How can Spurs afford to spend so much money? — Transcript

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1. 0:00There was a time, not that long ago,
2. 0:01really, when Tottenham Hotspur were
3. 0:03synonymous with frugality. [music]
4. 0:05But in the summer of 2026, they've spent
5. 0:07up to 100 million pounds on Newcastle's
6. 0:10Sandro Tonali, 85 million on Matheus
7. 0:12Fernandes, and another 52 million to
8. 0:15sign Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton.
9. 0:17And this is actually symbolic of a
10. 0:19pattern of spending at the club. For
11. 0:21some time, the only occasion they had
12. 0:23ever committed a guaranteed fee in
13. 0:24excess of 50 million pounds was when
14. 0:26they signed Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon in
15. 0:282019. [music]
16. 0:30Now though, in the past year, they've
17. 0:32spent more than 50 million pounds on
18. 0:33five separate players. So, what has
19. 0:36changed? And after back-to-back 17th
20. 0:39place Premier League finishes, how are
21. 0:40Spurs able to spend so much money?
22. 0:43>> [music]
23. 0:46>> Spurs spending isn't exactly shocking in
24. 0:48a Premier League context, but it does
25. 0:50seem odd given Spurs' recent shocking
26. 0:52league performances. For a time in the
27. 0:542025-26 season, relegation looked a real
28. 0:57possibility. And while it was avoided,
29. 0:59there was still reason for concern
30. 1:01financially.
31. 1:02Now, they'll be hoping to pay for some
32. 1:04of their large spend this summer with
33. 1:05the increased revenues that come from a
34. 1:07higher league finish, but missing out on
35. 1:09European football will make things
36. 1:11harder. Tottenham earned an estimated
37. 1:1374.3 million pounds in distributions
38. 1:16from the 25-26 Champions League, where
39. 1:18they [music] made the round of 16. And
40. 1:20that's before taking into account the
41. 1:21improved gate receipts that they would
42. 1:23have earned from having an extra home
43. 1:24game in the new league phase format. And
44. 1:27it's not as if Spurs had huge cash
45. 1:29reserves to cope with missing out on
46. 1:31that money. At the end of June 2025,
47. 1:33Spurs had just 20.4 million pounds cash
48. 1:36on hand, a near 180 million pound
49. 1:38reduction in 2 years.
50. 1:40>> [music]
51. 1:40>> Servicing big transfer spending
52. 1:42accounted for much of that. They owed
53. 1:43other clubs 242.8 million pounds in net
54. 1:46transfer payments, which is one of the
55. 1:48largest such figures in football.
56. 1:50>> [music]
57. 1:50>> And that was before they spent a net of
58. 1:51159 million pounds more in the market
59. 1:54last summer, and then went again in the
60. 1:56January window of 2026 and obviously
61. 1:58again in the summer since. Now Champions
62. 2:00League money will have helped pay the
63. 2:01bills last season, but the greater
64. 2:03factor in how they've been able to spend
65. 2:05so much has been a shift in strategy
66. 2:07from ENIC and the Lewis family who own a
67. 2:09majority stake in Spurs and are now
68. 2:11pumping funds in after decades of
69. 2:13thriftiness. That began in 2022, but has
70. 2:16ratcheted up more recently. Following a
71. 2:18100 million pound share issue in June
72. 2:202026, ENIC and principally the Lewis
73. 2:23family who own the company have provided
74. 2:25235 million pounds cash in 18 months.
75. 2:29That was the second 100 million pound
76. 2:31injection inside a year. And Tottenham
77. 2:33also brought forward a big chunk of
78. 2:34Premier League money's last September
79. 2:36ostensibly to meet cash flow needs.
80. 2:38There's been clear choreography to
81. 2:40ensure that sufficient cash is in place,
82. 2:42something which for a very long time
83. 2:44under ENIC was not really a worry.
84. 2:46>> [music]
85. 2:46>> It may be that more funding from the
86. 2:48Lewises is still needed if the club
87. 2:50continue to go without European
88. 2:52football. But the family's ability to
89. 2:54provide looks assured after an auction
90. 2:56of items from Joe Lewis's art collection
91. 2:58at Sotheby's raised 296.3
92. 3:01million [music] pounds, which according
93. 3:03to the New York Times was a London
94. 3:05record for the sale of artworks from a
95. 3:07single owner.
96. 3:08Fans of other clubs might also wonder
97. 3:10how Spurs can afford this activity while
98. 3:12remaining within football's financial
99. 3:13rules. But these laws have been more
100. 3:15focused on keeping losses low than
101. 3:17liquidity. Losses at Tottenham have
102. 3:19rocketed in recent seasons, but not so
103. 3:21much that they'll have trouble with the
104. 3:23Premier League's profitability and
105. 3:24sustainability rules or PSR, which in
106. 3:26any case will cease to operate once
107. 3:28clubs are assessed on the recently ended
108. 3:302025-26 season. They may have to be wary
109. 3:33of UEFA's stricter laws if they get back
110. 3:35into European competition, but again
111. 3:37recent football earnings figures at the
112. 3:39club have all been well shy of the limit
113. 3:41UEFA sets. It's probably more pertinent
114. 3:44to look at the squad cost rules or SCR,
115. 3:46which will be replacing PSR from the
116. 3:4826-27 season and focus on how much clubs
117. 3:51spend on their squads instead. The
118. 3:53likelihood is that Tottenham will aim to
119. 3:55stay under UEFA's stricter 70% whereby
120. 3:58clubs can only spend 70% of turnover
121. 4:01plus averaged player profits on player
122. 4:03and coaching wages and amortized
123. 4:05transfer fees and agents fees, but even
124. 4:08at that lower level they have scope for
125. 4:10maneuver. This is in large part thanks
126. 4:12to the fact that Spurs have routinely
127. 4:14operated one of the lowest wages to
128. 4:16revenue figures in both English and
129. 4:18European football. In 2024-25,
130. 4:21a season where they were without
131. 4:22Champions League football, just 45% of
132. 4:24revenue went on total wages. The amount
133. 4:27spent on players, relevant for SCR
134. 4:29purposes, is even lower. Now even with
135. 4:30growing amortization costs on transfer
136. 4:32fees, total wages and amortization as a
137. 4:35proportion of revenue in the 24-25
138. 4:37season was just 70%. That also doesn't
139. 4:41include the averaged player profits that
140. 4:42are added in to the SCR calculation. In
141. 4:45other words, they have plenty of
142. 4:46headroom.
143. 4:48Now for all Spurs will miss European
144. 4:49income, their 24-25 revenue would still
145. 4:52have been 520 million pounds even if we
146. 4:55strip out their Europa League prize
147. 4:56money and home gate receipts from the
148. 4:58competition. [music]
149. 4:59That's over 100 million pounds higher
150. 5:01than every non-big six club and around
151. 5:0330 million higher than Chelsea's
152. 5:05turnover that year. SCR rules are pegged
153. 5:08to revenue, so high-earning clubs like
154. 5:10Spurs can spend far more than others.
155. 5:13That helps explain how alongside even
156. 5:15bigger transfer spending, Spurs in their
157. 5:17post-Daniel Levy era are paying bigger
158. 5:19wages. For years they outperformed a
159. 5:21wage bill that sat at the bottom of the
160. 5:23Premier League's big six, but recently
161. 5:25they've dramatically underperformed on
162. 5:26that basis. While owner funding and a
163. 5:29low starting base for squad costs have
164. 5:31given Spurs plenty of spending scope,
165. 5:33there is a limit to that. As mentioned,
166. 5:35it's unclear if more cash will need to
167. 5:37be poured in. Also, player sales will
168. 5:39take on added importance. Spurs will
169. 5:41need to improve here. Even in the 23-24
170. 5:43season when Harry Kane, an academy
171. 5:45graduate, went to Bayern Munich for a
172. 5:47big fee, they collectively sold players
173. 5:49for less than it had cost to buy those
174. 5:50individuals. For the most part, Spurs'
175. 5:53recent spending has not translated to
176. 5:55[music] improved performance. Such
177. 5:56missteps have resulted in the club
178. 5:57shifting away from the old
179. 5:59self-sustaining model, and big funds are
180. 6:01flowing from the owners. [music] No
181. 6:02doubt they will strongly hope that money
182. 6:04gets spent better than before.
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