Football London

Daniel Levy and his new Tottenham CEO Vinai Venkatesham delivered a very different kind of address to the fanbase and it certainly made its mark in varying ways.

Before getting into the nitty gritty of what the new double act said with grand statements, a healthy dollop of clarity, a fair bit of bromance and only a couple of misjudged moments teetering on the cringeworthy, it immediately has to be said that the mere fact that the Spurs hierarchy are communicating is a huge step in the right direction.

The lack of communication and direct explanation from the powers-that-be at the club each season, other than the biannual words of Levy in his chairman's message and the financial statement, only serves to form caricatures in the eyes of the supporters, particularly when decisions made over the years have flummoxed the fanbase.

So it is hopefully a sign of things to come under Venkatesham, lauded for his open and transparent dealings with the fans down the road at Arsenal, that this attempt was made to explain the recent decisions made at Spurs and also humanise Levy, a chairman who was the focus of the biggest protests of his tenure last season.

It's a shame that the club didn't promote the YouTube-based interview on X (formerly known as Twitter), or put up clips on TikTok, their biggest social media platform, and it only appeared on an Instagram story post, which lasts for 24 hours, and their BlueSky account which currently only has 30,000 followers. It's an interview that should be seen because, regardless of opinions over what was said, it's exactly what the supporters have long been calling for from the club.

So let's dive into the seven-minute interview itself. Immediately there was a difference with the double act nature of it. That's something we haven't seen before.

Levy has always been seen as the all-powerful entity in the Tottenham palace, the Wizard of N17 behind the curtain, but this video felt like it was laying the foundations for a new era, with Venkatesham's greater ease in front of the camera helping drive many moments of the interview.

The new man believes the duo will form "a powerful partnership" and while he made it clear that he will be taking the lead on day-to-day operational matters on and off the pitch, he added that there won't be any decisions made "of any significance" that the two men won't be "completely joined at the hip on".

Venkatesham has an open way of conversing, an unwillingness to put a varnish on things, and that was immediately clear. It will serve him well in the future in connecting with the fans as Tottenham decisions often need a bit of explaining that previously rarely came in any real detail.

"That's not to say we always agree, we often disagree and we often challenge each other," he said of Levy. "But I think that's a good thing and I think by working together we'll get to better answers. I think I've got some experience that is going to be valued and helpful but I don't have all the answers. I need to learn and to understand more about this football club.

"Ultimately, how I see it is that a football club exists to make its supporters proud and the way that you make your supporters proud is by competing to win and ultimately winning trophies, doing that in a way that is consistent with the history, the values and the traditions of a club that has been built up over many, many decades."

There's often been a feeling within Tottenham over more recent decades that what Levy says goes or at least the people around him have mostly simply agreed rather than offered different viewpoints. If true, that's not the best way for a huge organisation to be run for so long with just one dominant voice. Certainly Venkatesham's words suggest that he will often challenge Levy's view on things and it's either going to work well or fail spectacularly.

Tottenham fans will be hoping that it's the former after almost as many technical directors as head coaches over the years and that Venkatesham is the one that sticks as he did at Arsenal. That his role as a CEO comes with the most power anyone has been handed at the club below Levy, he's certainly got the best chance of doing so.

The 44-year-old is a self-confessed workaholic like his new chairman and the mention of that brought a slightly awkward moment when Levy admitted he thought he was going to speak about their shared love of red wine before a little back and forth on the subject.

Of course it was an attempt to be light-hearted but it wasn't exactly a 'man of the people' moment from the 63-year-old and you can imagine someone off camera waving their hands frantically for someone to change the subject, but at least he was attempting to show a different side to him to the caricature portrayed.

Venkatesham spoke a lot about the fans and the amount of research and reading he's doing to ensure he understands what they want and need as fully as possible, with meetings with the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust and Fans' Advisory Board in his diary for the next couple of weeks.

The new CEO will be aware that he's coming in as 'that guy from Arsenal', but one of the key takeaways from the joint interview was not only his transparency in how he operates but also his desire to connect Spurs with their fans again. It's something he did successfully down the road at the club's north London rivals and there was genuine disappointment among their supporters' trust and various fan groups when he left a year ago.

Halfway through the interview and the elephant in the room was finally addressed. The sacking of Ange Postecoglou after the Australian had delivered Spurs their first trophy in 17 years and first European title in 41. Levy's intro into the subject was odd with that in mind.

"I'm very grateful to Ange. I don't regret appointing Ange," said the chairman.

Why would he? We're not talking about his brief Nuno Espirito Santo mistake here. We're talking about a manager who had to pick up the club in the post-Harry Kane era and after improving their league position in his first year, delivered a historic moment in his second season that gave many Spurs fans their greatest night in recent memory and had an estimated 220,000 of them out on the streets of N17 for a parade that will never be forgotten.

It's certainly not something that anyone would regret and it was an oddly negative way to start talking about someone who had snapped in half the stick Levy was always beaten with over the lack of trophies in his tenure.

The chairman then again made it clear that Spurs, and that now means Thomas Frank, need to compete in all competitions. He said that it was a collective decision to sack Postecoglou rather than simply his own, before listing the things that stood out to him about Frank.

Venkatesham then gave an interesting insight into how Frank was appointed, the level of which we rarely are party to publicly from the club. There are high hopes for the clever Dane to move to the next level from the impressive work he did at Brentford.

"We ran a really, really thorough process at speed. We defined 10 characteristics that we think are important to be a successful manager at Tottenham Hotspur," he said. "We analysed in real detail through our technical staff led by Johan [Lange], more than 30 candidates.

"We had a shortlist, we spent a lot of time with the shortlist, and Thomas was absolutely the number one candidate. I could not be more excited to have him join the club. I agree with everything that Daniel said around his characteristics. Personally, one of the things I’m really excited about is he’s an outstanding developer of young players. I really look forward to seeing what he can do with the squad that we have here."

Venkatesham praised the foundations of the club before declaring that he would not have joined Spurs if he did not believe there was a whole other level that could be reached.

Levy explained that there's no point having a wonderful stadium if the team is not going to win on the pitch and reiterated that all of the events held at the ground are to go back into the team. "Everything is about the team, everything," said the chairman.

That might have been the perfect time to stop the interview, after five-and-a-half minutes with plenty of insight, discussion of the outgoing and new head coach, the decisions made and a little bit of humanisation of the chairman.

It didn't though and it's perhaps the final minute or so that could define what comes next for Levy and his legacy.

After a little more talk of wine and a lot of praise from Venkatesham towards his new boss, the Tottenham chairman started to throw out the declarations and they are ones that will now hang around his neck for better or worse.

The first was: "I've got very broad shoulders. Failure is not an option. The desire is to succeed, because it's so difficult I want to succeed even more."

When talking about that night in Bilbao, Levy essentially confirmed what Postecoglou had said that he felt some within the club were nervous and worried ahead of the final rather than having that mindset to go in and win.

On that final whistle in Spain, Levy said: "It was such an amazing experience and you saw the outpouring of emotion with the parade. It was just incredible. We've won a European trophy. It's not enough. It's what we haven't done that's more important. We need to win the league. We want to win the Premier League. We want to win the Champions League. We want to win."

And with that Levy grabbed the pressure off Frank and placed it firmly back on those apparently very broad shoulders. For all eyes are now on how he goes about making his own huge statement a thing of reality rather than wishful thinking.

It's the kind of sweeping statement that a chairman or new owner declares when they first take over at a new club. Levy though has had almost a quarter of a century at the helm to try to make that dream happen, with season after season of not building upon what came before.

He even spoke about a new manager bringing a fresh start during this interview but Spurs have had so many fresh starts that they don't really know what they are any more.

It's all very well saying that "failure is not an option" but if silverware is the measure of success then Levy has only just had his second taste of not failing on the pitch in 24 years.

There's of course more to it than that amid the landscape of the club building its new home and the scale and financial muscle of the teams Tottenham are up against in the Premier League and also this season in the Champions League.

However, these words will now haunt or define Levy.

"It's not enough. It's what we haven't done that's more important. We need to win the league. We want to win the Premier League. We want to win the Champions League. We want to win."

The long-game process of building his sort of Tottenham Hotspur has not worked up until this point. It's come close on a couple of occasions to becoming something more, but that's been the exception rather than the norm over the past quarter of a century.

If Levy wants Spurs to win the Premier League and the Champions League in the seasons to come then the club will have to spend the money required to achieve that and do so in the right ways. Investment is needed because the stadium has not been able to provide enough revenue by itself to bankroll such a statement. A side bursting with young talent is exciting but is not enough on its own.

Tottenham's rivals are moving quickly and they are spending huge amounts on players ready to compete now rather than in the future. Levy made a big decision in sacking the man that finally won him a trophy and he has to ensure his successor can meet the job's criteria by competing on all fronts with a squad fit for exactly that purpose.

Ange Postecoglou was a man who made a big declaration and was true to his word. Now it's Daniel Levy's turn.

Tottenham expect Thomas Frank and his side to compete on multiple fronts this season and the full effect of the fixture calendar with Champions League and domestic cup games added in shows the task ahead.

Spurs faced 60 matches last season under Ange Postecoglou, managing to win the Europa League and reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup. However, they finished 17th in the Premier League and did not progress beyond the fourth round in the FA Cup as an injury crisis, poor performances and Postecoglou deciding to prioritise Europe all played a part.

In sacking Postecoglou, Tottenham made it clear that they expect to compete on multiple fronts. Frank will face a similar fixture pile-up to his predecessor, with games every three to four days in most weeks, and the Dane will be hoping for better fortune when it comes to injuries as well as the club helping him to build a squad capable of taking on the expanded Champions League format, which brings eight league phase games, as well as the packed domestic season.

It will be a new experience for Frank as he has never experienced juggling European football during the middle of a campaign, with his only experience of it coming with 10 Europa League qualifying games back around a decade ago at Brondby.

The Tottenham supporters learned the club's Premier League fixtures for the 2025/26 season on Wednesday morning but now football.london has inserted the European and potential domestic cup dates into the calendar and the full scope of the pile-up becomes clear. As always clubs in continental competition enter the Carabao Cup in the third round and the European games could cause Premier League matches to be shifted from their Saturday spots.

What was already a horrendous trio of games against Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in November now becomes even harder when you insert a potential Carabao Cup fourth round match days before the game against Chelsea, then Champions League matchday four after it, before the home game against United, and then the trip to the Emirates Stadium after the international break is swiftly followed by the next European matchday.

The little run of four horrible games from January into February next year against Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle and Arsenal also becomes even harder when you add in Champions League matchday eight just days before the game against City and a potential Carabao Cup semi-final second leg days after.

There could then be an FA Cup fourth round match and a potential Champions League knockout phase play-offs first leg tie to squeeze in between the games against Newcastle and Arsenal with the second leg of the play-offs just days after the home North London Derby.

In an ideal world Spurs will want to finish in the top eight in the expanded Champions League to avoid the play-offs, but that is easier said than done in Europe's elite club competition.

It's easier to see it all laid out so here is Tottenham's fixture schedule in full for the 2025/26 season with the potential cup dates added in, with the Carabao Cup fixtures to be played in the week commencing their date:

Thomas Frank has got a tough start to life as Tottenham Hotspur head coach as the Premier League fixtures have been released for the 2025/26 season.

The Dane has been handed a three-year contract at the club after being brought in from Brentford to replace Ange Postecoglou at the north London club. Now he has discovered how the Premier League schedule will play out, aside from those games that will move thanks to the broadcast companies' decisions as well as Spurs' involvement in the Champions League as well as the Carabao Cup and then FA Cup.

While Frank will begin his competitive fixtures with the UEFA Super Cup against PSG on August 13, his Premier League era kicks off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a home game against Scott Parker's promoted Burnley side on August 16.

However, the matches immediately take a tough turn before leading into a nightmare November. Spurs' second match under their 51-year-old head coach will see them make the trip to a hugely-reinforced Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on August 23. Then comes a tricky little run against Bournemouth at home (August 30) before the first London derby of the season at West Ham on September 13 after the first international break of the campaign.

Then comes a trip to Brighton on September 20 to make it back-to-back away games before a home clash with Wolves (September 27) to end the month. October brings trips to a noisy Elland Road and newly-promoted Leeds before Spurs welcome Aston Villa after the international break and then travel to Everton's new Hill Dickinson Stadium on October 25.

After that comes a rotten November with home games against Chelsea and Manchester United followed up by the first north London derby of the season on November 22 after the international break. The Christmas fixture this season will see Spurs travel to Crystal Palace, currently slated for December 27.

Other notable fixtures to round off 2025 are two matches against Frank's old Brentford side within the same month as Spurs welcome the Bees on December 6 and then travel to the Gtech Community Stadium to round out the year on December 30. That could yet move around the New Year period of course, as with most of the other games in the schedule.

Tottenham begin 2026 with a home game against promoted Sunderland and then another tough run comes at the end of January into February when they will play City away, United at home, Newcastle at home and then face the second north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on February 21.

The final four Premier League matches of the campaign in May bring a trip to Aston Villa, a home clash with Leeds followed by a late season trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea before Spurs finish off matters with the visit of Everton on May 24.

Here is Tottenham's fixture schedule in full for the 2025/26 season:

Arnaud Kalimuendo is the latest player to be linked with a transfer to Tottenham. After a quiet start to the summer window in terms of incomings, Spurs made a big move on Sunday as they confirmed the permanent addition of Mathys Tel.

The 20-year-old has penned a six-year deal in north London after his initial loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the remainder of last campaign. Tel could make a big impact under new head coach Thomas Frank and the Dane will be hoping that a few more arrivals are finalised ahead of the club's tour of Hong Kong and South Korea.

Tel's signing adds to the final third options at Frank's disposal and there may well be a bit more movement in that area of the pitch over the coming weeks. As things stand right now, there are question marks over what the future holds for Son Heung-min, Richarlison and Manor Solomon.

Tottenham will definitely need to look at bringing in a new striker if Richarlison is to move on after three difficult years in the capital. That is where Kalimuendo comes in.

The Rennes ace finished as the third-highest goalscorer in Ligue 1 last term after netting 17 times in 33 games. Kalimuendo has seen his numbers grow season on season at Rennes after scoring seven goals in the 2022/23 campaign and 10 in 2023-24.

Coming through Paris Saint-Germain's system and later spending two seasons on loan at Lens before his permanent move to Rennes, Kalimuendo could be in line to depart Roazhon Park this summer after his goalscoring heroics. Speaking in a recent interview with L'Equipe, Rennes president Arnaud Pouille stated: "He is one of the players who had a lot of contacts in January. We have authorised him to speak with other clubs."

A reported €30 million (£26million) fee has been mentioned, with Newcastle United and Bayer Leverkusen linked with the France Under-21s international recently. The two clubs may now be involved in a three-way battle for the striker as French publication L'Equipe claim that Tottenham are expected to step up their pursuit of the 23-year-old.

If Spurs are to indeed launch a move for the Suresnes-born player then they have three secret weapons to help get a deal over the line. Firstly, Kalimuendo is a former teammate of Djed Spence at Rennes.

Amid his struggles for regular first-team football at Tottenham under Antonio Conte, the right-back headed to Rennes on loan for the remainder of the season in January 2023. Spence played 10 games for Rennes during his loan spell, with Kalimuendo playing in all of the matches he featured in.

Two other Tottenham players who could potentially help convince the frontman to head to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are Tel and Wilson Odobert. The duo have played at international level together, most notably at Under-21s level.

Back in March, the trio were all involved as France Under-21s won 4-0 away at Slovakia. Tel and Kalimuendo were paired up front and they ran riot as they scored a brace apiece in the convincing win.

The latter also got an assist to his name as he teed up the Tottenham man for his second of the game in the 23rd minute. If Tottenham move for Kalimuendo and they are successful, Tel and the Rennes star already appear to have a bond on the pitch that could work wonders for Frank and his new team going forward.

Daniel Levy has described relieving Ange Postecoglou of his duties as an emotionally difficult decision, but believes it was right for Tottenham Hotspur.

The club's chairman has belatedly commented on the change of head coach ten days after the Australian's departure. There were no quotes from Levy or anyone else when announcing the move earlier this month.

Instead, their statement mentioned that "the Board has unanimously concluded that it is in the best interests of the Club for a change to take place." There were again no comments less than a week later when announcing the appointment of Thomas Frank.

Levy and the club's new chief executive, Vinai Venkatesham, have since conducted a joint interview, which Spurs uploaded to their YouTube channel on Tuesday. Its description states both "comment on the key football decisions made since the end of last season".

"I'm very grateful to Ange; I don't regret appointing Ange," Levy said. "In his first season, we finished fifth, and in our second season, we were over the moon to win the [ Europa League ] trophy, but we need to compete in all competitions, and we felt that we needed a change.

"I've got an excellent relationship with him; I've told him 'you're always going to be part of our history'. [He] and his family are always welcome back.

"It was a collective decision, [it] wasn't my decision; we do everything together. Emotionally, it was difficult, but we believe we've made the right decision for the club."

Addressing the appointment of Frank, the chairman said: "Whenever you have a new coach, it's always a fresh start; [they] always have different ideas. But we want to build on the success of winning a trophy last season.

"The things that stood out to me with Thomas [are that he's] clearly highly intelligent, [a] great communicator, [a] super human being, plus, all the other technical aspects that are obviously important. But they really stood out to me, those three parts."

Netherlands international Xavi Simons has told RB Leipzig that he wishes to leave the club this summer, as rumours continue to circulate about a potential move to Tottenham.

Reports on Sunday emerged that Spurs have a 'genuine interest' in signing Simons, as Thomas Frank tries to strengthen his squad ahead of the 2025/26 season. Talks have not started and a bid hasn't been placed, but a move to north London could be 'one to watch' in the near future.

Simons has been at Leipzig since 2023, first on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, before making the £42.6million permanent move in January 2025. Since arriving at the German side, the 22-year-old has scored 21 goals and provided 23 assists in 76 matches across all competitions.

But Leipzig have just suffered their worst season since promotion to the Bundesliga in 2016, having finished seventh and failing to qualify for any European competition.

Now, according to The Athletic, Simons has informed Leipzig that he would like to leave in the summer transfer window. The Dutchman believes that he has reached the end of his development at the Red Bull Arena.

Leipzig, meanwhile, accept that this might be the right moment to sell Simons, who has two years left on his contract, but are determined to resist offers below £59.7m.

Speaking to Sky in Germany about his future in April, Simons said: "I'm still a young player, I have many dreams and the club knows that. But right now, the most important thing for me is to play well in the upcoming games."

Tottenham are looking to bolster their squad after securing qualification for the Champions League. Although Spurs finished 17th in the Premier League, they won the Europa League and are set to return to Europe's elite club competition for the first time in three years.

That wasn't enough, however, for Ange Postecoglou to keep his job. Tottenham confirmed the dismissal of the Aussie earlier this month, with Frank then announced as his replacement. Spurs paid £10m to secure Frank's services from Brentford, and he has signed a three-year deal in north London.

We are now just a matter of hours away from the release of the 2025/26 Premier League schedule. Next season's fixtures for all 20 clubs will be confirmed at 9am on Wednesday, June 18.

A date in the calendar all football fans look forward to, all eyes will be on the opening round of fixtures that will be played over four days from Friday, August 15. After Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich Town all returned to the Championship at the first time of asking, the trio of clubs have been replaced in the top flight by Leeds United, Burnley and Sunderland.

All 20 teams will go into the new campaign with big aspirations as they look to give their fans a season to remember. For Tottenham, the start of the new term will see Thomas Frank's Spurs revolution get underway.

Fresh from winning the Europa League and parting with head coach Ange Postecoglou, the north London club face a big year as they look to really kick on after finishing in a disappointing 17th position. A kind first batch of games would certainly suit the Dane down to the ground as he bids to make the perfect start to life at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after departing Brentford.

Ahead of the fixtures being released at 9am on Wednesday, football.london used a fixture simulator to determine the opening six rounds of games. According to the simulator, Tottenham were dealt some tricky fixtures in their first six matches of the season.

A tough away day at Leeds United was first up for Frank and his new side, before Spurs entertain West Ham in a London derby in their first home match of the term. The Lilywhites were then given the bonus of a second successive home fixture with Everton making the trip to N17.

Tottenham then had away days at Wolves and Newcastle United either side of a challenging home fixture against Aston Villa. In terms of other key dates in the calendar from football.london's simulation, the first North London Derby of the season takes place at the Emirates Stadium in gameweek 10 and then Frank comes up against former club Brentford in gameweek 12.

Below, we list the simulated Premier League fixtures in full for the opening six weeks of the campaign.

Simulated fixtures for first six gameweeks of 2025/26 Premier League season

Gameweek 1

West Ham vs Crystal Palace

Leeds United vs Tottenham Hotspur

Arsenal vs Brentford

Nottingham Forest vs Everton

Fulham vs Manchester City

Burnley vs Wolves

Bournemouth vs Sunderland

Liverpool vs Aston Villa

Manchester United vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Chelsea vs Newcastle United

Gameweek 2

Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham

Brentford vs Crystal Palace

Everton vs Leeds United

Manchester City vs Arsenal

Wolves vs Nottingham Forest

Sunderland vs Fulham

Aston Villa vs Burnley

Brighton & Hove Albion vs Bournemouth

Newcastle United vs Liverpool

Chelsea vs Manchester United

Gameweek 3

West Ham vs Brentford

Tottenham Hotspur vs Everton

Crystal Palace vs Manchester City

Leeds United vs Wolves

Arsenal vs Sunderland

Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa

Fulham vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Burnley vs Newcastle United

Bournemouth vs Chelsea

Liverpool vs Manchester United

Gameweek 4

Everton vs West Ham

Brentford vs Manchester City

Wolves vs Tottenham Hotspur

Sunderland vs Crystal Palace

Aston Villa vs Leeds United

Brighton & Hove Albion vs Arsenal

Newcastle United vs Nottingham Forest

Chelsea vs Fulham

Manchester United vs Burnley

Bournemouth vs Liverpool

Gameweek 5

Manchester City vs West Ham

Everton vs Wolves

Brentford vs Sunderland

Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa

Crystal Palace vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Leeds United vs Newcastle United

Arsenal vs Chelsea

Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United

Fulham vs Liverpool

Burnley vs Bournemouth

Gameweek 6

Wolves vs West Ham

Sunderland vs Manchester City

Aston Villa vs Everton

Brighton & Hove Albion vs Brentford

Newcastle United vs Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace

Manchester United vs Leeds United

Liverpool vs Arsenal

Bournemouth vs Nottingham Forest

Burnley vs Fulham

There is renewed optimism at Tottenham Hotspur this summer after the appointment of Thomas Frank as head coach and a campaign in the UEFA Champions League to look forward to.

For a club that finished one place above the relegation zone in the Premier League last season with a staggering bad record of 22 defeats, the Europa League triumph may not have been enough to save Ange Postecoglou’s job, but it was enough to salvage this coming season, with Spurs now able to provide Frank with greater financial flexibility in the transfer market thanks to access to Champions League revenues that will be at least £50m but potentially double that.

There is a significant amount of work to be done to reshape the Spurs squad, and Frank will have his own ideas around the kinds of player needed for him to implement the game plan he wants. That requires funds.

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, opened in 2019, has long been trumpeted as the club’s greatest asset, and is because it absolutely is. The club’s decision to press on with a £1.2bn build while others pondered has meant they completed it pre-pandemic and at a cheaper cost of borrowing. They are ahead of many of their rivals in terms of what they now have, and ‘sweating the asset’, to use a business parlance, is very much part of the plan.

On Monday night, music superstar Beyonce finished the last of a six-night run at Spurs’ stadium, bringing her Cowboy Carter Tour to sell-out crowds. It is the second time that she has performed a series of tour dates at the stadium, and there is a reason for that.

"It’s a really competitive market," said Donna-Marie Cullen, former executive director at Spurs, speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London last year, where football.london was present .

"Venues tend to have their own sweet spot. So, Wembley, if you are Taylor Swift you know that you will sell out two nights, so you’ll probably do Wembley. Beyonce probably could’ve done that but she preferred to do five nights, she preferred the more intimate setting that our stadium gives.

“In fact, that turned out to be the highest-grossing concert ever for any female artist. She made £42.5m for five nights at the stadium.

“Beyonce was a bit of a tipping point, actually.

“The stadium operates a bit of a sweet spot in the market in terms of the size and how you can construct it for concerts, so we do boxing, we do concerts, rugby, NFL, visitor attractions, conferences, and events and we are about to start building a hotel.”

Given what the five-night run in 2023 delivered, Beyonce likely pocketed some £50m plus from the six nights at the stadium this time around.

For Spurs, though, it will have also been a lucrative affair, potentially worth between £15m and £20m for the club when all is said and done.

Out of calendar events are lucrative for clubs who own their stadiums. The process is that promoters will pay an agreed flat fee for use of the stadium to host artists, with the club to be entitled to some of the sale of merchandise, hospitality suites and food and beverage sales.

Spurs earn around £750,000 to £800,000 per matchday from food and beverage, and with six nights of paying customers buying food and drink, and a slice of some merchandise sales, it is a lucrative summer business for Spurs. The total is a rolling figure for each night and calculated at the end of each evening’s performance.

For Spurs, another successful stint for one of the world’s biggest music artists, and others to perform this summer such as Kendrick Lamar, should be instructive as to how the stadium will continue to grow, and how valuable it will be to the club in being able to continue to generate revenue and cash flow during the summer period which, in turn, aids how much they can put to work on the pitch.

There is a gig economy, and Spurs, with a near 63,000 capacity stadium in one of the world’s most famous cities with good, pre-existing transport links and the ability to host 30 non-football events per calendar year, are so far ahead of the Premier League pack that it’s hard to see that gap closed any time in the next decade, even if Manchester United’s 100,000 seater stadium vision comes to reality.

Artists are understood to like the intimacy that Spurs provides despite the size of the arena, not an easy balance to strike, and that means that they are on the hitlist of most major artists when it comes to planning tours.

For Frank, more Beyonce means more money for new additions, and with Champions League money forthcoming this season, there is likely to be a far more bullish approach to the market.

Tottenham are likely to be busy in the summer transfer window now it has reopened and they have a new head coach in place.

While many of Spurs' Premier League rivals have already made their mark in the transfer market, the wait to see first if Ange Postecoglou would be sacked and then who would replace him in N17 meant Tottenham have been slow to get moving when it comes to signings.

Kevin Danso's loan was made permanent, as per the Lilywhites' obligation with Lens, while Mathys Tel's loan from Bayern Munich was also made permanent after new head coach Thomas Frank's input.

New signings may be few and far between but some players have already left the club. Alfie Whiteman, Fraser Forster and Sergio Reguilon departed at the end of their contracts in N17, while Timo Werner returned to RB Leipzig following the end of his loan spell.

But there was another confirmed departure in the club's player update statement at the end of May when their retained list was announced - that of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Hojbjerg actually departed the club last summer, making the move to Marseille on loan for the season. But back in 2024, that loan deal had an obligation to buy attached to it.

Hojbjerg started 30 of Marseille's 34 matches this season, playing the full 90 minutes in all but two of those. He scored two goals in the league, adding another in the French Cup, and laid on four assists.

He was a key cog in Robert de Zerbi's side who finished as the best of the rest as runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain, qualifying for next season's Champions League.

Hojbjerg was due to be out of contract at Spurs at the end of June, but in sending him on loan to Marseille, Tottenham negotiated a fee for the midfielder, with the French side due to pay £17million to sign the Dane permanently.

Tottenham had signed Hojbjerg from Southampton in 2020 in a £15million deal. The £17million sale, despite him coming to the end of his contract, is something of a masterstroke on Daniel Levy's part, not only getting that much money for him, but also making a profit on the Danish midfielder.

Thomas Frank and Tottenham are now less than 24 hours away from discovering their 2025/26 Premier League schedule. It will once again be the start of a brand new era at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after the club elected to part with Ange Postecoglou and replace him with the Dane.

Frank made a huge name for himself during his time at Brentford and he fully deserves the opportunity to test himself at a bigger club. The 51-year-old will be hoping for a kind start to his Tottenham tenure when the new season's fixtures are released at 9am on Wednesday, June 18.

The new season commences on Friday, August 15, with the opening weekend games set to be spread over four days and draw to a conclusion on Monday, August 18. So what would be the best and worst case scenarios for Frank and Tottenham in his first Premier League match in charge? football.london takes a look below.

Best case

Brentford

It wouldn't be a surprise if the fixture computer threw up an early Brentford reunion for Frank. Having spent so long at Brentford and played a pivotal role in their incredible rise, it may be written in the stars that the Dane comes face-to-face with his former club very early on in the season.

Whereas some may see it as a game where he could quite easily slip up, it may be better for Frank and Brentford to go toe-to-toe early on. After all, he knows their players inside out, star men such as Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa may no longer be at the club and his exit could have a major impact on the team.

Promoted club at home

Leeds United, Burnley and Sunderland are back at England's top table after successful 2024/25 seasons in the Championship. All eyes will be on who the trio get on the opening day.

A home game against either would suit Tottenham but away fixtures perhaps wouldn't be the ideal start. The trio, who will still be riding the promotion high, would be looking to get off to the best possible start and would be backed by raucous home crowds on the opening weekend.

Sunderland or Burnley would probably be the pick for many from the promoted clubs.

Bottom-half rival at home

The 2024/25 Premier League season was one to forget for Tottenham as they finished 17th. Spurs could have finished as high as 14th on the final day of the campaign but they lost against Brighton & Hove Albion and other results went against them.

As it was fairly close in the standings between themselves Wolves, Manchester United and West Ham, an opening day fixture against one of the aforementioned sides may suit them, especially if it is at home. Everyone hopes for a home game on the opening weekend and Spurs will be keeping their fingers crossed that is the case come fixture release day.

Chelsea

You may question why Chelsea are in this category given Spurs' dire record against them but there is a very good reason. The Blues are taking part in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup this summer and they could be playing matches into the middle of July if they are to reach the latter stages of the competition.

As a number of players may have gone straight into international action after the Premier League season had ended before then heading to the Club World Cup, it remains to be seen what their fitness levels will be like come the opening day of the Premier League season. Enzo Maresca does have a large squad at his disposal, though, and will be able to rotate if required.

It may in fact be a good time to play Chelsea rather than wait until later in the season when they are up to full speed.

Worst case

North London Derby

You don't tend to see rival teams pitted against each other in a huge derby on the opening weekend of the season. A match against Arsenal is the last thing Spurs would want given their disastrous record against them recently.

The Gunners look set to make some notable moves in the transfer market and they will be keen to get off to the best possible start after once again missing out on a trophy. It would be some fixture if Tottenham and Arsenal were to open the season against each other.

Liverpool

Liverpool are another team Tottenham will want to avoid at all costs in their first Premier League fixture of 2025/26. The Reds cruised to only their second ever Premier League title and they hit Tottenham for five at Anfield on the day they were officially crowned champions.

Spurs do not fare well at Anfield and they will be desperate to avoid meeting them first up.

Tough away day

The last thing Tottenham will want in their first game of 2025/26 is a tough away day. Tottenham were wretched on the road across the 2024/25 season and only managed to win five of their 19 away fixtures in the league.

Given the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Arsenal and Newcastle United were so strong at home, Tottenham will not want to be travelling to one of those six teams.