Newcastle Takeover Puts Tottenham’s Plight Into Sharp Relief

News of Newcastle’s imminent takeover sent shockwaves reverberating throughout English football. Amongst the different fanbases, there is likely to be a full range of introspection. City and Chelsea fans will welcome another member to the burgeoning oil money club. Liverpool and United fans will begrudgingly accept that — at least after a couple of transfer windows — a new competitor has arrived. For fans of Tottenham Hotspur, it will be impossible to absorb the developments without a hint of jealousy. 

Comparisons have long been made between Mike Ashley and Daniel Levy. Both rule their clubs with an iron fist, both shy away from the media, and both have little interest in investing in their football teams. Turns out there was one glaring, fundamental difference between them all along: Ashley was only in it for a temporary fix; Levy appears ready to sink his hooks into the club for all eternity. 

Despite Tottenham’s superficial illusions of success in recent years, Newcastle and Tottenham have long lived parallel existences; both big clubs with massive followings, eager to return to former glories, but both now drifting along aimlessly, hamstrung by owners with little regard for football — and more than an hint of disdain for the notion of competing. The key difference, over the past decade, has been that Spurs had the good fortune of stumbling onto two prodigiously gifted talents. First, when a shy, reticent 17 year old from Wales became the most explosive left winger in world football, and later, when a chubby, unremarkable kid from the academy became one of the world’s most fearsome strikers. Both the Bale and Kane eras, which engendered so much promise, ultimately ended trophyless; tragic stories of what might have been. Crucially, for Levy’s investment company, ENIC, they also helped the club to punch above — providing a glossy sheen over a chronic underinvestment that even today continues to rot the squad. If you take these two anomalies out of the equation, Spurs and Newcastle’s league positions over the past decade would likely not have been too different. Their respective trophy haul during Ashley’s reign is identical: zero. 

The Saudi deal is sobering for Tottenham fans because it illustrates two things. One: ENIC are not intending to sell at this point — something that is often speculated across various outlets and forums. And two, even more disconcerting; it portends that ENIC might never intend to sell. There will likely never be a buyer more wealthy than the Saudi consortium. And it’s almost unthinkable that if given the choice they wouldn’t have picked London based, newly renovated, 8^th richest club in the world, Tottenham Hotspur, over a floundering, decaying Newcastle. Levy and Lewis could have cashed out for £1bn and made out like bandits on their initial £20m investment. Yes, of course the Saudi’s are only paying £300m for the Geordies, but once the necessary infrastructure costs are calculated (and due to FFP regulations they will unequivocally have to invest outside of the team), the net cost to make them competitive will not be much different. The one good thing ENIC have done — though clearly not for the benefit of the football team — is to invest in infrastructure. In theory, the club is perfectly poised for an outside investor to come in and take over the reigns. But of course, ENIC have not been quoting realistic prices. Reports have emerged that, ironically enough, it was Tottenham who first courted the attention of PIF, the Saudi consortium poised to usher in a new era on Tyneside. Levy’s asking price? A cool £3.5b — a billion more than Manchester United’s entire market cap on the NYSE. 

Tottenham Hotspur, in a negotiation which broke down in March 2019, approached investors in the region we are talking about – two months before the Newcastle deal was ironed out – to buy the football club for £2.5billion, with a further £1billion in add ons.

“The deal was taken to the investors in Saudi Arabia, by a dealmaker named as Eldridge Investments, and rejected.

“The whole deal totals £3.5billion – Newcastle was set to be sold for one-tenth of that price. I have had that exact same information from three different credible sources.

Newcastle Consortium Supporters Ltd’s Keith Patterson

This almost comical overvaluing is nothing new for Tottenham fans, who’ve had to watch for years while Levy and his group of investors have flagrantly overpriced their on-field assets, precluding the possibility of important sales, and leading to a large group of players staying at the club years past their sell-by dates. Of course, if this largesse was extended to outward transactions as well, the issue wouldn’t be as acute. But when the club regularly bid 30-40% below market value for top quality players they desperately need, the situation becomes untenable — and leads to the sort of chronic, widespread stagnation in which they’re currently mired. 

There’s also more than a hint of irony that of all the Premier League owners, the chairman apparently most vehemently against the takeover? One Daniel Levy. 

For a chairman who’s tried to move Tottenham to Stratford, attempted to furlough his workers in the midst of a global pandemic, and now refused to meet with the Supporters Trust to discuss his team’s future, it requires an extraordinary lack of self-awareness to be throwing stones at the ways in which others run their clubs. But this is Levy, and no one should be surprised by the rank hypocrisy of a man who just a few months ago tried to join a breakaway European Super League — and didn’t even have the decency to issue a proper apology to his fanbase — now decrying the emergence of new competition. Not to mention the sheer folly of trying to block a consortium he himself tried to court just a couple years prior. Spurs fans are accustomed to this level of duplicity and false virtue, but even for Levy, this is rich. 

Despite Tottenham’s superficial illusions of success in recent years, Newcastle and Tottenham have long lived parallel existences; both big clubs with massive followings, eager to return to former glories, but both now drifting along aimlessly, hamstrung by owners with little regard for football — and more than an hint of disdain for the notion of competing.

And so, it appears, ENIC have no intention of selling Tottenham — at least not until someone comes in with a ludicrous, entirely unrealistic sum. The harsh reality is that if PIF — one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds — wouldn’t pay it; no one will. £1bn may not be ENIC’s dream figure, but it’s still an extraordinary return on their investment. Enough to go retire in the Bahamian tax havens they love to frequent, buy another superyacht, and still have enough cash left over for a few more oil paintings. But alas, this clearly isn’t the plan. 

It appears that being able to bilk Tottenham Hotspur in perpetuity seems a far more attractive proposition. What would Daniel Levy do with his time, after all, without Tottenham Hotspur? He’s created an environment in which football can be fully relegated to the back burners; an afterthought in the pursuit of new and exciting revenue streams. The NFL deals are just kicking in, major boxing fights have taken place, and the Tottenham Hotspur stadium is on course to become one of London’s premier entertainment venues. Clearly, he needs the attention, the adulation, the sense of purpose; if he didn’t, he’d have likely sold years ago. 

This is why the Newcastle takeover should come as such a reality shock for Spurs fans. It proves, unequivocally, that the club is stuck. Destined to spend more time in purgatory, flapping around haphazardly, bereft of planning, ambition, or even basic competency. 

ENIC have no intention of selling Tottenham — at least not until someone comes in with a ludicrous, entirely unrealistic sum. The harsh reality is that if PIF — one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds — wouldn’t pay it; no one will

All those rejoicing for long suffering Newcastle fans, should spare a thought for Spurs fans. Mike Ashley leaves Newcastle with a higher net spend than Daniel Levy at Tottenham; a sad, shocking indictment of the way in which the London club has been run — and the extents to which its chairman has gone to not compete. 

It is thirteen years now without silverware for Spurs — the longest trophy drought in history for England’s 6^th biggest club, a team once synonymous with glory. Newcastle are a big club, for sure, but few would argue that Spurs are bigger. Yet it’s the Geordies who’ve just won their golden ticket, their passport to the big time. It’s their club who will be competing for top honors in the years to come, and not just treading water, struggling to survive and continuing the pretence of aspiration. 

That sheer sense of apathy and disillusionment, once shared by fans of Newcastle and Spurs, is now unique to Tottenham Hotspur. Sure, Spurs play and train in plusher surroundings, and have flirted with success in recent years, but the net result is the same today. No plan, no joy, no trophies, and worst of all, no hope.

Mike Ashley leaves Newcastle with a higher net spend than Daniel Levy at Tottenham; a sad, shocking indictment of the way in which the London club has been run — and the extents to which its chairman has gone to not compete. 

Other clubs know their place in the pecking order; they’ve either never won things before, or are doing everything in their power (and yes, that means spending money) to get there. Only two clubs were content to stand still, perfectly happy to squander every opportunity for success that came their way, so long as the profits kept rolling in. 

Now there’s only one. In the years that follow, Tottenham’s billionaire owners and Newcastle’s will likely take wildly divergent paths. One will have to be reigned in, shackles imposed, and ambition throttled. The other will continue to have to be coaxed — even forced — to show the merest hint of serious footballing intent. As Spurs prepare to face Newcastle this weekend, it will be hard to look at their one-time northern analogs without a hint of envy. The North London club will likely have a chance to compete on Sunday, but long term, Newcastle are destined — like so many before them — to leave Tottenham behind.