Tottenham have announced a cash injection from owners ENIC to the tune of £100 million.
It comes amid uncertainty surrounding the future of the club, with plenty of parties interested in a takeover at Spurs.
So far, the Lewis family, who head up ENIC, have shown no interest in selling Tottenham at this stage, with plenty of change ongoing in the background.
Daniel Levy’s exit, coupled with a new strategy at the board and recruitment level, appears to be a move towards keeping the club competitive.
The latest cash injection from ENIC only further supports that.
ENIC cash injection covers Tottenham debt
The moves being made behind the scenes at Tottenham are fresh, with it not always clear to fans exactly what is going on.
In this instance, the injection of cash from ENIC is being used to help cover the debt that the club is racking up.
TBR Football’s finance expert, Adam Williams, explained it all as he said: “We won’t know the specifics until Spurs upload the paperwork onto Companies House, but what the board has done here is issue new shares which ENIC have bought up at a set price.
“As well as putting money into the club in a PSR-compliant way, that will dilute the minority shareholders somewhat, although to what extent we’re not sure yet.
“There was £35 million worth of capital injected via this method in January, which followed another £114 million in 2022. Those are the only two other equity injections in the 25 years that ENIC have owned the club.
“That’s because they have typically spent within their means, but football’s arms race in the transfer and wage markets means they have had to ramp up spending to compete.
“They went big again in the summer. And yes, they have Champions League revenue to cash in this season, but they have also got huge transfer debt, which they need to cover too.
“It was £337m in their last set of accounts, which was the second-highest in the league.
“In the last few weeks, we’ve also seen them take out a £90m loan from Macquarie, which is secured against future TV revenue.
“That was a short-term deal, which I think proves that they didn’t have the cash flow to pay transfer instalments, wages and other overheads from their own revenue.
“So I suspect that this £100 million is more about shoring up the balance sheet than it is about paying for new transfers.”
Overall debt, separate from the £337 million in transfer dealings, sits at £339 million, which is the equity plus the loan from Macquarie.
What Tottenham have said about the owner’s cash injection
With the cash injection bringing about further questions over the current climate at Tottenham, the club themselves have given an update.
Peter Charrington, who is the non-executive chairman after the exit of Daniel Levy, said in an official statement: “As I stated a few weeks ago, our focus is on stability and empowering the management team to deliver on the Club’s ambitions.
“I know the Lewis family are also ambitious for the future. Today’s capital commitment reflects that ambition, and I would like to thank them for their ongoing support.
“We will continue to do all we can to ensure that Vinai [Venkatesham] and his team are supported in the best way possible to take this Club forward.”