Daniel Levy has delivered during his chairmanship of Tottenham – but for the ownership group of which he is a part, not the fans. At least, not recently.
As a global brand and a business, the club is in an infinitely better place than when ENIC took over in 2000 and named Levy, a former investment banker and Tottenham season ticket holder, as chairman.
But Spurs the football club have won just one trophy in the 21st century and are regressing rapidly.
They boxed above their weight class financially in the 2010s and were a sustained presence in the top third of the Premier League. They reached a Champions League final too, of course.
But revenue has almost doubled since their last season at White Hart Lane. Even in 2023-24, a season in which they had European money whatsoever, only eight clubs world football earned more.
Now, relative to their soaring wealth, they are a heavyweight throwing featherweight punches.
And no, it isn’t because they haven’t spent. Lack of investment on the pitch isn’t the underlying issue.
Their squad cost (wages plus transfer amortisation) has risen broadly in line with turnover since the move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, although the gap between the two metrics has widened.
Granted, they have the lowest wages-to-turnover ratio in the Premier League and the most modest total squad cost of any of the so-called Big Six clubs.
But there is a valid argument to suggest that is because the rest of the league – especially outside the Big Six – is a basket case financially.
All but a few uber-smart clubs like Brighton and Brentford are stuck in expensive and unsustainable boom-and-bust cycles. Losses across the division last year totalled close to £1bn.
‘Too Dare is Too Dear’ is the admittedly clever twist on the club’s motto that the fans have adopted as a slogan against the ENIC-Levy regime, but it misses the point.
There is spending and then there is spending well, and Tottenham don’t spend the takings from their world-beating commercial operation well at all.
As chairman, he should be macro rather than micromanaging – making the right hires at the front and back of house and letting them get on with it.
Levy is also more famous and influential than any other club executive in football, perhaps with the exception of Real Madrid’s Florentino Perez or Paris Saint-Germain’s Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
A cultural reset is needed in N17 and new blood in the C-suite is the way to get there.
With Levy actively courting minority investment, TBR Football takes a look at the names linked with the North London club past and present.
Everyone linked with Spurs takeover or minority investment
Various groups have reportedly been interested in Tottenham as a business prospect over the years. Some more credibly than others.
TBR can vouch for the validity of some of these stories, while others are more tenuous.
Formula One owners Liberty Media have an existing relationship with Spurs through the 15-year F1 Drive partnerships that has seen a karting track installed at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Levy is a known F1 fan and Liberty Media – who also happen to be the most valuable sports holdings company in the world – have been touted as a potential investor in North London.
Incidentally, Liberty have just appointed a new CEO in Derek Chang, who has succeeded legendary sports investors Greg Maffei.
After Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al-Thani failed in a bid to take over Man United in 2023, several reports suggested that the Qatari banker could turn his attention to Tottenham.
However, the mysterious Sheikh Jassim appears to have briefed the British press that he is waiting until further United equity is for sale and ahs no interest in any rival club at present.
Before their aborted bid to buy Everton, the private equity firm MSP Sports Capital held a concrete interest in Tottenham.
As TBR Football have exclusively reported previously, MSP went as far as to conduct due diligence with a view to a full takeover, not a minority investment.
How far negotiations progressed is not known, nor is whether Spurs are still in contact with MSP.
Crystal Palace co-owner David Blitzer is the most recent new named linked with Tottenham.
This would be extraordinarily complicated to pull off, however, as the Premier League’s conflict of interest rules would require him to first divest his stake in Palace.
Previously, his fellow Palace shareholder John Textor offered to buy Blitzer out, which could theoretically have opened up a pathway for him to invest in Spurs.
But Textor has since entered a period of exclusive talks with a different consortium, so it Blitzer moving from South to North London looks unlikely.
A tenuous one, but the rapper and billionaire businessman Jay-Z has been connected with Tottenham, having previously expressed an interest in Arsenal.
While Jay Z is extremely independently wealthy, his investment would likely come as part of a consortium.
Given that he co-owns one of the world’s most successful sports and media agencies in Roc Nation who manage the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Vinicius Junior, it isn’t as far fetched as it might first sound.
Late last year, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was linked with investing in Tottenham, although those reports ultimately proved wide of the mark.
It would have made sense, however, given Spurs’ increasingly close relationship with the NFL.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly held talks to invest in Tottenham before he eventually took over Chelsea in partnership with, among others, Spurs fan Jonathan Goldstein.
The private equity titan’s current civil war with co-investor Behdad Eghbali at Stamford Bridge may well end with one faction buying the other out.
But Clearlake Capital’s Eghbali holds the high card as the Blues’ majority shareholder, which has led to suggestions that the 51-year-old could pivot back to Spurs.
Levy is a known ally of PSG and Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
He met with the supremo earlier this month as part of Spurs’ efforts to sign Randal Kolo Muani from PSG, which ultimately proved unsuccessful.
With the two men pictured meeting for unspecified reasons in the past, it has led to speculation that QSI could invest in Tottenham either on a majority or minority basis, although the club refute this.
Soon after her begrudging exit from Newcastle United last summer, Amanda Staveley was linked with minority investment in Tottenham.
Her PCP Capital Partners group are said to have raised £500m for a new football project, with AS Monaco also on Staveley’s radar.
What is the latest with Amanda Staveley’s plans to invest in Tottenham?
Staveley’s most recent public appearance came an event run by Bloomberg in early December.
There, she confirmed that PCP Capital Partners were in talks for a new football investment, although she stopped short of namechecking Spurs directly.
However, the 51-year-old financier may well be bound by an NDA, as is commonplace in the mergers and acquisitions sector.
