For a sign of what a difficult year it has been at Tottenham Hotspur, a year in which the vibes have shifted profoundly from good to bad, you can compare Daniel Levy’s ‘Chairman’s Statements’ from the end of the announcement of the club’s financial results.
The 2022-23 results were published on 3 April last year, when there was still hope throughout Spursworld about the Ange Postecoglou era. Levy’s statement was brimming with optimism and positivity about the new era. He hailed the “return of exciting, attacking football, even when faced with significant player injuries”. He looked forward to the return of European football to Tottenham. He concluded by revelling in the “excitement of matchdays” and wrote that “credit must be given to our Head Coaches, Ange and Robert (Vilahamn).”
This year’s message, released with the financial results on Monday afternoon, strikes a very different tone. The ‘Chairman’s Statement’ section is one-tenth as long as it was last year (2,469 words then, 249 words now). The only mentions of Postecoglou, contained above Levy’s own message, referred to Spurs finishing fifth last season and Postecoglou attending a Fans Forum in September 2023.
It is not hard to guess what has changed. Spurs have played 37 games (one short of a full season) since the last set of financial results were announced. From those games, they have taken just 43 points. In the season to date, they have lost 15 of their 29 league games. Levy, in Monday’s statement, is kind enough to euphemise this as “a highly challenging season on the pitch”. He points to the ongoing Europa League campaign, urges everyone to “do everything we can to support the team” over the last two months of the season, and finishes with a pledge to “finish the season as strongly as we can”.
Even though Levy’s comments are brief, it does not mean that they are devoid of content. The most eye-catching part comes when he issued a passionate defence of the club’s operating model, hitting back at the argument that Tottenham should simply start shovelling money at the transfer market if they are to make progress on the pitch. This has been a constant criticism of Levy, not least earlier this season when thousands of fans marched in protest against him before the 1-0 win against Manchester United on February 16. “Profit before glory” has become one of the most widespread criticisms of the way the club is run.
Tottenham are certainly attuned to this point: Levy makes clear in Monday’s message that in the six years since the new stadium opened, the club “have invested over £700m net in player acquisitions”. And it is certainly true that Tottenham have committed more big fees on players in the past few years than they ever used to: Tanguy Ndombele, Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro, James Maddison, Archie Gray, and Dominic Solanke all joined for fees of at least £40million ($51.8m). Some of those fees are still being paid.
But fees are one thing and salaries are another. When Deloitte published its latest Football Money League report in January this year, it revealed that Tottenham spent just 42 per cent of their revenue on wages last season. According to Deloitte, Tottenham’s wage bill came down from £251m for the 2022-23 season to £222m for 2023-24. (We will have to wait for the publication of the full accounts to see how this tallies with the club’s own numbers.)
This means there is no more ‘Big Six’ when it comes to wages in the Premier League. In fact, Tottenham ranked seventh last season, behind Aston Villa, close to Newcastle United. Arsenal, who used to be close to Spurs, spent over £100m more on wages last season. For many fans, this is where they want the club to be bolder, especially given the way teams like Aston Villa and Newcastle are overtaking Tottenham.
The key message from Levy here was to double down on the club’s strategy. It might have been politically easier for him to promise to push the boat out, to start relaxing the wage structure and aim higher in the market, but he did nothing of the sort. The promise here is just the same strategy, but executed better: “Smart purchases within our financial means”.
And if you wanted to be optimistic about Spurs’ recruitment, you could say that the signings of Gray, Antonin Kinsky, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert show that Johan Lange’s talent identification of young players is very good. Whether you think the policy of going for teenagers when the squad lacks depth and experience in key areas is another matter.
Most revealingly, Levy admits he is aware of the criticism of the club’s parsimony in the market. “I often read calls for us to spend more”, he says, “given that we are ranked as the ninth-richest club in the world. However, a closer examination of today’s financial figures reveals that such spending must be sustainable in the long term and within our operating revenues.”
That does not sound like a man about to rip up his spending plans for the summer. Of course, what the example of Tottenham demonstrates is that PSR headroom (of which Spurs have a lot) is not the same thing as cash to burn. Spurs’ revenues are strong but came down last season (from £549.6m to £528.2m) because of no European football. (Their operating profit climbed slightly from £138.7m to £144.9m, and their loss after player trading, in the season they sold Harry Kane, came down from £86.8m to £26.2m.) This season’s Europa League campaign is still ongoing, but it is more likely than not that they will be out of Europe again next season. If so, belts may have to be tightened accordingly.
This is why the non-football revenues are so important. The plan was always to reduce the risk that comes with over-reliance on what happens on the pitch. “Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power,” writes Levy. “We cannot spend what we do not have, and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club — indeed, our off-pitch revenues have significantly supplemented the lower football revenues this year, testament to our diversified income strategy.”
So fans frustrated by concerts or NFL or go-karting or whatever else is held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when there is no football on will just have to get used to it. The more inconsistent the men’s first team is, the more important these revenue streams will become.
All of this means Tottenham are not going to spend their way out of this year’s malaise. The current strategy — relying on the stadium to increase revenues, spending within their means, trying to be clever in the market — is here to stay. The only option if they want to avoid a repeat of this season is to find a way to do it better.
(Top photo: Daniel Levy ahead of an NFL match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2024; by Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)