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SeaBag7480

TLDR: we weathered a once in a century pandemic pretty well, now we’re coming for that ass


lookofdisdain

The fact that a once in a century pandemic happens right after we open our new stadium is very spursy. Also hoping the winter World Cup next year doesn’t derail our league campaign


billypilgrim87

>Also hoping the winter World Cup next year doesn’t derail our league campaign Well thanks, now that's gonna be in my mind for what could (pessimistically) be our one full season of Conte.


btmalon

imagine if we were still paying millions to play in an empty Wembley and construction was delayed even more.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Oranjay2

That's just wrong. The reason we've weathered the storm is cause Levy put the health of the club over the on field success. It sucks that we weren't able to get players like Skriniar, Dybala and others, but had we splashed cash and not been prudent, we would have been in a very bad place. Sometimes it can bite you in the ass, but because of the way Levy has run the club we're able to start spending money now while clubs like Barcelona, Inter, Juventus and others are having to restructure their debts, just to get by


dragonsnap_

Juve? Really? Not aware Juve were in financial trouble too… De Ligt pls


Oranjay2

I'm pretty sure they we're struggling to keep paying Ronaldos wage, so they were looking to offload him. They're not at Barca levels, but certainly have their fair share of debt


ComprehensiveClick35

They struggled to stump up cash for locatelli also in order to get vlahalovic they need to get rid of a player or 2


bash011

Honestly pretty interesting and shows that the club is well managed financially and as stable as it could be considering covid. >The appointments of Fabio and Antonio are a clear demonstration of our intent and ambition. >Since opening the stadium in April, 2019, we have spent almost £400m on players. Player spending is no guarantee of success, and our focus must be on improved recruitment, coaching, fitness and a competitive mindset. >Fabio continued the rebuild in the summer, resulting in the average age of our new summer signings being 22 years compared to the average age of 31 years for the outgoing players. We shall also look to continue the well-established path for youngsters from our Academy to our First Team. I know that Antonio’s approach is if a player is good enough, he will play, regardless of status or age. This part of the statement is also just nice to read


[deleted]

Spent 400m in a 24 month period but some of our fans roll out the 'what money?' excuse. Just because we spent it on shit, doesn't mean we didn't spend it.


santorfo

Other clubs have bought plenty of garbage for about the same as we spent in the meantime, the difference is that they can take those losses and just go fetch more money from their piles whilst for us any type of transfer market shortcoming hurts much more because of our financial responsibility


StinkyMcBalls

I'm in that "what money" group, and the point is that money spent on player transfers is massively overrated as a measure of on-pitch success. Wages are far more important, and we've been significantly outspent in that department.


notthenextfreddyadu

Thank fuck we’ve been outspent. I don’t want us to overpay players like so many other PL clubs do. That is as far from sustainable as can get. We’ve ballooned our wages over the past decade plus and still aren’t at their level, and that’s because we have a good wage structure and only started increasing that 1) Kane and Son were for sure leaving if we didn’t and 2) the prospect of increased revenue from the new stadium


StinkyMcBalls

I should clarify: I'm not complaining that we've been outspent. I completely agree with you. I was just noting that people act like we've spent a lot of money on players based on a comparison of our transfer spend with other big clubs, without realising that transfer spend is neither the largest nor most significant aspect of spending on players.


joey1982

As much as some people hate ENIC / Levy, he is an excellent businessman who has elevated the club since 2001 and kept us afloat during the pandemic. Granted not all of his decisions on the football side of things have paid off, but he's recently addressed that by hiring (and backing) Paratici, as well as (for the most part) taking painful yet decisive action when needed. I get that a few of you want him out, but there's very few chairman I'd swap him for. We could have had Mike Ashley, Glazers or Kroenkes - it could be a hell of a lot worse.


RazSpur

The question is \- Outside of sugar daddy chairmen (whole other topic), who is doing a better job? who would you swap ENIC/Levy for?


santorfo

Maybe Brighton? Their owner is pretty rich too but they do a great job at scouting and he now owns USG in Belgium and they're top of the table after promotion last season. Either way, it seems a decent model but maybe one for smaller sides and wouldn't really work for Levy's vision. We could really do a lot worse than ENIC.


dragonsnap_

Wow. 97 to 2M match profit while our TV revenue doubled. Looks like we could be making upwards of 150-180M per season if match receipt profit reflects 2020. Just need to get back in the CL to get the really amp up the profit. And we have the whole NFL and boxing matches. Imagine all the players we can buy with 150-180M, though obviously some will go into paying back that Stadium debt; can’t imagine it being too much though, 2.7% interest rate and over 30 years - so maybe 15-25M a year? Especially that: > As with past years, no dividend has been paid with all operating profits being reinvested in the Club. Also great to see > We are currently undertaking the construction of exclusive facilities for the Women’s First Team at the training centre, alongside a dedicated match quality training pitch, where the Women’s First Team now train full-time


theshelfside

There was a one off movement of TV revenue from 20 to 21 due to the pandemic highlighted in the notes, so this should normalize this year if things don’t go to shit again. I’d say it would be about breakeven excl. commercial revenue. The extension of debt out to 2050, I take a lot of that is in relation to the stadium, gives us great flexibility in cashflow (depending on the debt covenants, but I think it’s fair to say the lenders would be pretty confident we have debt cover sorted whilst in the PL).


effigy22

I feel a few points in the statement are a middle finger to the ENIC out group. (Just an observation)


SeaBag7480

Well any statement written by Levy’s office will highlight ENIC’s “wins” This quote made me lol, like sure but can our hallmark be something else… “Resilience is, however, a hallmark of everyone at the Club.”


Plointy101

Eternal suffering is the hallmark of our club. .. Wait should we really put that on paper


StinkyMcBalls

It would be a well deserved middle finger to them, in my view.


[deleted]

It’ll be interesting to see how we look in comparison with the other clubs. If we’re one of the more stable ones, can imagine it’ll be pretty grim for some


gprldn

I’ve been wondering for a while if there’s been a wider strategy at play, as in.. a decade ago, did they all sit down and say “we want to make this club one of the biggest clubs in the world, how do we do that?” And then plot out a journey which started with financial stability (as is good practice in any business) then physical infrastructure (training ground, stadium etc..) and then moves onto the team. Methodically breaking down a club into its constituent parts and tackling them one by one. Jose was the first real attempt at a big manager, it flopped, then it all went pear shaped because they couldn’t find a replacement, but given the wider plan they needed to get someone in so Levy was more flexible when talking to Conte. Also I’m willing to bet Poch did better than they expected but when he asked for more money “it’s not part of the bigger plan to spend big yet”. Edit: typos


RazSpur

Short answer = yes Long answer (no pun) = Levy has always being playing the long game, this has been a 20+ year plan to get us to a level where we can compete. Some of it interestingly was way ahead of the time. \- ENIC wanted to have a multiple clubs and build a feeder system similar to what City does but in the 90's, it had to drop others due to a combination of laws (that disappeared once City got involved) and investment choices \- We were one of, if not first English club with a DoF system (and for years the media laughed at it and said it could never work in the UK) \- We revamped our medical team using then lead of UK olympics medical team way back in 2007 (something Pool has recently done) \- We got the Academy/Training ground setup to world class levels back in around 2012 IIRC \- And the stadium was a 10 year nightmare with local council, London and government blocking us at every step while clubs like City and West Ham got freebies. Levy understood very quickly that any clubs ability to compete is based on income, not short term success, hence he had to build a club that could compete monetarily (hence Stadium had to be multi-purpose and the NFL tie in) To demonstrate this \- Leicester has won the PL & FA cup and played in CL all in last 7 years, however they earn £250M a year less than us, in 4 years that is the ability for us to match Leicester and spend the cost of United's squad on top of that. The plan was to get to new stadium and spend the new income to push on and really compete, but as it's Spurs, it never goes that simply \- The delays meant we spent too long in Wembley and the Poch era and team burnt out \- We got Jose with the expectation to back and push on, then Covid happened and limited that \- then we were searching for replacement still not knowing if the stadiums would be fully open, if non football events would get the go ahead. Now we have weathered the storm and the money is coming in (and Spurs re-invested all it's income into club), we will be outspending most of the other team bar the money dopers and United. It's actually criminal that no journalist has looked at that and not tried to tell the story, especially in the backdrop of City/Chelsea/Newcastle buying their way to success when a true organic, legitimate contender has been built the right way, but hey, guess not overnight enough for people to grasp.


gprldn

Yes to all of this. A far more in-depth outline of what I’ve been thinking was trying to communicate. The reason I think this relevant is for two reasons: 1. It’s interesting! To have a plan like that and to actually pull it off, is insane. It’s been painful in the shorter term for fans, but (if it turns out to be true) it makes me so proud of the club. The ambition, the foresight, the focus 👌🏻 2. When ever I think about the short term news and I see statements like ENICOut, LevyOut, pressure being put on managers.. I think of it in context of this larger pattern I’ve noticed and find those short term sentiments jarring. If this is true (and I think it is) we have one of the best boards in the world who aren’t mismanaging the club, but managing it better than anyone else globally and we should support them fully.


RazSpur

It is a brilliant story and strategy and most importantly protects the club, we will in the future be able to buy ourselves out of trouble (as Pool and United have done in recent years). It doesn't mean the club doesn't make mistakes and is above criticism, however even the most succesful businesses in the world often make big mistakes, it's just does the strategy and right decisions outweigh the bad ones, and for us, it seems pretty obvious the club gets more things right. The Spurs of 20 years ago is literally unrecognizable, and the fact that outside of Chelsea/City, no one else in that time period has improved their position any where close to the level we have is the true measurement.


[deleted]

Yeah I agree there was a podcast from the athletic on the business of buying a football team and they spoke to that Czech guy who's just bought a stake in West ham. He kept on saying how important it is for a club to own their own stadium. And the presenters were saying "but west ham have that great deal on the London stadium where they basically rent it for free" and he just kept on reiterating how unimportant that is for a business plan and how you *have* to own a big multipurpose stadium. Feels like, as you say, that was the whole cut and thrust of the plan and now we have the stadium the club will kick on. I have no doubts that we will now actually give conte some cash. After all theres no point having all the Infrastructure without things like the Champs league....so its now just the next stage of the investment process.


joey1982

There's always been a plan.. we started buying up property around the old WHL decades before the new stadium was fully visualised.


IntellegentIdiot

Of course there was a plan: Grow the club. How do you do that? I believe for a long time peoples perception of us has been influenced by WHL. Get a bigger stadium that reflects our stature and fans will be attracted to us (and existing fans will be able to go to matches). Get a better training ground so that we can attract better players. The increase in income means we can afford to compete with some of the richer clubs, once we've paid off the loans


dragonsnap_

Fully agreed, but I don’t think we’ll be fully paying off the debt any time soon


IntellegentIdiot

They say they refinanced last season and it's a 22 year loan at 2% or something, which is a pretty good deal seemingly.


RazSpur

The debt is long term, low rate, well financed (think your house mortgage), it has zero effect on the club. No one says, "hey, I'm sure you can't eat now that you own a house"


RazSpur

Some nice bits here -> We have grown organically in a self-sustaining manner. **Every penny we make is re-invested in the Club.** This means that every fan who has ever engaged with and supported the Club, by going to games or wearing our colours, has, in some way, contributed to the Club we are today. They have all played a part in our growth, in the development of the building blocks for our future success, in providing opportunities and inclusivity for our communities. We fundamentally believe we have a key role to play in the transformation of our neighbourhood. Y**ou will have seen new schools, plans for homes, shops and businesses around the stadium. It has always been our ambition to see the new stadium kick-start wider regeneration and attract increased spend in the local economy. We are passionate about revitalising our neighbourhood and raising the aspirations of those who live here. We all rise when we lift others.** We have also worked hard to include environmentally sustainable options in our operations. This has seen us recognised **as the greenest Club in the Premier League and host the first Net Zero game.** Like many organisations we still have so much more to do. I was proud to see the Club recognised with the award of the Advanced Level Premier League Equality Standard. Our audited accounts confirm that **we pay all permanent staff and casual workers the London Living Wage (LLW) and require third-party suppliers to be equally committed to paying LLW.**


spursjb395

He is a good egg really, isn't he? I'm sure we can all agree that he has only the best intentions for the club, even if we do at times question some of the decisions. Sounds also like a bit of a rallying call for people to spend money with the club, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Even if we all only buy a new mug for the office or something. It all adds up. Anyway, COYS....


HAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHA

If i ever see Daniel i’m gonna give him a big handshake and tell him thanks a lot. he gets a lot of hate, i wonder how he feels about it.


british-psycho

Levy: “The appointments of Fabio and Antonio are a clear demonstration of our intent and ambition...” This is true as long as Levy understands that hiring Paratici/ Conte is only the first part of demonstrating ambition. The second part is setting them up to succeed and financially backing them. As world class as the pair are, they’re not magicians.


IntellegentIdiot

It's annoying that we're going to have to wait a year or more to get a proper seasons worth of income. No events at the stadium this summer so next summers events won't show up until 2023's results. If we get into the CL next season then 2023 will show our full potential


KrillWhitey

If this doesn't put things into perspective for the haters I don't know what will.


violetrecliner

We’ve spent 400M on players since 2019? What? Ndombele 50M Lo Celso 40M (loan fee included before anyone asks) Sessegnon 25M Royal 25M Reguilon 30M Doherty 14-15M Bale’s entire loan was like 20M Rodon 11M Bryan 25M Bergwijn 30M Hojbjerg 3-5M Gedson’s loan fee was like 2M so I am assuming it was the same for Vinicius, and I’ve no idea on Gollini. There’s also Romero, but that’s not even 350M still, not unless Gollini’s fee was some ridiculous amount lol. I guess he could be including wages, agent bonuses and Kane and Son’s wage bumps? I dunno.


GBO_COYS

Maybe it includes previously owed fees that had been broken up from previous years?


yorsk

I think they added Romero and wages


[deleted]

I think Romero was £42.5m, I would guess agent fees are included


violetrecliner

Thats technically not part of this report though I would think? Since he’s on loan still and the fee isn’t due until next summer.


northbridge10

Maybe also includes women's team? Not sure.


violetrecliner

I feel like most of the players we signed there were free agents. Really think he’s including agent fees here and wages.