October 13 – Having rejected an offer of £3.3 billion for Tottenham Hotspur on October 6, three days later the club announced a cash injection of £100 million from owners ENIC to “empower the management team to deliver on the club’s ambitions”.
The cash injection is without doubt a head scratcher, and with ENIC now having invested close to £260 million since 2024, the question is why suddenly invest more than they have put into the club in the previous 25 years.
Previously they have showed little operational interest, and the ruling Lewis family (at least by volume of shares) was rarely seen at the club. It was the domain of Daniel Levy and whether you love him (hard not to be impressed by what he achieved in terms of financial sustainability, however he did it), or hate him like most Spurs fans who wanted to see more spent on the team, it was a club that had organically forced an expansion of the Premier League’s Big Four clubs, to a Big Six alongside Newcastle United.
The departure of Levy was unexpected and clearly acrimonious. His leaving fanfare was neither noisy or fulsome, and his replacement by one of the Lewis family’s inner circle as non-executive chairman, Peter Charrington, a banker by trade, looked like a sign that this is a club being prepared for a sale.
The club has insisted that it is not for sale and the £100 million investment, less that 5% of the valuation of the club, will, according to a Spurs statement, “strengthen the club’s financial position and equip the club’s leadership team with additional resources to continue the focus on driving long-term sporting success.”
It is feasible, taking the statements and the £100m injection at face value, that ENIC have suddenly had an epiphany and feel that one of Levy’s final decisions (the appointment of Thomas Frank) could prove the one that cements the club at the top Premier League, and they will punt on him to do that.
But the Lewis family are better known as traders, and £3.3bn is a lot to walk away from.
The offer from a consortium led by American Brooklyn Earick didn’t come out the blue and had been under discussion with Levy. Rothschild are Spurs’ bankers of choice and they hold the keys to the data room where all the financial information needed to assess commercial performance, valuations and fiscal health is held.
That Spurs were not for sale and never have been is not the case – and management have a duty to shareholders to listen to any offer. What is not known is whether Levy shared the offer with the Lewis Family Trust. After all, he had been running every aspect of the club – including the £1.2 billion building of their spectacular stadium – pretty much without any oversight from Joe Lewis, and now the Lewis Family Trust.
Levy owns 29.88% of ENIC, who own 86.58% of Spurs. A deal with Earick would give his portfolio a chunky £1 billion boost, a significant amount for a man who was regarded as one of the Premier League’s most parsimonious chairmen. In March 2024 the value to Levy’s shares would have been about £600 million
For the Lewis family a £2 billion boost is presumably similarly exciting. Except that it doesn’t seem to be.
Under UK takeover and merger rules Earick had until October 24 to formally make an offer for the club, but has said that won’t happen after having accepted the Lewis position of “unequivocally rejecting” his informal expression of interest.
So the club really isn’t for sale? No-one is really fooled by that. Earick posted on social media that: “It’s been a privilege engaging with Tottenham Hotspur and the Lewis family’s representatives over the past few months.
“I have great respect for the club, its leadership, and its supporters, and wish them nothing but success.”
So the club that isn’t for sale was negotiating a sale for ‘the past few months’.
Does that mean there is another ‘preferred’ deal in the wings? If there is the club would have to inform its shareholders. There have reportedly been three offers for the club but Earick’s would appear to have been the only one to have been taken seriously.
Spurs fans may still get their second wish. Having seen Levy depart they might get the new owner they crave with deep pockets to cashflow the player acquisitions they think they need.