Football finance expert Stefan Borson explains why he is worried that Tottenham Hotspur are going to fall further behind the leading pack in the Premier League following Daniel Levy’s latest confession about the club’s financial position.
On a number of occasions this season, we have seen Spurs fans protest in the thousands against the club’s owners, with the supporters feeling that the current regime has prioritised the club’s financial performance over on-pitch success.
Last week, Daniel Levy warned the Spurs fans that the club’s current transfer spending is not sustainable and insisted that Tottenham have to be wary of jeopardising their long-term financial stability.
Needless to say, Levy’s warning has not gone down with the Tottenham supporters, who want to see the club compete with their rivals for the services of big-name players in the transfer window.
Stefan Borson issues a warning to Tottenham about falling behind
Stefan Borson does not buy Levy’s excuses, with the finance expert going through Tottenham’s accounts and suggesting that the club are in a relatively healthy position.
He spoke about the challenges of not having Champions League revenue to rely on, but he warned Spurs that they will fall further behind if they do not increase their wage spending.
Borson told Football Insider: “I suppose they have done well top line in terms of generating revenue. They continue to grow the top line. They need Champions League football really, and they need a higher wage bill, in my opinion. They are overdoing it in prudence on the wage bill.
“The wage bill actually fell 12 per cent from 2023 to 2024. Obviously, they’ve got no Champions League this season, so you would expect the wage bill to be lower. But it’s a problem to compete this season when you’ve got all of the other big five, and then you’ve also got on top of that Nottingham Forest performing brilliantly, and then Aston Villa and Newcastle.
“You have also got these other teams who are certainly good enough to pick off individual wins, such as West Ham, Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth. It’s super competitive and, with the wage bill of £222million, it’s really hard to compete.
“They have done really well top line. There is no question. If you strip out the Uefa prize money, clearly in 2023-24, they have no Uefa money, and in 2022-23, they have Champions League money.
“They went from £56million of Uefa prize money to zero last year, and yet their turnover excluding that actually grew by £30million. Obviously, you’re not going to be able to compensate for losing Champions League money completely, but it shows that the underlying numbers are decent.
“Commercially, they’re decent. They did a 12 per cent increase on commercial revenue last year, so that’s all positive. The problem is the competitive landscape that they’ve got is that other teams are investing. If other teams are investing, they will fall behind.”
Daniel Levy has one ace up his sleeve
The only way Spurs can remain competitive without ENIC pumping money into the club is if they attract investment this summer.
Rumours continue to abound of Qatari consortiums being interested in buying a stake in Tottenham but nothing concrete appears to have materialised so far.
Unless Spurs get a few hundred million added to their coffers by selling a minority stake, it is difficult to see how they can close the gap with the best sides in the Premier League, with the Tottenham squad looking in need of major surgery.