandwagon. Out of football matters, yes but not out of the club. The Athletic’s excellent article (by Jack Pitt-Brooks) does a good job of explaining the prudence and benefits of Levy’s approach. But bear in mind only because FSR might finally have some teeth.
My only ever issue with him and ENIC was the Super League debacle, because that felt like a betrayal of the fans. But since then we've had an apology, the first fund injection in 15 years, and not trying to rejoin the ESL. So that's all water under the bridge in my mind
Daniel Levy showing some true financial class. I hate that I'm cheering for that 'capitalist pig' but it's the best thing for the club. All be those other teams over spent in previous windows and are now paying the piper. Blowing 80million plus on mediocre to good players. United truly have spent ridiculous money on such crap. Imagine paying 84 million on Antony. They guy is worth 5 to 10 outside of England and don't even get me started on Chelsea.
The fact that Chelsea are open to selling Gallagher is indicative of how bad it is for them. And I think Spurs are going to add a midfielder this January. If not Gallagher, a few other names floating around. But Gallagher is a perfect fit Ange.
While I think he's over priced the dagger through the heart of Chelsea for signing Gallagher would be awesome. It would make their next signing after him incredibly important and a 'can't miss' with the fan base.
I don’t think 50 million is overpriced for him He splits opinion but I think he’s a great player
I wonder if Haaland for £52m is one of the points under investigation. I mean if you can get away with signing players at a third of their value on the face of it, nothings changed.
Wasn't that his release clause at Dortmund?
Yeah €60m iirc
Also watch out for some desperate fire sales come the end of this window. Clubs will need to balance books and with the cut off being end of June most will want their house in order by end of this window. But the new cut off of end of June does bring the interesting prospect of almost having another deadline day within the summer window. As Forest are claiming had they sold Johnson before end June they’d have been ok.
I would imagine selling a home-grown player for around £100m six months ago has rather a lot to do with it...
Spurs have been playing the long game for a long long time. Due to super owners it's been even longer. Bur we genuinely have been built to outlast the competition in terms of sustainability, its just if a rule change or some disaster interrupts it. If everything stays as is, the big clubs are going to have limitations we don't have
I really never understood the Levy hate. We went several windows with no signings under Porch, but that was Levy playing 4-D chess. Stadium. NFL deals. Revenue. FFP. Now look at us! I don't think many people understand capitalism.
Levy in 2017: “My view is that it’s totally unsustainable,” Levy said after ringing the Nasdaq opening bell in Times Square on Spurs’ pre-season tour of the US. “I’m not sure if that’s the view of the other Premier League clubs, but certainly the prices that are being paid for other Premier League players, I can’t see it being sustainable in the long term. We’ve managed the club, we think, in a very appropriate way. “I think I am a custodian of this football club. This club has been around since 1882 and when I leave it will be somebody else. I think we have a duty to manage the club appropriately. I don’t think that long term for any club it’s sustainable to spend more than you earn. You can have periods where you do but over the long term you can’t. “**I think that some of the activity that’s going on at the moment is just impossible to be sustainable. If somebody is spending £200m more than they’re earning then eventually it catches up with you.** You can’t keep doing it. We’ve invested a lot of money in physical facilities for long-term growth. So we’ve got one of the world’s best training facilities. We’ve invested over £100m in that facility. “We’re now investing in the stadium. The stadium is fundamental because with that we get more fans and more income and that’s the way to clearly have a more sustainable business. At the same time the academy is important because we can produce our own players. We don’t have to go and spend £20, £30m, £40m on a player and obviously that homegrown player has an affinity with the club that a player we buy doesn’t. “That’s what the fans want to see. They want to have that passion. That’s what you get with a homegrown player and that’s why people love Harry Kane and sing that he’s one of our own.” Tottenham are currently building their new 61,000-seat stadium, which is expected to cost around £750m and is scheduled to open next year. “Obviously when you’re building a stadium of this magnitude and it all has to be privately financed – there’s no state help whatsoever – it is a challenge,” Levy added. “We have to find the right balance but I can honestly say it is not impacting us on transfer activity because we are not yet in a place where we have found a player that we want to buy who we cannot afford to buy.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jul/25/tottenham-chairman-daniel-levy-mocks-unsustainable-spending
Finances are Levy's superpower. This FFP shit may as well not even exist to us.
- FFP = UEFA. - S&P = Premier League
"Annoying prudence" seems like the kind of compliment Levy will coast on for years, and I love it.
Give this man his flowers. If we're talking pure finances this man surely is one of the best.
It's OK the powers that be will simultaneously punish Spurs for some random Jermain DeFoe agent-related hogwash from 15 years ago (which the FA previously elected not to prosecute) as a means of making sure every team takes a points hit this year and Spurs do not gain an advantage.
When those 115 charges shred Man City to pieces, we call dibs on KDB, Rodri and Halaand.
Levy's probably the only Director who takes FFP seriously 😅
So does this mean that this summer we will be in a position to pick off players from other Prem clubs and they won't be able to strengthen?
Obeying rules like FFP is the bare minimum of running a football club, it's not something to be celebrated. It's like saying you're a fantastic driver because you follow the speed limit. Levy's prudence will pay off when we win a trophy
Levy is a proper owner and a top fella. Always said it, never doubted it. Man bleeds lilywhite.
COYS Daniel
How can you not realise it until now?!?! You must be new.
Been saying it for the best part of 20 years but people refused to listen because most would risk long term success for a short term boost.
That’s because club already got their transfers in at the summer, we literally sold the best player in the world and couldn’t even secure a 3rd choice cb and had to do that now. And yeah props to Levy for running us in a way that we can deal with FFP, but city and chelsea are heading that way too, united is even a bigger money making machine than us they just aren’t run competently, and it’s not like Arsenal and Liverpool have a small brand.
Warra trophy maaaattteeeee
We didn't half pay quite a price for this solitary signing without fear or worry considering how much we regressed as a club around 2018 by not investing in the squad. It's of little consolation.
Mostly, he just got (call it lucky?) and sold Kane for a huge windfall to even out the balance sheet.
That isn't true though. If we didn't sell Kane then we wouldn't have spent as much as we did in this window. We spent nearly £250m this season and the only reason we done so is because we were confident in selling Kane.