"DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!" Simon Jordan's PASSIONATE RANT on Spurs' BIG MONEY transfer deals! — Transcript

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1. 0:00Tottenham Hotspur right in the mix when
2. 0:03it comes to transfers. What is going on
3. 0:06with Tottenham now that we know they
4. 0:08will pay an initial 92.5 million pounds
5. 0:12for Sandroali with an additional 7.5
6. 0:16million pounds in proposed add-ons
7. 0:20and in the process they will take for
8. 0:22that amount of money tonal from
9. 0:24Newcastle United to themselves at the
10. 0:26Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. This comes
11. 0:28after Spurs signed West Ham midfielder
12. 0:30Matas Fernandez in a deal worth £85
13. 0:33million. That came after we learned that
14. 0:36Andy Robertson, Marco Sessi joined on
15. 0:39freeze from Liverpool and Bournemouth
16. 0:41respectively. And then they'd brought in
17. 0:43Je John Jean Paul Vanheka from Brighton
18. 0:46for 52 million quid. So Simon, it begs
19. 0:51the question, even though yes, the
20. 0:54ownership is the same, they are behaving
21. 0:57differently, are they not? Yes, they
22. 0:58are. Than compared to the time that
23. 1:00Daniel Le was
24. 1:01>> there. No doubt. No doubt about it. No,
25. 1:02I'm not disputing it. What does it tell
26. 1:04you about the players that are joining
27. 1:05them? Because with respect to Tali, why
28. 1:07would you go from Newcastle to Tottenham
29. 1:09Hotspur? I suspect it's because of the
30. 1:11money. And I don't know what that tells
31. 1:13you. that tells you that you've either
32. 1:14got a player that's playing for money or
33. 1:15a player that's playing for ambition
34. 1:16because you're going to a side that's
35. 1:17finished fourth from bottom the league
36. 1:18last year.
37. 1:19>> We've spoken about this.
38. 1:19>> We've spoken.
39. 1:20>> So you look at these this and but going
40. 1:22to the central theme,
41. 1:24>> you know, wonderful there, but I don't
42. 1:25think they know what they're doing.
43. 1:26They're paying massively over the odds
44. 1:28for these players. But first, they know.
45. 1:29>> No, I think you've gone from one extreme
46. 1:30to the other. I think you've got
47. 1:31football expertise that Daniel and his
48. 1:33team exhibited at certain times, but
49. 1:34they didn't have the they didn't have
50. 1:35the balls or the financial desire to
51. 1:37push the envelope. Now you've gone the
52. 1:39other way. Now you've gone the other
53. 1:40way, which is you don't care about the
54. 1:41financial concerns of what you're doing.
55. 1:43You're just going to spend whatever you
56. 1:44want to spend. And the fans will love
57. 1:45it. The Spurs fans will love it.
58. 1:47>> Of course they will.
59. 1:48>> But when you're looking at what they're
60. 1:49>> Are you being objective about this,
61. 1:50Simon? Because I know you're aligned
62. 1:52with Daniel.
63. 1:53>> I don't care about what happened to
64. 1:54Daniel. That's not my business. Daniel's
65. 1:55still worth 600 million quid.
66. 1:56>> But you can't really criticize them or
67. 1:59or accuse them of a lack of objectivity
68. 2:02with regard to what they're now doing. I
69. 2:04mean, here's Paul in late Buzzard. Is
70. 2:06Simon finally going to have to accept
71. 2:08that he was wrong about this Spurs
72. 2:09ownership? Uh, Tonali joining Spurs. Um,
73. 2:13>> I'll be I'm wrong about that. Yeah,
74. 2:14because I said he wouldn't join.
75. 2:15>> They're spending 100 million quid. Is
76. 2:18Simon now ready to jump on board and
77. 2:21accept that Levy was holding the club
78. 2:23back on the pitch despite all his great
79. 2:26work in other areas at the football
80. 2:28club. Libya has been sacked and within
81. 2:3112 months we've broken our transfer
82. 2:33record twice and smashed our wage
83. 2:35structure too. How can that be a
84. 2:38coincidence? Says Paul, are you ready
85. 2:40Simon to tell us you were wrong about
86. 2:42this?
87. 2:43>> Because the majority shareholders have
88. 2:44changed their view. I mean I realize
89. 2:46that in the one-dimensional myopic world
90. 2:48of fans that don't really understand how
91. 2:49it works behind the scenes that the
92. 2:51optics of it are very clear. We now as
93. 2:53the majority shareholders have changed
94. 2:55our view. We were the same majority
95. 2:57shareholders. We were the cash in the
96. 2:58room. Daniel Levy didn't have the
97. 3:00economic wherewithale. Daniel Levy
98. 3:01doesn't have the financial might.
99. 3:03>> Daniel ran it.
100. 3:04>> No, Daniel ran it on behalf of the
101. 3:05majority shareholders.
102. 3:06>> They gave they gave him the budget to
103. 3:08run it.
104. 3:08>> Correct.
105. 3:09>> It wasn't it the the Daniel Levy
106. 3:12couldn't just go write checks no matter
107. 3:15what. He had to bring the income in to
108. 3:17write checks. It's a diff same ownership
109. 3:19group. But if they hadn't finished 17th
110. 3:21and 17th and backtoback season, would
111. 3:23they be splashing the cash right now?
112. 3:25>> Indeed. Could Daniel not have urged the
113. 3:27ownership more to do the kind of thing
114. 3:29they're now doing?
115. 3:30>> But that's an assumption that he didn't.
116. 3:32I mean, I will agree with a lot of fans
117. 3:34that I think Daniel is ostensibly an
118. 3:36accountant by profession. I think he
119. 3:37doesn't feel things viscerally that the
120. 3:40way certain people will do um because
121. 3:42the emotional investment that certain
122. 3:43football operators will feel will be
123. 3:45aligned u with the views of the fans.
124. 3:47predominantly the fact that the Saudis
125. 3:50or the sorry the UAE own Man City or Abu
126. 3:53Dhabi own Man City. They don't feel
127. 3:55inclined to be emotionally invested in
128. 3:56Man City. They just want to be the best
129. 3:58version of themselves they possibly can.
130. 3:59Where's where's the heart and feel of
131. 4:01the Saudi ownership of Newcastle?
132. 4:03Because they damn sure ain't pushing the
133. 4:04envelope. The the way that Daniel ran
134. 4:06the football club was to balance the
135. 4:07books and drive the revenue. You've now
136. 4:09got a different motivation. You got a
137. 4:10different a different attitude by the
138. 4:12same people that were controlling the
139. 4:14dynamics of the business.
140. 4:15>> So why do you think they've got a
141. 4:16different motivation? because I think
142. 4:17they recognize that to sell this
143. 4:19football club they need to try start
144. 4:21winning things. The real capital value
145. 4:23has been proven by Man City is that you
146. 4:24can get four or five billion quickers
147. 4:26and believe me there was a three and a
148. 4:27half billion pound deal on the table and
149. 4:28the mechanics behind it fell down for a
150. 4:31variety of different reasons with
151. 4:32Tottenham. You look at this now what I
152. 4:33will tell you now and people say oh it's
153. 4:34just you covering your ass. I don't care
154. 4:36about Spurs. Daniel's my mate but I
155. 4:38don't really care that much about
156. 4:39whether Daniel's running Tottenham
157. 4:40Hotspur or not. Was he wrong to run it
158. 4:42in the way he did? He ran it the way he
159. 4:44was able to. Now you could have made
160. 4:45decisions. You could have made slightly
161. 4:47slightly ballsier decisions where you
162. 4:48take this risk because you're
163. 4:49emotionally motivated a certain way.
164. 4:51That Daniel's not built that way. But
165. 4:53what Daniel did do was provide a
166. 4:54platform now for what they're going to
167. 4:56what they've decided to do now is we
168. 4:58don't care about the economic viability
169. 4:59of this football club. We don't care
170. 5:00about the sustainability of it. We're
171. 5:02going to try and buy our way to success
172. 5:03which is the blueprint for football
173. 5:05clubs to some extent like Man City. The
174. 5:07challenge is here's my view. They don't
175. 5:08know what they're doing. They have no
176. 5:10football now in that building and I'll
177. 5:12be interested to see how
178. 5:12>> I mean what's that based on? They don't
179. 5:14know what they're doing
180. 5:15>> cuz they're paying £100 million for
181. 5:17Tanali because they're paying £85
182. 5:19million for for
183. 5:20>> That's the market.
184. 5:21>> That's what you think the market is.
185. 5:22What market is it? Who they bidding?
186. 5:23>> Notty and Forest have just paid 116 for
187. 5:25Anderson.
188. 5:26>> No, no, no. Manchester City.
189. 5:28>> Does Does
190. 5:29>> Manchester City have right Manchester
191. 5:31City?
192. 5:31>> But the point is you're comparing
193. 5:32Apples.
194. 5:33>> Do Man City not know what they're doing?
195. 5:35>> Well, they've won the league. Tottenham
196. 5:37have won nothing. Tottenham Tottenham
197. 5:38have sat fourth from bottom in the last
198. 5:40few seasons.
199. 5:40>> Well, you might think it's that way, but
200. 5:42now Tottenham have gone two ways.
201. 5:43They've gone from actually having some
202. 5:45degree of control over what they're
203. 5:46buying. First of all, I don't think
204. 5:46they've got any football expertise in
205. 5:48the building in terms of the commercial
206. 5:49side of things. I don't think Venoi has
207. 5:51a clue about football. I think he knows
208. 5:53how to run commercial things, but I
209. 5:54think he has no clue about football. I
210. 5:55think the sporting directors in there
211. 5:57are not good enough. So, they're making
212. 5:58decisions or we can all spend money.
213. 6:00They've now gone from buying players at
214. 6:02a certain budget to buying players at
215. 6:04top top top money. Well done. And
216. 6:06they're now gone to but now paying
217. 6:07players top top wages. You're not
218. 6:09getting Tali because he wants to come to
219. 6:10Spurs. You're getting Tali because
220. 6:12you're paying Newcastle 100 million quid
221. 6:13and this guy's going to get 300 grand a
222. 6:15week.
223. 6:15>> Brad, on that tonal fantastic Tonali
224. 6:17from Newcastle to Tottenham as a player,
225. 6:19is that an upgrade?
226. 6:22>> I mean, compared to who? So, you could
227. 6:24you could scour the globe and get
228. 6:26someone who is who is potentially
229. 6:28younger and an actual investment for far
230. 6:31less money that's going to do the same
231. 6:32type of output. I think a lot of, you
232. 6:35know, these the two recent signings are
233. 6:37more for the more for the fans. I think
234. 6:40the first three signings are are really
235. 6:41got those seem to me like deservy
236. 6:43signings of who he of who he wanted and
237. 6:45get them get him through the uh the door
238. 6:48quickly. Um it's a lot of money for this
239. 6:52player. It it really
240. 6:53>> they're not spending 100 million just
241. 6:54for the fans, are they?
242. 6:55>> Of course they are.
243. 6:56>> They're making they're trying to put
244. 6:58they're trying to increase increase the
245. 7:01popularity, increase the style of play
246. 7:02so they can sell the club. The club's
247. 7:04been for sale for a long time. Although
248. 7:06not a for sale sign on the front of it
249. 7:08because they're financially unviable,
250. 7:09but it has been for sale for a long,
251. 7:12long time. They have had potential
252. 7:14investors through the doors many times
253. 7:16in discussions.
254. 7:18>> They can't do right for wrong though,
255. 7:19can they? But now they're showing a bit
256. 7:21of ambition.
257. 7:22>> No, but you but you ask No, you know,
258. 7:23hang on. I'm not criticizing ambition.
259. 7:25You're asking me to qualify my views and
260. 7:27I'm looking at it and saying I have said
261. 7:29for a long time because somehow I've
262. 7:31been pigeonhold into being Daniel's PR.
263. 7:33I have turned around and said, "Daniel
264. 7:35built a spaceship." I said this a long
265. 7:36time ago. It might need someone
266. 7:38different to run it. So, I said that a
267. 7:39long time ago, but I don't think it's
268. 7:41these guys, and I don't think they've
269. 7:43got the commercial uh um understanding
270. 7:45of the football operation to make
271. 7:47football decisions. Now, buying Tanali,
272. 7:49what does it tell you about Tanali?
273. 7:51Tanali is going to Spurs. Now, I would
274. 7:53always make a case for London club
275. 7:54because I was a London club owner and
276. 7:55I'm a Londoner, but I look at Spurs and
277. 7:57I think they're chaotic. I think they
278. 7:59don't they don't have any nails in the
279. 8:01building. And it's no surprise to me
280. 8:02that the mess they were in last year.
281. 8:04Now, if they want to buy their way out
282. 8:05of it, fantastic. I hope it works for
283. 8:08them.
284. 8:08>> But my concern in so far as I have any
285. 8:11concern is that the decisions that
286. 8:13they're making are just playing to a
287. 8:16gallery of believing that you can buy
288. 8:17success. Deserby is to me a one-trick
289. 8:21pony. And we'll see how he plays out,
290. 8:23right? Because we got he's got this
291. 8:24reputation for what?
292. 8:26>> It's got to be more than that though.
293. 8:28Method to the madness. Does Tanali
294. 8:30improve Tottenham? Right.
295. 8:33>> All the signings together improve
296. 8:36Tottenham so far. I don't know if Tanali
297. 8:39himself is is going to be better than
298. 8:41someone that you could buy for 20 or 30
299. 8:42or 40 million pounds if you did um if
300. 8:45you did your recruitment a different
301. 8:46way. I'm not saying that Tanali is a bad
302. 8:48player because he's a very good player.
303. 8:50But I came on the show in London a long
304. 8:52time ago and we were talking about
305. 8:54Tottenham. And one of the issues that
306. 8:55Tottenham has is they're competing
307. 8:56against the top clubs and the top clubs
308. 8:59will offer a certain wage and those
309. 9:00players. So if you're looking at a a Man
310. 9:02City for instance, they'll offer a
311. 9:04certain wage and for that player to go
312. 9:06to Tottenham, they're going to have to
313. 9:08pay even more money. So then are you
314. 9:09getting that player for the right
315. 9:11reason?
316. 9:12>> And that's what I think Simon's point.
317. 9:15>> Do you not think that do you think
318. 9:16Daniel just going back to Levy for a
319. 9:18second, do you think Daniel wanted to
320. 9:20borrow money then? Do you think Daniel
321. 9:22wanted to go to the banks and be
322. 9:23restricted by banking covenants? Why in
323. 9:26Christ's name would he want that?
324. 9:27Perhaps he would have gone to the
325. 9:28majority shareholders first and said to
326. 9:30Joe and his gang, "Do you fancy bank
327. 9:32rolling this football club a bit more
328. 9:33than me having to go and do deals with
329. 9:35banks?" And just to be clear, Simon, why
330. 9:38is all this activity happening
331. 9:41in the light of the exit of Daniel Levy?
332. 9:44because there's been a change of
333. 9:46motivation. Whether Joe Lewis has
334. 9:48stepped back and allowed his children
335. 9:49and grandchildren to be more involved,
336. 9:51whether they where they got fed up with
337. 9:52Daniel because people fall out in
338. 9:53business all the time and ultimately
339. 9:56Daniel was the the the focal point of
340. 9:58Tottenham Hotspur. Daniel was it was
341. 9:59Daniel Levy's Tottenham Hotspur. It was
342. 10:01Daniel Levy's deals that were being
343. 10:02done. Daniel Levy was the dealmaker.
344. 10:04Daniel Levy was front and center and in
345. 10:06the background is the majority
346. 10:07shareholders.
347. 10:08>> Were they better with him? Would he
348. 10:10would he would he have said yes to spend
349. 10:12100 million on Denali if he was able to?
350. 10:14I suspect so. Where do you think this
351. 10:16money's come from? Do you think Do you
352. 10:17think someone just magic up out of the
353. 10:19cash of Tottenham Hotspur? Lewis and his
354. 10:21family have suddenly decided to rock
355. 10:22into a room and decide now based upon
356. 10:24the decisions that they've made that
357. 10:26they're going to change the way they
358. 10:27operate. Now the question is if they're
359. 10:29to change the way they operate, could
360. 10:30Daniel have made them change the way
361. 10:32they operate? And if they had changed
362. 10:33the way they operate, would Daniel have
363. 10:34been the right person to manage it? And
364. 10:36I would say yes. But that's my view and
365. 10:39people say it's because you're up leave
366. 10:40his backside. No, I'm not. I had plenty
367. 10:42of fights with Daniel over the years. I
368. 10:44happen to respect the acan he brings to
369. 10:46bear. I happen to believe that some of
370. 10:47the things he says are right. But also
371. 10:49on the flip side of it, football ain't
372. 10:50no business. So when you're playing
373. 10:52again in a jungle of Man City that don't
374. 10:54care what things cost, when Man United
375. 10:56don't care what things cost. I suppose
376. 10:58if you want to win something, you got to
377. 11:00forget your business principles and go
378. 11:01in a business. It's a way to lose money
379. 11:03and let's
380. 11:05>> let the fans have what they want.
381. 11:06>> I would say yes as I would say yes as
382. 11:08well. Oh, it's based off personal
383. 11:09experience. I was there for four years
384. 11:10and I I did I did my contracts on my own
385. 11:13while I was there.
386. 11:14>> So, I saw how Daniel Daniel worked
387. 11:17>> up front and center with the players.
388. 11:19So, if he was given more money, yes, I
389. 11:22think he would have dealt very well with
390. 11:23it.
391. 11:23>> You asked most of the players that
392. 11:24played for him. Murphy's the same.
393. 11:26>> Murphy said the same thing when he dealt
394. 11:27with Levy. Now, you can make this case
395. 11:29and they can play this gallery and they
396. 11:31can all go that Levy is the worst thing
397. 11:33that God ever put breath into as
398. 11:34Tottenham Hotspur fans, but the the
399. 11:36reality is something different. Yeah.
400. 11:38Now, we will see. We will see how this
401. 11:40profleacy plays out. I'm willing to
402. 11:43wager you it will not play out the way
403. 11:46that Spurs now think they've got the
404. 11:47utopia. We've got Daddy Warbucks in the
405. 11:50building that's now going to buy his way
406. 11:51to absolute success. I bet they bloody
407. 11:54don't. Okay, good luck with Spurs.