Spurs Banter Archive May 16 2013

16 May 2013 16:49:08
The summer transfer window is looming and we have already started compiling our own wish lists of players. Most of them won't be signed, so Levy will again be branded as a penny-pinching tight-arse.

Let's get real.

The money Levy spends or saves is not his own; it belongs to Spurs. He is just an employee responsible for the prudent financial management of the club.

Whatever back-of-the-envelope calculations we do about profits on transfers and savings on wages, the truth is that Spurs is not rolling in money. Check the 2012 Annual Report.

We made a loss of 4m last year.

Revenue was 144m, down from 164m the year before.

There is no massive war chest. Cash reserves were only 15m, down from 20m in 2011.

Total debt (current and non-current) was 85m, up from 76m the year before.

The wage bill was slightly down, but wages were 62. 5% of revenue, up from 55. 8%.

None of this is particularly worrying, and the financial situation is distorted by the Northumberland Park Development, but these are the financial realities that Levy has to take into account when he sanctions the purchase of players.

In short: it is not enough for a new player to be good; he must also be good value for money.

The past few years haven't been half bad for us. Apart from the Ramos debacle, we have been 4th or 5th every year since 2006 and that will continue this season. Levy, Jol, Harry and now AVB all deserve credit for this. But the truth is that we have been punching above our weight.

We have been operating on a significantly smaller income that any of our main rivals. Last season, for example, United, City, Arsenal and Chelsea all had revenues between 60% and 120% larger than ours. Even Liverpool's was 30% bigger.

Over the past 7 years Levy has grown Tottenham's revenue by 66%, which is better than any of the other top clubs (except City). But you don't buy players and pay their wages with percentages. In straight money terms, the revenues of all the other top clubs have actually increased more than ours (except Liverpool). The gap has grown.

We are still close enough to Champions League qualification for a reasonable investment in the right players to keep us in the frame for a while longer, but sooner or later we have to close that revenue gap or drop off the pace. In the meantime, we mustn't spend like a top four club without the revenues of one.

But I guarantee Levy will still take a lot of stick this summer.
KM

16 May 2013 18:49:17
Instead of buying the quality striker that we have needed for years he brought crap like Dempsey. If he had brought what we had needed the income earned would of been significantly higher.

Well KM, I will guarantee that as well. Yes he might work for the club as such, but I bet he gets a nice big bonus for every penny he saves! You don't get many supporters on this site that want us to spend, spend, spend, we do realise that this is a business as well and we want to survive but that doesn't mean that tight arse has to dump 2nd rate players, cheap to buy and sustain in wages, on us! You don't get a return without decent investment, if you don't invest then your competitors get ahead and eventually out of site, every one in business knows this. We aren't asking for the earth, just good investment in our club. Everton have proved that you can get bargains, so have Villa. Benteke is a good example as is Fellanni. Benteke was what £8 mill, now we are thinking of paying £20 mill plus? Where the hell are our scouts, sorry they are out there finding us wonderous players like Dempsey? No, you don't have to break the bank each time, you have to look hard and every now and then pay what's needed! Not f**k off every chairman of every team, by taking the piss like tight arse does!
I bet he doesn't have to worry each week about the price of his and his kids tickets? Most supporters don't worry about putting money into their club, but get pissed of when the piss is taken out of them by certain people at the club. We haven't had DECENT investment in this club for years in players, and if we had had a decent striker, we wouldn't be hoping for Newcastle to beat the Arse this Sunday.

16 May 2013 22:37:37
Felliani cost what 13, 14 mil! Hardly a bargain. {Ed001's Note - 19m.)

KM what you have done is just massive selection bias. You've picked all the stuff you like to put in and ignored everything else.

Like how we are the 12th richest club in the world. Sure we cannot compete with the likes of the Manchester teams or Chelsea but nobody on this website is suggesting that we are going after their targets. Nobody is suggesting we splash £30m+ on a single summer signing with £200k wages. You're setting up an argument that nobody is actually making.


But the 12th richest club in the world should be able to sign a striker that can score more than 15 league goals in a season, has a left back that does not cost them goals, and does not have to pick between Huddlestone and Livermore for central midfield.

It's heartbreaking to see us performing poorly against lower in the table opposition who know that they can just sit in two deep banks of 4 and with the space shortage nullifying our pace realise that we will struggle to score because we don't have a creative passing midfielder and we don't have a strong striker that poses an aerial threat for crosses.

We knew this long before the January window opened. 2-2 vs Wigan, 1-1 vs Norwich, 0-0 vs QPR. If a £20m striker had come in and converted just one of those 3 games from a draw to a win then a vicory this weekend would have secured us champions league football and all that extra money. A £20m striker could have paid his own transfer fee with just a single goal. And it is not like you can claim that for a player like, say, Negredo, that we cannot compete with Sevilla on finances.

That's what people are annoyed about. That's why Levy is being called a tight-wallet. That's the argument that you have to refute.

17 May 2013 00:50:53
19m for Fellaini! I never knew it was that much. Is that with add ons or something? Davo that was a shocking example! {Ed001's Note - that is the full total, including all add ons, yes. A lot more than I had realised before I checked up.}

Shows that I know more about my own team than Everton! But what is he worth now?
If you want an even better example, then what about Bale, Walker?
What I am trying to say is, you don't need to, and I wouldn't want to, bankrupt the club to get decent players in! IF, and that's a big if, we had scouts of our own and didn't use other clubs scouts, maybe we could find our own talent in the back waters of other countries like other teams do!