Arsenal legend, Martin Keown, believes that Spurs will be recovering from their decision to invest money into the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for many years following the financial hit associated with the COVID-19 crisis.
A report in Forbes recently outlined why Spurs are in a particularly precarious position since their business model for the new stadium was reliant on maximising revenue during non-match days.
With events now being cancelled, and with the entertainment and food services sectors taking a massive hit due to the financial downturn caused by the pandemic, it is said that it might take a long time for Spurs’ revenue steams to return to projected levels.
With the Lilywhites still owing £852 million in loan repayments on the venue (The Sun), the club have decided to acquire a £175million loan from the Bank of England in order to help them navigate through these difficult times (The Athletic).
Keown believes that Spurs’ decision to build the 62,303-capacity stadium could set them back by many years.
Speaking to talkSPORT, the former Arsenal defender said: “[Building the stadium] was the right thing to do. They needed to move forward and develop the club.
“If you look at Chelsea and contrast this with them, with all the money they’ve got sat in their transfer pot, they didn’t commit to their new stadium – [Roman] Abramovich pulled out.
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“And I bet they are pretty pleased now that they didn’t do that [build a stadium], because of the financial burden it has brought.
“Tottenham now will take many years to get back to where they want to get back to.”
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As much as I hate to admit it, Keown is right in saying that this could derail years of progress for us. It is ironic that the stadium which was build in order to allow us to compete financially with the biggest clubs in Europe could now be what is likely to hold us back for the next few years. However, no one could have predicted that a global pandemic would arise before Tottenham completed one full season at the stadium.
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