Report: Levy claims there is ‘little correlation’ between spending money and winning

Tottenham Hotspur chairman, Daniel Levy, has now claimed that there is little correlation between spending money and winning in football.

Spurs have spent considerably over the past two transfer windows, bringing in Tanguy Ndombele, Jack Clarke, Ryan Sessegnon, Giovani Lo Celso, Steven Bergwijn, and Gedson Fernandes on loan.

However, the club are still struggling on the pitch, with Mourinho’s men having lost four games in a row across all competitions until their draw against Burnley yesterday.

Meanwhile, Spurs achieved great success under Mauricio Pochettino despite the fact the Argentine went through a near 18-month run of not signing a single player.

This would tend to support Daniel Levy’s comment, however, many would argue that there comes a point when a club has to compete in the transfer window with the big teams in order to keep up.

Levy did add, now that the stadium and training ground are complete, Spurs can look to progress on the pitch in a sporting sense.

In a meeting with the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, Levy reportedly said (summarised in the meeting minutes by THST):

‘DL felt it was important to consider the journey as a whole since ENIC took over in 2001. The Club now has the best training facilities and the best stadium in the world and has spent 13 out of the last 14 seasons in European competition. The Club is run in a sustainable way, for the long term.

‘DL believes the Club has something unique. Two major projects have been completed and more than ever it has the capacity to move to a higher level on the sporting front. It was critical to build the new stadium. It wouldn’t have been possible to sustain Champions League football in a 36,000-seater stadium.

‘DL said that no Club has a divine right to win a competition or to be in a competition, but stressed THFC are in it to win.

‘DL responded that Spurs has a net base spend of £200m in the last four years on players but maintained there is little correlation between money spent and winning. The Club has invested £1.6bn in infrastructure in 19 years and has maintained solvency. DL stressed the challenges with so many competing pulls on finances.

‘DL explained that the Board has had to take a long-term view to protect the Club. He said he takes lots of criticism and has broad shoulders, and needs to have in his position.

‘DL stressed that he does not talk about individual colleagues, members of staff, playing staff etc. in public as he feels that is private. He would ask that fans trust that the Board has the best interests of the Club at heart and remain fiercely ambitious.’

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