Finance expert issues verdict on Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy taking over a new club

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Daniel Levy, the longest serving and best paid executive in the Premier League, does things differently to his contemporaries – and Tottenham are the most profitable team in the division’s history as result.

At business, there are very few better. At running a football club? That depends on how you evaluate success, but Tottenham’s 16-year trophy drought doesn’t paint a flattering picture.

Ange Postecoglou, despite being lower in the Premier League table than Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho when they lost their jobs, appears to still have ENIC and Daniel Levy’s backing.

That may be partly because the heat from supporters, who are broadly sympathetic to what the straight-shooting Aussie is trying to do and how he conducts himself, has not yet reached boiling point.

The fans also recognise that Postecoglou has been lumbered with a genuinely hellish injury list and a squad perhaps not deep enough to cope with the demands of his white-knuckle-ride football.

There is far less sympathy for Levy, who has been a divisive figure for all of the quarter of a century he has been in charge in N17 but whose small coalition of support is dwindling.

Granted, revenue is over 1000 per cent higher than it was when the 61-year-old took over from Alan Sugar, originally on an interim basis before, in 2001.

But for all the riches created by brand deals and concerts at the magnificent Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs have lost sight of the fact that what matters is what happens on the green bit in the middle.

The riposte from the club is that you need to make money to spend money and, hopefully, win things.

But Spurs have easily the lowest wages-to-turnover ratio in the Premier League, and fans fear that the board simply believe spending enough to finish 4th-6th delivers the best income to expenses margin.

It’s true that squad cost spending (wages + transfer amortisation) is rising on a pound-sterling basis, but revenue is rising faster. That means that 46 per cent ratio is getting smaller.

Yes, many of the clubs south of Spurs in the above table spend well beyond their means and Levy and ENIC would probably argue that they are the only ones living in the real world.

But there is a direct correlation between higher wage spending and success. Nudging that figure up by just a few percentage points can propel a club forward on the pitch while remaining sustainable.

Even if Spurs want to maintain an iron grip on costs, Brighton and Brentford prove you can pan for gold in the transfer market, keep overheads low, and progress at a football level if you hire the right people.

The question is, does Levy have the convictions and – significantly – the footballing know-how to implement that kind of model? If not, increasing spending is the only recourse.

One avenue nearly every ambitious club is now exploring is the multi-club system.

There are commercial benefits to multi-club models, but the main benefits are recruitment-based.

Spurs have explored strategic link-ups with Scandinavian teams and, several years, ago had a fleeting partnership with Real Madrid, but they have never said they are exploring taking over another club.

With pressure to improve recruitment and find a way to compete with uber-smart clubs like Liverpool and Manchester City on the pitch, could Levy revise that stance?

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Tottenham’s stance on Manchester City-style multi-club model

City, United and Chelsea already have multi-club setups, while Liverpool have brough Michael Edwards back to the club as CEO specifically to establish one.

Now, Mikel Arteta has hinted that Arsenal are exploring multi-club too. It’s early days there, but that would leave Spurs as the only ‘Big Six’ club without a network of subsidiary teams.

Speaking exclusively to TBR Football, Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, who is well-connected within the industry, doesn’t anticipate that will change any time soon.

“Spurs have future-proofed themselves with White Hart Lane 2.0 and the investment in the stadium has been incredibly successful,” the Price of Football podcast host said.

“They haven’t gone down the multi-club route but they have gone down the multi-function route at the stadium.

“Ultimately, this could be more lucrative than owning another football club, which isn’t necessarily going to be profitable.

“Levy’s plan at Spurs has always been one of revenue maximisation and significant cost control.

“I think Spurs would be more interested in hosting an NFL franchise in London as opposed to going down the route of owning a football club.

“There is zero desire or capability to expand the stadium as part of that, however, even though they could probably sell another 10,000 tickets each matchday if they wanted to.”

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The NFL masterplan: Daniel Levy’s most controversial idea yet?

The NFL’s London Games are a huge money-spinner for Spurs, so much so that the promise of them led the club to build the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with American football specifically in mind.

The National Football League, which is far and away the most lucrative sports league in the world, even contributed several millions dollars in funding during the construction phase.

Today, the NFL announced that Spurs would host New York Jets and Cleveland Browns in the latest iteration of the London Games in the summer.

For bedrock Tottenham fans, these flashy, all-American events in N17 might raise a few eyebrows but are essentially harmless.

However, if Spurs themselves were to launch and NFL franchise, as Maguire suggests is possible, that would be an entirely different story.

Many clubs on the continent are not football-specific, with basketball or ice hockey teams playing under one badge, but that has never been the model in the UK.

Significantly, the NFL are in a massive expansion phase internationally and appear to be on an indivertible course to launch an overseas franchise in the next few years.

If commissioner Roger Goodell wants to exploit the popularity of football, or ‘soccer’, as an access point to a new market in Europe, Tottenham would be the first port of call.

There are almost too many links between the NFL and Spurs to count.

Reports that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was interested in buying Spurs last year proved wide of the mark, but they were emblematic of how closely the club and the league are tied together.

Even Amanda Staveley, who is interested in acquiring a minority stake in Tottenham, is a huge NFL fan and was a guest of Levy’s at the London Games last summer.

Levy himself has suggested that it would be a dream of his for the North Londoners to host the Super Bowl, while Spurs legend Harry Kane is famously big into the sport.

In the reverse direction, the NFL are extremely interested in football.

Ultimately the bid failed, but the NFL were part of a consortium that tried to buy the commercial rights to Mexico’s top league, Liga MX, in 2024.

That was a statement of intent – could Spurs be next?