The Mauricio Pochettino thread

We would have absolutely zero problem with ffp and a cash injection. Any infrastructure investment is exempt from ffp so we could just offset an injection against our stadium expenditure and allocate our regular turnover to buying players. We are in fact more ideally placed than anyone else to legally get a cash injection past ffp.

I'm under the impression that under FFP rules, the limit for losses in the Premier League is well in excess of £100m spanning three seasons. Is that right, or have I got that hopelessly wrong?

He’s got yet another press conference today so I expect we can predict more tedious questions about Man Utd. I think we need to put a ban on the questions being asked now in press conferences.

telegraph states Conte wants the job. Managed Pogba successfully at Juve too.

Hoping the the thought of trying to release Poch from Levy’s dead hands will be exhausting enough for them to go for Conte who is free and doesn’t come with gazzilion £ release fee.

Trix said:

Either way Mitchell did next to fuck all when he was with us so good luck to them if they get him.

Click to expand...

I think that’s a bit harsh. He switched on football manager a few times!

Kilkenny Cat said:

Line in the Telegraph today about how Spurs may look for investment in January as a means of helping persuading Pochettino to stay. Can anyone explain how this might work, given that we already have a wealthy owner?

Click to expand...

Good question.

This thread appears to have a lot of amateur accountants. Same as the media. Spouting stuff they don't really understand.

I'll try and explain how things might work.

"Investment" covers a whole slew of types of money. The most basic is Ordinary Shares, that define who owns the company, controls the AGM votes, and ultimately receives the shareholder value via dividends or sale of the company. The Ordinary Shares are owned by ENIC (Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy) with a balance (15%?) owned by loads of small shareholders, basically Spurs fans, who've owned them for years (I bought mine mid-80s when we floated).

If Joe Lewis "invested" say £100m for new Ordinary Shares, he'd expect to get an even bigger percentage of the company. If he did it through ENIC, it's a question of whether Daniel can match his money to keep his own % share the same? Or ENIC could maybe borrow money to invest? It's complex and there are many variables. Too many to discuss here. The point is an injection of new money via Ordinary Shares (what's called a Rights Issue) is possible but seems unlikely.

Unless it's an agreed 'offer' whereby a new party (say a US, Asian or middle eastern investor) buys say £100m worth of new Spurs shares and receives a minority stake in the Club / company. So £100m would get you 10% (I'm simplifying to make maths easy, if we value Spurs at £1 billion).

Much MORE likely is that the "investment" comes in the form of something other than Ordinary Shares.

1. It could be debt. Some kind of loan. But given that the Club / Company has already borrowed substantially from banks to fund the new stadium it's unlikely. Our 'gearing' (ratio of Shares to Debt, simply put) might start to be stretched, leaving aside the borrowing costs (interest, etc.) of more debt. Even if Joe Lewis was prepared to lend £100m (instead of getting £100m worth of new shares) a combination of financial factors, accounting rules and FFP, make that something the directors of the Club might not be able to consider.

2. It could be a hybrid type of finance between equity (Ordinary Shares) and debt (loan). This includes Preference or 'B' Shares. I don't have time to try and explain here now but they don't give the same 'voting' or 'ownership' rights as Ordinary Shares but don't count as loans either. If there are buyers out there, this type of finance is possible.

3. Personally I think the Stadium Rights deal is the most likely kind of "investment" we'll get in 2019. I've seen posts here saying "Levy must get off his butt and do a deal". Incredibly naïve. Levy could do a naming rights deal any time. If he was prepared to do a crap deal. But once signed, a naming rights deal can't be unsigned for 10+ years (often longer). The money would be fixed, give or take. The stadium would be named. Any other interest from other companies would disappear. So Levy's been holding out for as good a deal as possible (which should surprise nobody who's familiar with the man). He's been waiting for people to be able to see the finished stadium, for greater clarity about Wembley/NFL etc., probably for the World economic situation to become more positive. He's playing high stakes poker. He wants the stadium sponsor to pay what he thinks the rights are worth (a lot).

We are lucky in that Pochettino is a very intelligent man. He studied business after his playing career. I think one of the reasons he gets on with Levy is that he can speak the same language. He's not a moaner (unlike many top managers) who just wants more and more money to spend on players. He doesn't think like most journos and pundits (and many fans).

Equally, (I suspect) he doesn't want his intelligence and loyalty to be taken for granted. He knows that the gap to Man City will be hard to bridge without more money. His difference with Levy is about 'courage' not principle. Read his book. Poch is a man for whom bravery is paramount. That's why we play out from the back and press high, and risk mistakes and counter-attacks. Levy is different. He's responsible for a historic Club. He won't do a Ridsdale and bet the Club for a bit of glory. But the idea that Levy is just a bean counter obsessed with caution just isn't supported by the facts of nearly two decades. In short, the men are nowhere near as different as cliché might make it appear.

The more I think about and scratch my head over FFP rules, the more I become convinced that Eriksen's off. Eriksen = money to spend. Money to spend = leverage to keep Poch. Devil and the deep blue sea time?

spursfan77 said:

He’s got yet another press conference today so I expect we can predict more tedious questions about Man Utd. I think we need to put a ban on the questions being asked now in press conferences.

Click to expand...

#thfc Spurs’ press officer blocks questions on Man Utd. Pochettino says to him with a laugh: “You’re going to be the star of the press conference.”

noggen said:

#thfc Spurs’ press officer blocks questions on Man Utd. Pochettino says to him with a laugh: “You’re going to be the star of the press conference.”

Click to expand...

Pretty sure he did the same thing last summer with the Madrid rumors. Let it run a conference or two then blocked it after that.

Blue said:

I could see him both stay and leave to be honest.

Click to expand...

It'll be like an episode of Quantum Leap. Headfuck.

Dov67 said:

telegraph states Conte wants the job. Managed Pogba successfully at Juve too.

Hoping the the thought of trying to release Poch from Levy’s dead hands will be exhausting enough for them to go for Conte who is free and doesn’t come with gazzilion £ release fee.

Click to expand...

Conte would be brilliant at United is 100 percent the best manager for the job, the board will love him, the fans adore him, we all know Poch is a useless lazy prick who’s got lucky. How do we convince united of the bull shit?

Or we have one saving grace Ed Woodward!

If Ole is worth 10 million I’d united wher to buy out his contract what would Poch be worth? The Two biggest clubs maybe PSG as well will all want him.

noggen said:

#thfc Spurs’ press officer blocks questions on Man Utd. Pochettino says to him with a laugh: “You’re going to be the star of the press conference.”

Click to expand...

Absolutely. This whole thing is media frenzy speculation bollocks. The media feed it and feed off it continuously. Les reed said this, what do you say to that Poch? Poch can’t win. He’s already commented on it. I’m happy here. Long contract etc. The press want a running commentry on it. It’s completely disrespectful too. We’ve just beat an Arsenal 2 nil
Away in a QF and are having s superb season so far and the media just want to talk about his thoughts on moving to United. Absolutely idiots.

The whole thing is created by the media, they create the storm and then ask Poch to comment on it? Ridiculous.

Primativ said:

Absolutely. This whole thing is media frenzy speculation bollocks. The media feed it and feed off it continuously. Les reed said this, what do you say to that Poch? Poch can’t win. He’s already commented on it. I’m happy here. Long contract etc. The press want a running commentry on it. It’s completely disrespectful too. We’ve just beat an Arsenal 2 nil
Away in a QF and are having s superb season so far and the media just want to talk about his thoughts on moving to United. Absolutely idiots.

The whole thing is created by the media, they create the storm and then ask Poch to comment on it? Ridiculous.

Click to expand...

If you get a chance have a look at the video on sky sports of the Spurs press officer having to intervene over and over the Sky Sports news reporter, it's fucking cringe worthy.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...d-up-live?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

Scroll down to 13.15, Sky being their usual classy selves.

wrd said:

https://www.skysports.com/football/...d-up-live?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

Scroll down to 13.15, Sky being their usual classy selves.

Click to expand...

Thanks @wrd that's the one.

Primativ said:

Absolutely. This whole thing is media frenzy speculation bollocks. The media feed it and feed off it continuously. Les reed said this, what do you say to that Poch? Poch can’t win. He’s already commented on it. I’m happy here. Long contract etc. The press want a running commentry on it. It’s completely disrespectful too. We’ve just beat an Arsenal 2 nil
Away in a QF and are having s superb season so far and the media just want to talk about his thoughts on moving to United. Absolutely idiots.

The whole thing is created by the media, they create the storm and then ask Poch to comment on it? Ridiculous.

Click to expand...

Agreed - the press really don’t know there place in the modern world with social media. What they are becoming is less important and that terrifies them.

Most of the recycled crap is merely for hits to sell to advertisers - ignore clicking

Just remember these moments so you can tell all your pals how fucking stupid they and sky look when Poch sticks it out with us in the summer. Also with respect I feel Conte would do very well at United but maybe not the football they'd like to see.

Indisguise said:

The more I think about and scratch my head over FFP rules, the more I become convinced that Eriksen's off. Eriksen = money to spend. Money to spend = leverage to keep Poch. Devil and the deep blue sea time?

Click to expand...

Selling our best players won't make us progress. I'd bet Pochettino would rather see Eriksen signing a new deal than the scenario you describe.

McArchibald said:

Why would that not be allowed? Humour me with specifics... Too easy to just dismiss it like that.

Click to expand...

Honestly mate I'm not a professional accountant and nor do I work for UEFA so all the nitty gritty specifics I'll gladly admit I don't know. My understanding on basic terms of the FFP regulations is that you can't make a loss of more than a minimal amount, I believe 5m euro or something, and that this loss/profit calculation is deliberately designed so that cash injections from some rich owner do not count towards the income i.e. the income has to be generated in some way by the club itself, whether that be through sponsor deals, player sales, matchday income, TV money etc. etc. Clearly this system isn't foolproof, as City and PSG's expensive accountants and lawyers have found clever ways to circumnavigate this. But in principle, it's specifically designed to stop rich owners just being able to bankroll clubs by throwing money at them artificially.

In light of this, and I could well be wrong, surely something as blatant as Lewis essentially buying shares off himself for an inflated fee so that he could pretend the money wasn't him just injecting cash must be covered by the regulations, given that it's exactly the kind of "Here have some more money" system that it was brought in to stop.

Anyway, my original point wasn't to get into the specifics of all this, I was just pointing out that I don't think Lewis can simply "back Poch" by writing him a blank cheque. Any money he wanted to pump into the club would have to, in some way, be worked so that it didn't count as just a cash injection from the owner, whether that be offsetting it against stadium costs or whatever. Like I say, I don't know. But it definitely isn't a case of Lewis just "putting his money where his mouth is" or whatever. It's not that simple. THat was my point originally.