- Mar 5, 2018
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I think it’s important to give a response to this because it’s quite a popular point of view.It seems too many accept playing in a shiny new stadium and the champions league as an achievement. Last time I checked football is about winning and you don’t get medals for the best stadium.
We won nothing last year with our current team, and whilst we seem to be standing still every other club has strengthened. Should we as fans accept that as we now have extra leg room, a micro brewery and a cheese room!
One of the reasons I am proud to be a Spurs fan is because we are a very well run club. We have grown organically and not relied on cash injections from people who have no connection to the club. We are healthy and natural.
Our recent success on the pitch has led expectations to rise. That is generally a good thing but the assumption that our success means we should be spending more is wrong. We are not very wealthy compared to our rivals. Proof coming.
Here is a very reliable source (click for thread) but I will explain what is pertinent below:
In the transfer market we have had a very low net spend over the past 5/6 years and that has contributed to strong profits. Those profits are still small in the context of an £850m stadium project. If our profit is rising happily, so is our debt. Remember that when people tell you we should be spending more because our profit is increasing. Profit disguises the large loans we are taking out.
Our revenue is a long way behind the rest of the top 6. If you can’t be bothered with the whole thing above scroll down until you get to the Deloitte money league table.
Our match day income is about a third less than Chelsea and Liverpool and well under half of Arsenal and United. City’s is close to us but still £7m more for the 16/17 season.
Our commercial revenue is £72m. But the rest of the top 6 is between £117m (Arsenal) and £279m (Man Utd).
The TV revenue which makes everyone think we should be loaded constitutes almost 2/3 our revenue but well under half the rest of the top 6’s.
Success is strongly correlated with your wage bill and in 16/17 our wage bill was 60% of Arsenal’s (who had the 5th highest). The efforts this summer to keep players through healthy contracts by increasing the wage ceiling is therefore welcome.
We are doing well it’s true but until we get 10 years of massive match day income like Arsenal, the foreign backing of City or Chelsea, 25 years of sustained winning like United or the commercial pull of Liverpool... we are not able to financially compete with them.
On the field we can because we are so well run and through the academy, shrewd buys in the transfer market, an excellent manager and luck we have the nucleus of a very strong team. But it will be years before we can splurge the way they can.
What will it take to maintain our success? Probably the academy, shrewd buys in the transfer market, an excellent manager and luck...
So are some fans un-ambitious? I don’t think so. They are conscious where we have come from and that this is a journey. We are growing sustainably and we are close to success but we are not financially on the same level as our competitors .... yet.
Basically, be patient and enjoy the ride ..!
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