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Spurs can’t compete financially – discuss.

Can Spurs compete financially with the other Top 6 Clubs?

  • Social Media and the Pundits are right. Spurs can never compete with the big boys.

    Votes: 20 15.5%
  • I think Levy and Poch know what they're doing. Spurs can compete. And soon.

    Votes: 109 84.5%

  • Total voters
    129

Gloryhunter

Well-Known Member
Jan 31, 2013
157
308
Spurs not only have the problem of competing financially, we also have to be well known globally.

We become well known by having big players, there is a reason City have spent big on SA players, they are now more of a global brand

B Silva and Gabriel Jesus were inspired signings, they may have paid about 80m for the two, but could easily be world famous players in a couple of years.

We have Kane and Alli, who are not so famous abroad. We need internationally recognised footballers to make us as big as City or United. In the PL you have Hazard, Sanchez, Ibra (had), Aguero, Pogba, Costa (Possibly), Willian (Possibly), Ozil, Rooney, Jesus, Toure, Coutinho, Firminho.

Try as we might, we will not be able to become a worldwide phenomenon until we have big names.

Spurs are nowhere near as big worldwide as any of the other top 6, everyone knows who Chelsea are, but you mention Spurs and Tottenham you get a blank stare.

We are generally only known because of Gareth Bale being sold to Madrid! Kane is part 1 and maybe Alli can be 2, but we could do with a few more.

Lamela, Soldado and Paulhino were the right type of signings to make us bigger, just not better.

So yes, more big names! However this is to make us a global brand.

Personally I prefer us to keep going as we are and invest in potential, our youngsters and the odd bargain.

However, if we sell a few players and splash the cash on James (for example) it might do us alot of good, but just not on the pitch.
Spurs not only have the problem of competing financially, we also have to be well known globally.

We become well known by having big players, there is a reason City have spent big on SA players, they are now more of a global brand

B Silva and Gabriel Jesus were inspired signings, they may have paid about 80m for the two, but could easily be world famous players in a couple of years.

We have Kane and Alli, who are not so famous abroad. We need internationally recognised footballers to make us as big as City or United. In the PL you have Hazard, Sanchez, Ibra (had), Aguero, Pogba, Costa (Possibly), Willian (Possibly), Ozil, Rooney, Jesus, Toure, Coutinho, Firminho.

Try as we might, we will not be able to become a worldwide phenomenon until we have big names.

Spurs are nowhere near as big worldwide as any of the other top 6, everyone knows who Chelsea are, but you mention Spurs and Tottenham you get a blank stare.

We are generally only known because of Gareth Bale being sold to Madrid! Kane is part 1 and maybe Alli can be 2, but we could do with a few more.

Lamela, Soldado and Paulhino were the right type of signings to make us bigger, just not better.

So yes, more big names! However this is to make us a global brand.

Personally I prefer us to keep going as we are and invest in potential, our youngsters and the odd bargain.

However, if we sell a few players and splash the cash on James (for example) it might do us alot of good, but just not on the pitch.
I am from Singapore. I have been supporting Spurs even before Kane and Dele were born. So in a sense you are right. I didn't know about Kane and Dele when I first started supporting Spurs.
I don't know about the rest of Asia. Over here in Singapore, most football fans here worth their salt do support a EPL. It helps that our national team and our local league is shirty..oh it also helps we get live coverage of all 10 EPL matches weekly (paid TV or stre**ing). Rest assured even my non-Spurs supporting friends (the goons, the Chelski, the Yanited) do know Kane and Dele. And they are certainly envious if not jealous that we have them in their ranks.
Oh to be honest, I didn't know about Jesus till Abu Dhabi City signed him. The only Jesus I knew is his Almighty.
 

Indacupfortottenham

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2013
1,110
1,955
ENIC will sell when it suits them, and the reasons may never be known, (they're negotiators) and there's no reason why they need to be.

But, the implication that Levy is only interested in the financial return is a bit unrealistic. Not only is he not a robot, despite some physical resemblance to R2D2, but there are a host of reasons for wanting a club that you've be so closely associated with for such a long time now to be as successful as possible.

Agreed I hope if they do sell up, whoever buys employs Levy as chairman, think he has done a great job.
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
This sort of argument is flawed.

If I invest in a business it's because I believe in the product but more importantly because i believe in the management's ability to get the best return on my investment.

If I then have to put in more of my own money to make my investment work as well as possible, that's a sign of failure.

From the perspective of a supporter, it doesn't feel like that. But from an investor's point of view that's exactly how it works.

The thing is, Abramovich is not an investor, he's a money laundering egotist. The sheiks are simply buying global brand awareness and diversifying the assets of an energy-dependent economy; they are operating on a national economy level which is an entirely different scale of operation from "simply" building a competitive football club.

This is why FFP ought to be important but is in fact hopelessly inadequate.

Ffp was introduced to stop clubs debt. Since it has been introduced club debt across europe has dropped dramatically and most clubs are now financially stable (compared to 40% facing bankruptcy before it was introduced). It has been a success.
 

Led's Zeppelin

Can't Re Member
May 28, 2013
7,333
20,178
Ffp was introduced to stop clubs debt. Since it has been introduced club debt across europe has dropped dramatically and most clubs are now financially stable (compared to 40% facing bankruptcy before it was introduced). It has been a success.

Yes, possibly in that respect it has helped.

But at the top level it has had a negative effect in my view, since it has frozen time by cementing the position of the wealthiest clubs and their dominance over the clubs beneath them at the time the rules were introduced, making the wealth gap virtually permanent.

Not only that but City and Chelsea in particular seem to find that having vast wealth that they need to dispose of for different reasons, they can easily find ways to manipulate their balance sheets in ways that more straightforward clubs can't. The rules make a feeble effort to address this, but we probably know that it happens. Maybe the vast TV money coming in is starting to obscure the negative effect of all this on competition at the highest levels, but that just shifts the problem down a level or two but doesn't remove it.
 

Core

Member
Nov 23, 2014
35
37
This is as much a response to the mental meltdown in the Daily ITK, but I didn’t want to pour more fuel on that fire.

In 5-10 years if true financial fair play comes to life, then we have a case about competing the top flights on equal terms. Until then, we have to compete on our terms. No matter which players we get and how much money we pay our players, it is by no means guaranty for success! Even if it was a direct road to winning trophies, who’s to say that it will prevent players from leaving? They might all get delusions of grandeur and want to leave for likes of Real, Barca and Munich.

I respect clubs like Tottenham, Swansea and several Bundesliga sides, who focus on a solid financial foundation and who gives salaries that are heavily dependent on success. In my opinion that is the way to achieve long term goals, and we are surely on the right track.

If our players look at other clubs around the world, they will see that they are paid quite reasonably. We cannot prevent players from leaving at some point, but if someone decides to leave, there is a great chance they’ll fail miserably. Just as we are punching above our weight, so are the players due to our hard work ethics and great collectiveness. If players are having great success on the field and if they are all of somewhat equal strength, then they are clearly playing at the right level and for the right club!

If someone is suddenly outperforming everyone else and carrying the team, by all means let them see how far it can get them. As long as we are compensated Levy style, so we can build on from there. At least the sale of Bale turned out quite allright.
 
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