Everton’s former chief, Keith Wyness, has discussed Tottenham’s decision to borrow £90m, and what that says about the Lewis family’s desire to invest in the club.
Over the last few weeks, we have seen plenty of reports that the Lewis family are ready to inject over £100m into Tottenham so that the Lilywhites can go toe-to-toe with the biggest clubs in Europe.
If they do decide to do that, it will represent a big departure from their modus operandi as ENIC have invested only £122.1m into Tottenham since buying the club in 2001.
Last week, it emerged that Tottenham have raised £90m through a receivables financing deal with Macquarie Group Ltd.
Keith Wyness questions why ENIC have not invested their money
With this deal, Tottenham Hotspur have agreed to give Macquarie Group income from their future broadcasting rights in exchange for a lump sum of cash upfront.
Wyness has now suggested that borrowing from Macquarie is common for Premier League clubs, but questioned why the club would borrow and take on the interest if the Lewis family were ready to inject equity into the club.
The former Everton CEO told Football Insider: “Macquarie Bank from Australia have been one of the big lenders. I’ve also worked with them in the past. It is quite common in football these days to do this.
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“The big sign for me though is that we’ve seen the Lewis family coming in and making the big decision about Daniel Levy, if we’re to believe that. Then the question is, if you’re getting money from Macquarie Bank against outstanding receivables, which is quite normal, but you’re paying a big interest rate on that, then why wouldn’t you put your own money in, as it is presumably cheaper money?
“That surprises me, but of course, they want to now make it stand alone as a business and run itself, rather than put their own money in. Still, I think that would have pleased a lot of Spurs fans if they’d put in some of their own money in. But this is normal practice, it’s nothing unusual, lots of clubs do it.”
Finance expert doubts whether the Lewis family will invest their money into Tottenham
This claim by Wyness comes a couple of days after another financial expert questioned Lewis’ public assertions of injecting money into Spurs.
Adam William believes that Tottenham will continue to reinvest the money the club earns and suggests it will be ‘business as usual’.
He claimed that ENIC will prioritise running a tight ship and protecting the club’s finances over winning major titles, suggesting that the borrowing from Macquarie is evidence that they are not ready to invest.