Tottenham Hotspur are facing a legal threat over the usage of a song which has become a club anthem.
Barry Manilow’s ‘Can’t Smile Without You’, which came out in 1975, has become synonymous with Tottenham, with the supporters adopting it as their anthem for over two decades.
The North London club regularly blast out a version of the song before and after matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Lilywhites even used a ‘Can’t Smile Without You’ banner to cover empty seats when matches were played at their stadium behind closed doors during the pandemic.
Writer of ‘Can’t Smile Without You’ demands royalties from Tottenham
The Sun have now revealed that the man who helped write the song, Geoff Morrow, supports the club’s fierce rivals, Arsenal.
Morrow has revealed that he has requested royalties from Tottenham for the song’s usage, but the Lilywhites have refused to pay up.
He told the outlet: “I hoped that Spurs would be willing to sit down and meet with me to discuss this, but they haven’t been interested.
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“When we wrote the song, we never imagined it would become a football anthem. It was written as a love song. What is really frustrating is Spurs won’t accept they are using our song.”
Spurs say Geoff Morrow’s request has no legal basis
The report points out that other Premier League clubs pay royalties for songs crowds sing along to, including Liverpool for ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
However, they explain that Tottenham argue that Morrow’s demands for royalties have no legal basis under licensing rules.
The Sun say that they reached out to Spurs about the issue and the club refused to comment on the matter.