Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has described the 2024-25 season as “highly challenging” in a statement accompanying their annual financial results.
Spurs released their accounts for 2023-24 on Monday, which showed their total revenue decreased by four per cent to £528.2million ($683.4m). That season was Ange Postecoglou’s first as head coach after Antonio Conte was sacked in March 2023. It covers a period when Spurs signed several players in the transfer market for large fees, including James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Brennan Johnson, but sold Harry Kane to Bayern Munich for €100m.
Tottenham did not participate in any European competition during that season after they finished eighth in the Premier League in 2022-23, which means the money they earned from UEFA dropped from £56.2m to £1.3m. Postecoglou then guided the team to fifth place and qualified for the Europa League, despite overseeing a large amount of squad turnover, while the women’s side reached the FA Cup final.
Postecoglou’s second year in north London has been far more difficult. Spurs have been disrupted by an injury crisis and have lost more than half of their games in the top-flight. They are 14th in the table and are closer to the relegation zone than the top four. They reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup but were thrashed in the second leg by Liverpool at Anfield. Their only hope of success now rests on winning the Europa League and they face Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals. Failure to win that competition would mean missing out on playing in Europe for the second time in three years.
The women’s side have also taken a step backwards. Robert Vilahamn guided them to a sixth-place finish in the 2023-24 campaign but they are on a seven-game winless run across all competitions and are ninth out of 12 teams in the Women’s Super League (WSL) with only four fixtures remaining.
Levy addressed criticism in his statement that Spurs do not spend enough money on signing new players.
“Since opening our new stadium in April 2019, we have invested over £700 million net in player acquisitions,” he said in a statement on Spurs’ website. “Recruitment remains a key focus, and we must ensure that we make smart purchases within our financial means.
“I often read calls for us to spend more, 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.
“Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power. 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.”
Spurs’ next game is against Chelsea in the league on Thursday before they host Southampton on Sunday. The first leg of their Europa League quarter-final with Eintracht Frankfurt is on April 10. Vilahamn’s side’s next game is against Aston Villa on April 20.
(Richard Pelham/Getty Images)