Has the time come for new owners who will push us to the next level? lovethshirt from the forum discusses the possibility and looks at ENIC's time in charge.
Stick or Twist?
Since ENIC invested in our club it has always been their intention to maximise their return. That’s the whole reason funds like ENIC exist, to extract the maximum profit on investment for the minimum risk.
Without getting into the economic minutiae, Levy has demonstrated he’s a cautious investor.
For these reasons I am convinced we will be under new ownership before the new stadium is built. Levy and Lewis have added all the value they can to THFC to turn the club into a viable global commercial brand. The new training ground is world class, the new stadium plans are (despite a number of issues) well under way, the academy structure is well established and perhaps most importantly the commercial brand image is strong in America and Asia. They have done the hard work to get us to this point and to be fair it’s been done effectively in business-like way. If they can sell the club for £1bn now there is little extra value to seeing the stadium project through.
ENIC have served us well – we should be thankful, but there’s something missing. We’ve become cocooned in Levy’s comfort blanket of security. The most disappointing aspect of ENIC’s time in charge is the net spend on transfers. Only once in the last 5 years have we had a positive net spend (10/11). This simply isn’t good enough for a club with our ambitions.
[linequote]ENIC have served us well – we should be thankful, but there’s something missing.[/linequote]
When we really needed Levy to put his money on the table to back our push for the Top 4 he lost his nerve, like a poker player who decided to walk away even. A look at our purchases from this summer in isolation, it would appear Levy has lost appetite for negotiation. The Sigurdsson – Davies/Vorm swap suited both parties. Yedlin, yet to arrive, was purchased for less than 2 monthly Falcao pay slips. Dier, Fazio, and Stambouli were all secured for minimum release fees. Do you recognise a pattern here? A majority shareholder spending as little as possible in preparation for an exit maybe? ENIC’s eyes have been on maximum return on investment rather than silverware for a few years now.
There have been some odd transfers as well, Defoe out and no replacement earlier this year – at least it gave the end of year accounts a capital boost. No problem with due diligence at this club, that’s what everything is focused towards. The beauty pageant has begun, the glossy prospectus are stacked high in ENIC’s offices.
In order to take the next steps on our journey we need an owner who is prepared to roll the dice. I’m not praying for Ridsdale roulette or Mansour madness, it has to be sustainable.
The Game is about Glory not balance sheets. So rather than worrying about net spend, let’s hope our next owners have courage in their convictions.
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14 Comments
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18/09/2014 @ 9:20 am
high net spend did the trick for Leeds and Portsmouth while the changes at Blackburn, QPR, Fulham and Cardiff have done wonders for those clubs. Hicks did well for Liverpool as they dropped out of the CL for years. If it happens I hope it works but there are no guarantees, with ENIC and Levy the club continues to grow and is extremely healthy financially and waiting for the injection that the new stadium will bring. If I had a vote on the matter I know exactly where it would go, our current owners should be cheered from the rafters rather than doubted.
I won’t say that they haven’t made any mistakes because that is not true of anybody but there are considerably more plusses to their tenure than negatives.
18/09/2014 @ 12:29 pm
Spot on Tom,its amazing what people want other people to do with money that isnt theirs.Well done ENIC.
22/09/2014 @ 7:43 am
I think the money is theirs Tom, the fans I mean, they are the ones who pay for this circus, not enic or Levy, and as such should have a say how their club is run
18/09/2014 @ 12:47 pm
I think back to what it was like when ENIC took over and now and there is no comparison, we had to make do with Liverpool and Blackburn cast offs, Redknapp and Sherwood and though we still had some big names they were players past their sell by date. Now we have a young squad chock full of internationals that might not be worldbeaters but might be one day, like Bale and Modric. I’ve supported the club since the days when we bought who we wanted because we were the big spenders, we then started the trend for buying from abroad with Ossie and Ricky. Now because of circumstances we are building sensibly and within our means trying to build new stadium having already done so with the best training facility money can buy.
We are on the right track if we stick with ENIC and Levy but we are extremely reliant upon them to sell to the right people if that is the route to go.
Given the choice like Tom #voteENIC
21/09/2014 @ 9:01 pm
Tom
Daniel is that you?
18/09/2014 @ 9:21 am
Before I get slagged to death, I will put up a possible name…….Mike Ashley. He has tried to buy into spurs in the past and is a self confessed supporter. He has adequate wonger and has shown at Newcastle he is not afraid to spend it. Whilst I admit he can be a bit if a dick, I would prefer him to another prince of the shifting sands or another yank who calls our game SOCCAH. I am bracing myself.
18/09/2014 @ 9:42 am
Have you thought the reason we didn’t go mad in the transfer window this season was because we weren’t desperate. Poch knows his squad and maybe he’s happy with what we have, maybe even up front. Might had said we could do with a striker but don’t be paying over the odds for one. Hey let’s become the Woolwich Wanderers and buy a marquee signings to keep the fans quiet before realising the mistake and waste of money as the season progresses.
18/09/2014 @ 10:09 am
It seems that nobody is prepared to consider that option. Poch had Lambert at Southampton and now has Adebayor and hopefully Soldado ready to do better than last season, along with an improving Kane. We spent £100m last year and have been slagged off ever since, it seems you can’t win. Gooners have spent £82m as well as £43m last season – have they improved? of course not and not one of those players is doing well at all.
Poch came in assessed his squad and though he might have preferred Matacchio and Schneiderlin their clubs said no so we have Fazio and Stamboui, picked up on cheap not because they are inferior but because the situation of their contract, buyout and 1 year left.
18/09/2014 @ 12:32 pm
I think part of the reason is Levy said, this is what we bought,we cant sell them yet so like Sherwood your going to have to put up with avb’s buys until you can make them worth something.
18/09/2014 @ 10:08 am
spot on comment from Tom….the old adage “be careful what you wish for” never ringed truer!
18/09/2014 @ 12:29 pm
Stick….
18/09/2014 @ 1:38 pm
Like to author has stated, ENIC have done more right than wrong and if there was a vote, it would appear most will vote for them to continue. IMO, I don’t think they want to continue and as previously pointed out, they probably don’t see any further value in the club unless stadium is built and this requires a huge amount of capital and probably feel they can sell now and make a healthy profit without the need to invest monies building new stadium
22/09/2014 @ 4:24 am
We can sell to Mike Ashley but it would make no difference. We need bigger cash spend to compete and take over at the top. Our whole squad is second tier. we can pretend it isn’t – but we know it is. This is a crucial reason as to why we are losing ground to clubs like Liverpool and Everton. We are not building to compete we are selling and buying like market traders. Like spivs. At the next game, at every game this year – their should be protests. Loud and uncompromising – the real Spurs boys will make themselves heard. ENIC and puppet Pochetinno OUT! Sell up and give us real football people. We will accept nothing less than a top manager and top players. This is Spurs. We are Class.
23/09/2014 @ 12:01 pm
Don’t you understand?
We can’t compete financially with City, Chelsea and Man U’s billions.
We can’t compete financially with Arsenal who have been raking in CL money every year for almost 2 decades.
We can’t compete with Liverpool who have a considerably bigger stadium as well as regular CL involvement.
Realistically we are at about Everton’s level and our similar fortunes over the last 10 years back that up.
We’re not the only previously-big club who are suffering from this. Look at Villa. Or Forest. Or Leeds. It’s a testament to ENIC that we are even in the top 4 mix every summer.
Until we built our new stadium we will not be able to match the big guns and that is the reality. FFS, even Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday’s stadiums are bigger than ours.