Philip Anschutz in talks to buy Spurs? (Mirror & Express)

[ryantegan]

Thanks Sloth. It's one of those topics where passions run high so I can understand your aversion to the possibility of Spurs being another Man City.

You make a good point about having a romantic view of football. I guess when I think about it I do too...to the point where I considered our victory over Chelsea in the Carling Cup final as a victory of good over evil!

Using your mountain climbing analogy, I'd say the way I feel now is that we've put in a courageous effort to climb up a mountain, and just as we approach the top we find some Russian gangster and a Saudi prince have put up a barrier, and are charging a big fee for us to go further. Having put in so much time and effort to get that far we find our options are to either stay just below the top, and try to appreciate the view as being 'as good as we can currently get', or go back down to the bottom of the mountain having never completed the journey.

If someone were to offer us the cash to get past the barrier I'd find it incredibly tempting to take the money and keep on progressing.

I guess it comes down to how far I believe our current model will take us. Personally I still think we can do the double this year, so in the short-term I'd say it's taking us pretty far. However in the long-term we won't continue to compete unless we pay higher wages. Players would leave and potential signings would go elsewhere.

I don't want us to become some billionaire play-thing either, but I don't want us to fall just short of the summit when we've worked so hard to get within touching distance.

Or we learn some kung fu shit and kick some mother fucking arses!

We are Tottenham, Super Tottenham and we're coming passed you no good football soul destroying fuckers!

 

[StartingPrice]

Considering how well we have done under ENIC, I am dubious about any company taking over tbh

Pretty much how I feel - strange considering how most felt about ENIC when they took over.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

First of all thanks for taking what I wrote on its merits, I think I was too strong in what I wrote and it would have been easy to react to that rather than the content.

I do have a romantic idea of football, but that's because it is a romantic passion. There's no meaning to it, no product which any of us take home after a days thinking, discussing or watching football. On the face of it, it is all very pointless. So what meaning there is can't be concrete, can't be something outside ourselves, but has to be something in our minds and in our hearts.

Within that sphere, winning, being successful, being better than our rivals are the most important things, but they're not everything.

To make an analogy, I bet standing on top of Mount Everest is an amazing feeling in of itself. But if you've slogged your way to the top don't you think the feeling would be sweeter than for the Russian fellow who built a ski-lift to take him there. In the end both can say they stood on top of the world, but who's achievement in the eyes of the world and crucially in the eyes of the individuals concerned is greater? Perhaps that Russian will go and build ski-lifts up the side of every big mountain in the world and he'll stand on top of every one of them, and perhaps you'll never climb a never mountain in your life, but who on their death-bed, looking back at their life will feel the greater satisfaction?

One way is ultimately empty, you get that little rush while you stand there, at the summit, but over time it loses meaning, all you've proved is you've got lots of money - but you already knew that.

To take another brief analogy, imagine you were playing a game of monopoly, but one guy, every time he almost went bankrupt, produced another stash of his own monopoly cash he'd bought from home. Great. Eventually he'd win the game, but to win like that, was it even worth playing?

The great thing is however that there are ways of getting to the summit that don't involve cheating. Levy's shown that. Arsenal too. Liverpool and Utd pay their way based on historic success.

Look at our squad and compare to those clubs around us who pay a minimum of £25m a year more than us on players, and in some case closer to £80m a year more.

We need a bigger stadium, but we're going to find a way to build it.

What we honestly don't need is a scum-bag billionaire turning us into his little vanity project. I'm desperate that doesn't happen to us.

Awesome post, I totally agree

 

[stemark44]

Off Red cafe:

Philip Anschutz's company AEG owns my local Swedish team, he bought Hammarby extremely cheap just so he could make use of the new arena that is being built for tax money and use it for concerts etc. He has so far not spent a dollar on improving the team that got relegated to the second division under AEG's ownership but they don't care about that, they are even considering letting Hammarby's rivals play on the new arena to make more money...

Anschutz and his company AEG are leeches just like Silent Stan Kroenke and some other American sports team owners investing in Europe. He will make a splash sometimes to get good PR but Anschutz only really cares about making money so I doubt Spurs would be better off with him as owner. I think he is interested in Spurs because they want a new stadium and he sees a money making opportunity.


The difference between a team playing in the First Division in Sweden and a top team playing in the Premiership and qualifying for the Champions League on a regular basis, is GIGANTIC in monetary value alone.

I am sorry but that particular tale has no relevance here.

 

[sweetness]

This is very bad news if it goes ahead. Apparently they also own a Swedish club which they have invested £0 in players, even though the club has been relegated since they bought it, and all they care about is the new arena they have there so that they can rent it out for concerts and make some money. They are leeches of the Gillet, Hicks, and Kroenke level.

As a Stockholm local, I feel the need to add some depth to this story.
Many years ago, AEG bought a 49% stake in Hammarby IF (for around £ 1.5m), in order to strengthen its political ties in Stockholm ahead of new stadium plans. A new government-funded arena is now being built - and presto - AEG is the designated lease-holder.

It is illegal for AEG to own more than 49% of HIF, so I find it a bit rich of some fans asking them to invest more in the club. Also, AEG does NOT call the shots in the HIF boardroom.

Given the underlying institutional differences between England and Sweden, I think it would be unfair and insincere to compare a potential £450m Spurs takeover to a £1.5m HIF 49% equity investment. AEG saved HIF from the clutches of administration or worse at the time. HIF's real trouble was and still is that the people running the club have as much business sense as Roman's Chelsea, alas without the billions. Blaming AEG for it is missing the point.

 

[talkshowhost86]

As a Stockholm local, I feel the need to add some depth to this story.
Many years ago, AEG bought a 49% stake in Hammarby IF (for around £ 1.5m), in order to strengthen its political ties in Stockholm ahead of new stadium plans. A new government-funded arena is now being built - and presto - AEG is the designated lease-holder.

It is illegal for AEG to own more than 49% of HIF, so I find it a bit rich of some fans asking them to invest more in the club. Also, AEG does NOT call the shots in the HIF boardroom.

Given the underlying institutional differences between England and Sweden, I think it would be unfair and insincere to compare a potential £450m Spurs takeover to a £1.5m HIF 49% equity investment. AEG saved HIF from the clutches of administration or worse at the time. HIF's real trouble was and still is that the people running the club have as much business sense as Roman's Chelsea, alas without the billions. Blaming AEG for it is missing the point.

Philip? Philip Anschutz? Is that you?

 

[dimiSpur]

It's always tough to accept a potential new owner, but given how the club runs on it's own merit at the moment and the investment from Lewis is low, a new owner can only be good surely. Especially if our bald maestro is to remain the chairman.

If they can help build the new stadium and push a few funds into transfers or higher wages it could be fantastic, to give us that final push we need to materialize into genuine title contenders on a regular basis.

 

[sweetness]

Philip? Philip Anschutz? Is that you?

No, my name is Phil Anschluss. Easy mistake

 

[talkshowhost86]

No, my name is Phil Anschluss. Easy mistake

Wasn't the Anschluss when Hitler took Austria?

Adolf? Adolf Hitler? Is that you?

 

[Misfit]

Well done everyone, some cracking and interesting/informative posts up in diss bitch.

The nationality of the people involved doesn't concern me. Their motives do. If there are guarantees that DL is a fixture which would be effing difficult to elbow aside on a whim, then frankly, why not.

I agree with those who don't want us to merely become an expensive condom. Merely a vessel in which to deposit cock snot whilst having a nice public ego fuck. Cuz chel$ea and Citeh aren't glorious institutions, conquering all before them. They are merely a way of some random billionaire to compensate for having tiny junk.

Abramovich has won 3 titles. Players still,to this day don't go to chel$ea because of their glorious history. They go for money. That's it and only it. Nothing wrong with that but it holds no romance.

If this lot want to come in and make a nice investment, one which helps us secure a new stadium, then great. If we continue with our transfer policy, whilst being able to securely up our wage bill due to the stadium issue being resolved, great.

If we start paying £100m for some wanker with shite hair and a questionable attitude because he once got included in the Argentina squad, then no thanks. If they start to strangle the club's footballing operations by changing the financial structure then no thanks again.

 

[StartingPrice]

Wasn't the Anschluss when Hitler took Austria?

Adolf? Adolf Hitler? Is that you?

:grin: Beat me to it (technically, the Anschluss was the unification of Germany and Austria, and not an invasion by Germany - all Arians together, type thang).

 

[HappySpur]

A lot of people have been very nice about my post, which is massively long, and have even gone so far as to rep me for it. I just want to thank you for your nice feedback, but more for taking the time to read that monstrosity. Cheers.

 

[Cavehillspur]

Breaking news on Sky AEG not interested in buying Spurs

 

[venablesphil]

Pretty much how I feel - strange considering how most felt about ENIC when they took over.

Which is possibly the main point - no one particularly likes takes overs of semi successful clubs (sugar daddies aside). You just have to wait to see what happens and hope in turns out well as it has in the case of ENIC.

The key thing IMO is Levy. If we keep him in any potential takeover then I am happy its a good move for Spurs!

 

[Lilbaz]

Not too sure about the rules but under FFP isn't a new owner is allowed an initial investment in players?

But seeing as this has come from the Express rather than Reuters or Bloomberg I doubt there's much in it.

 

[Lilbaz]

Breaking news on Sky AEG not interested in buying Spurs

Cheers.

 

[neogenisis]

I read it as *We dont want to buy you yet* just a gut feeling.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

First of all thanks for taking what I wrote on its merits, I think I was too strong in what I wrote and it would have been easy to react to that rather than the content.

I do have a romantic idea of football, but that's because it is a romantic passion. There's no meaning to it, no product which any of us take home after a days thinking, discussing or watching football. On the face of it, it is all very pointless. So what meaning there is can't be concrete, can't be something outside ourselves, but has to be something in our minds and in our hearts.

Within that sphere, winning, being successful, being better than our rivals are the most important things, but they're not everything.

To make an analogy, I bet standing on top of Mount Everest is an amazing feeling in of itself. But if you've slogged your way to the top don't you think the feeling would be sweeter than for the Russian fellow who built a ski-lift to take him there. In the end both can say they stood on top of the world, but who's achievement in the eyes of the world and crucially in the eyes of the individuals concerned is greater? Perhaps that Russian will go and build ski-lifts up the side of every big mountain in the world and he'll stand on top of every one of them, and perhaps you'll never climb a never mountain in your life, but who on their death-bed, looking back at their life will feel the greater satisfaction?

One way is ultimately empty, you get that little rush while you stand there, at the summit, but over time it loses meaning, all you've proved is you've got lots of money - but you already knew that.

To take another brief analogy, imagine you were playing a game of monopoly, but one guy, every time he almost went bankrupt, produced another stash of his own monopoly cash he'd bought from home. Great. Eventually he'd win the game, but to win like that, was it even worth playing?

The great thing is however that there are ways of getting to the summit that don't involve cheating. Levy's shown that. Arsenal too. Liverpool and Utd pay their way based on historic success.

Look at our squad and compare to those clubs around us who pay a minimum of £25m a year more than us on players, and in some case closer to £80m a year more.

We need a bigger stadium, but we're going to find a way to build it.

What we honestly don't need is a scum-bag billionaire turning us into his little vanity project. I'm desperate that doesn't happen to us.

Sloth, I appreciate this is a very emotive subject, and completely understand your stance.

But we are already effectively majority owned by a "scum bag"billionaire.

Teams below us in the food chain, paying lower wages than us, with smaller transfer kitty's than us probably already perceive us slightly in the way you say you don't want us to become.

I like the way we have achieved what we have achieved, but I am realistic enough to know that whilst there are bigger fish financially, we will always be vulnerable to the vagaries of fate.

If I had faith in the FFP rules being applied stringently I may feel differently, but we have already seen Man City flouting those rules flagrantly with their "sponsorship" deal.

Personally I have no problem with replacing our current billionaire (Lewis) with another billionaire, as long as he shows willing to do what's in the interests of the football team. I don't see the moral, ethical or even romantic dilemma with replacing one billionaire with another, or even a corporate structure with a single human entity. The one who owns our club now shows virtually zero interest in the football team and has probably been to WHL less in the ten plus years of his involvement than Abramovich visits Chelsea in a month.

For me it is not just about greed of desiring the best, it is about the security of knowing we will never have to scrap for survival, as we all know the fortunes of football can hang precariously at times, the fiscal and football examples of teams like Forest and Leeds are a permanent example of the vulnerability of any but the tinniest minority of teams.

More than that it would mean a semi permanent place at the top table. No championship guarantee but at least a semi permanent protection from the mediocre.

I honestly do not see the romance in choosing mid table mediocrity over an underwritten top 4 challenge for the foreseeable future. I'm not saying that is inevitable, but without huge resources we will almost certainly eventually struggle to maintain top 4 football.

I like the way we are run, Levy for me is the best chairman in the league bar none. I would love whoever bought the club to keep him as Chairman. But I don't have a problem with us acquiring an owner prepared to invest in the football team.

You said that there is no meaning to it, that we take no product from it. But there is. It is an escape, and we take shared memories and experiences, and we are entertained. If a new owner provides a better quality of entertainment and facilitates better memories, made possible by better footballers playing better football then there is the product.

You used the analogy of climbing Everest. If you could only make one choice of these two what would it be:

1)Being a sherpa constantly shuffling between camp 4 and Hilary's step.

2) Being Edmond Hilary

Our billionaire does not have to be a scum bag does he ?

 

[StartingPrice]

A lot of people have been very nice about my post, which is massively long, and have even gone so far as to rep me for it. I just want to thank you for your nice feedback, but more for taking the time to read that monstrosity. Cheers.

Your post was horrible, and horribly longue - I vomited on the screen when I saw it, and then emasculated myself so that I will never have children who have the misfirtune of reading it.
The author should be taking our, shot, shot again and then drowned, or summit (especially if he is Rasputin mg.

Yours SinFaithfully

SP

 

[disciple]

dont know the bloke, like most internet posters.

if levy approves, he must be good for the club. say what you like about levy, but he is a fan concerned with the long-term future of the club.