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How To Ruin A Football Club. ft Tottenham Hotspur — Transcript

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0:00Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, two
0:03massive football clubs, two huge
0:05stadiums, two European champions, and
0:08two of the last clubs you'd expect to be
0:10playing in the Championship next season.
0:12But one of them will be. It's funnier to
0:15picture Spurs fans and West Ham fans
0:17traveling up the country to play Lincoln
0:18away next season. But if, or should I
0:21say when, one of them do get relegated,
0:24that's going to be a reality. Promotion
0:26and relegation is the thing that makes
0:27football so special. Huge pyramids of
0:30leagues that funnel all the way down
0:31into local communities. It gives every
0:34club a chance and creates some of the
0:35best moments in sporting history. But
0:38some clubs have almost defied
0:39relegation, grown too big, too secure,
0:43and have been able to keep themselves
0:44permanently clear of the drop zone.
0:46Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester
0:48United, and Chelsea have all managed to
0:50stay in the Premier League ever since it
0:52was founded. Some fans will argue this
0:54is problematic, and that modern football
0:56caters for the big six, while others
0:58would credit these clubs for their
0:59well-run operations and sound
1:01management. Either way, it's an
1:03achievement in itself, and there's no
1:04wonder why four out of five of these
1:06clubs have dominated English football
1:08for so long. But I actually forgot one
1:11team. Tottenham Hotspur have never been
1:13relegated from the Premier League,
1:14either. But the reason I didn't include
1:16them isn't because they might finally be
1:19going down this season. It's because
1:21they don't fit into the category of a
1:23well-run, fundamentally secure football
1:25club. I'm sure most of you would love to
1:27see them go down, and their 62,000
1:29seated super stadium would be a sight to
1:31behold in the Championship. But I don't
1:34think relegation is actually their
1:36biggest problem. Would they come
1:37straight back up? Probably. Could they
1:40somehow spiral even more? Potentially.
1:42But until Spurs change something
1:44fundamental about their football club,
1:47they'll never be able to achieve what
1:48they've set out to.
1:57But how did Spurs even get themselves
1:58into this mess in the first place?
2:00They've got a huge fan base. They're
2:02located in London with loads of money
2:04and quality players, and they've been a
2:06consensus big [music] six side for over
2:08a decade now. Lots of rival fans will
2:11have a problem with that, but if you
2:12look at their final league positions
2:14over the last 15 years, you can't really
2:16argue with it. They've been in a title
2:18race, a Champions League final, and Kane
2:20and Son have been two of the modern
2:21Premier League's best [music] forwards.
2:23Everything would suggest that they're
2:25what they claim to be, a really solid
2:27established Premier League football
2:28club. That was until the 2024-25 season,
2:32where they finished 17th under Ange
2:34Postecoglou. I know what a lot of you
2:36might be thinking. They won the Europa
2:37[music] League and comfortably stayed
2:39up. But aside from winning their first
2:41trophy in 16 years, this might have been
2:44a curse in disguise. Their domestic form
2:46[music] was terrible. Bar their annual
2:48win at the Etihad and a few decent home
2:50results, they lost 22 games, smashed by
2:53Liverpool in the League Cup, comfortably
2:55beaten by Villa in the fourth round of
2:57the FA Cup, [music] and the worst league
2:58finish in the club's modern history. But
3:01the problem wasn't just on the pitch.
3:03Spurs have been one of the most invested
3:05into football clubs in the last decade,
3:07but this has ramped up even more in the
3:08last few [music] years. But the
3:10investment didn't come with stability.
3:12In fact, quite the opposite. Money has
3:14been injected into the top of the club,
3:16while the roots have [music] been
3:17decaying for years. Spurs have almost
3:19adopted the mentality of a global giant,
3:22and it's obviously important to have
3:23aspirations, but when you compare them
3:25to the Real Madrids, PSGs, and Man
3:27Uniteds of the footballing world, they
3:29still don't come close. And when you
3:31look at the basics, they're struggling
3:32[music] in almost every area. But before
3:35we can really understand just how big of
3:37a problem this is, we need to look at
3:38the financial side of it.
3:41A club like Spurs' finances are never
3:43black and white. In fact, when Daniel
3:45Levy took over in 2001, the future was
3:47bright. They had a rich history, but but
3:50into a mid-table team in the 1990s. Levy
3:53invested confidently into the club and
3:55they started to compete for European
3:56football and won the League Cup in 2008.
3:59With this success came the idea to
4:01expand White Hart Lane, which eventually
4:03evolved into plans for a new stadium.
4:05And at the time, [music] this was the
4:06positive, optimistic ambition that would
4:08have encouraged the Tottenham fan base.
4:10But this is where the problem started to
4:12begin. The thing is, you wouldn't have
4:14been able to tell in the years that
4:15followed. In fact, if you asked a Spurs
4:17fan how they feel about their club, even
4:19in 2022, they probably would [music]
4:21have been pretty happy. But weak
4:23foundations will always catch up with
4:25you, whether it's instantly or 15 years
4:27down the line. And we'll really get into
4:29this later. But Levy's ambition to build
4:31a new mega stadium in the middle of
4:33London started to shift the club into
4:35more of a business than a football team.
4:37It's hard to overly criticize the
4:38chairman for this. I mean, the vast
4:40majority of owners are obviously
4:42business-orientated and much of the
4:44financial expansion of a club can
4:46correlate with on-the-pitch success. But
4:48Levy and ENIC were too too committed to
4:50build a big football club rather than a
4:52good one.
4:54Back in 2018, Spurs were actually the
4:56second most profitable club in world
4:58football. And revenue [music] has
4:59actually increased since that season.
5:02But even though they won the Europa
5:03League last year, they actually recorded
5:05a club record in losses of over 120
5:08million pounds. And since 2019, [music]
5:11every season has resulted in a loss.
5:13Even though they have a manageable wage
5:14bill and high income, other areas have
5:16been killing them. They have some of the
5:18highest operating costs in the league
5:20and they're massively in debt to their
5:21stadium. But their business in the
5:23transfer market might be their biggest
5:25issue. The North London club has spent
5:27nearly 1 billion pounds on transfers in
5:29the last 6 years with the fourth highest
5:31net spend in England. Players have been
5:33sold on for basically nothing or even
5:35left for free. And whilst this does
5:37happen at other big clubs, at least they
5:39have more to show for it. Spurs are big
5:41enough to make money, but they're not
5:43big enough to not lose money. And
5:45they've officially bitten off way more
5:46than they can chew. None of this
5:48happened overnight, but rather on a
5:50day-to-day basis. Small decisions,
5:52sackings, and new appointments. A slow,
5:54agonizing shift from trying to compete
5:56as a Premier League team to trying to
5:58take over the commercial and
6:00entertainment industry in London. The
6:02financial problems are clearly piling
6:04up, but the seemingly biggest problem
6:06they have to deal with right now is
6:08making sure they don't get relegated.
6:10But what if they do?
6:12Getting relegated from the Premier
6:14League is one of the most financially
6:15devastating things that a club can
6:17experience. [music] The prize money, TV
6:19rights, shirt sales, ticket sales,
6:21advertising, general club popularity,
6:24everything takes a massive hit. A lot of
6:26their contracts have relegation clauses
6:28that dent the player wages, and their
6:30squad could look massively different by
6:31the first game of the season. There's no
6:33doubt that players like Maddison,
6:35Richarlison, Romero, Solanke, and
6:37Simmons would be straight out the door.
6:38In fact, it's hard to imagine that any
6:40of the current squad would put their
6:42loyalty for Spurs over their future,
6:44especially with the direction [music] of
6:45the club at the moment. One of the
6:47biggest financial problems is that
6:49investment will drop. ENIC won't be able
6:51to value their club anywhere near the
6:53figures from previous years, and their
6:55status as a successful business will be
6:57in question. But equally, a club like
6:59Spurs has never been relegated before.
7:01They'd be the biggest team to ever grace
7:03[music] the Championship. Even with all
7:05the hits, they'd still dwarf every other
7:07club in terms of finances. And one
7:09benefit of having so many non-football
7:11related income streams is that they're
7:13not so dependent on performance.
7:15>> [music]
7:15>> Concerts, events, NFL games, the whole
7:18reason Levy wanted a new stadium in the
7:20first place will all still bring in
7:21revenue which can be used to help and
7:23try and bounce straight back into the
7:24Premier League. And even with all this
7:26uncertainty, I do think Spurs would be
7:28able to achieve a comfortable promotion.
7:30They're clearly not too big to get
7:32[music] relegated, but they might be too
7:34big to stay relegated. But like I said
7:37earlier, this might not even matter
7:39because getting relegated in the first
7:41place highlights all the underlying
7:42issues at the club, and finances aside,
7:45a club like Tottenham going down is kind
7:47of embarrassing. Even the fact we're
7:49addressing all the financials forgets
7:51the most important part of every
7:53football club, the fans. Witnessing your
7:56team get relegated is one of the worst
7:58feelings you can experience. Trust me, I
8:00know it all too well. And if Spurs do go
8:02down in a few weeks, it will be one of
8:04the most humiliating seasons in
8:06footballing history. They might be able
8:08to just about fill their stadium with
8:10tourists and cheap ticket sales, but for
8:13the most part, the soul of the club will
8:15be damaged. Every loss, regardless of
8:17how good the opposition are, will be
8:19ridiculed by pundits and rival fans.
8:21They'd be expected to win the league
8:23with ease, and if they somehow didn't,
8:25the whole situation would get even
8:27worse. They've controversially been a
8:30big six side in the last 15 [music]
8:31years, but if that's somehow not already
8:33come to an end, getting relegated would
8:36all but confirm it.
8:37I don't know exactly who makes the calls
8:39at a football When I looked at the Spurs
8:41board, there's an endless stream of
8:43different roles and personnel, but all I
8:45can say with certainty is that whoever's
8:47behind the direction of the club in the
8:48last few years hasn't been doing the
8:50best job, and it's pretty clear that
8:52there was too much of a focus on the
8:53commercial side of the club rather than
8:55the footballing fundamentals. Luckily
8:57for us, Ange Postecoglou went on the
8:59overlap and gave an insight to his
9:01experiences when he was manager last
9:03season. He blamed some of the club's
9:04downfall on big personnel changes that
9:06couldn't be replaced, Daniel Levy and
9:08Harry Kane to be precise. But the most
9:10interesting point was what he said about
9:12the club's identity. Ange stated that
9:14the actions of the club are the
9:16antithesis of their motto, to dare is to
9:18do. It's plastered all over their
9:20facilities and stadium, but when it
9:22comes down to wages, transfer targets,
9:25and real identity, it's all a facade.
9:28It's almost like Spurs wanted to mask
9:30themselves as a huge club, but weren't
9:32willing to do the necessary things to
9:33establish that. Everything on the
9:35surface suggested they were soaring, but
9:37[music] the foundations weren't there.
9:39The wage bill wasn't high enough. The
9:41team morale wasn't hungry enough. The
9:42training department wasn't organized
9:44enough. I've seen a lot of people talk
9:46about how unlucky Spurs have been with
9:48injuries this season, but after hearing
9:50the Ange interview, I wouldn't be
9:51surprised if the physios and rehab staff
9:53aren't good enough, either. The club has
9:55tried to take every shortcut to get to
9:57the top and spent big in all the wrong
9:59places. And even though they finally won
10:01[music] a trophy last season, whether it
10:03was because of Ange, Maddison, Johnson,
10:06or just pure luck, I can tell you with
10:08confidence that it was an anomaly. They
10:10were not a good football team last year.
10:12A big reason for this is the
10:14construction of their squad. As we said
10:16earlier, their recent business in the
10:17transfer market has been terrible for
10:19their finances, but it's also been
10:21terrible for their performances. The big
10:23six clubs are the final destination for
10:26most footballers. They develop
10:27elsewhere, slowly work their way up, and
10:30eventually join Chelsea or United for
10:31tens, [music]
10:32if not hundreds, of millions of pounds.
10:35Rice, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Semenyo,
10:37Cunha, and Buemo. The list goes on. The
10:40big clubs normally take a financial hit
10:42to sign proven Premier League players,
10:44while clubs like Brighton and Brentford,
10:46who specialize in player development,
10:47will make a healthy profit. Spurs are
10:49right up there with the other big six
10:51sides in terms of money spent, but they
10:54have the least to show for it. And if
10:55you look at their squad this season, it
10:57just looks disjointed. Five years ago,
10:59they had Kane and Son leading the line
11:01with an actual system, and they were a
11:03team to be feared. Fast forward to
11:05today, and their squad almost looks like
11:07an American sports league's expansion
11:09draft. Too much squad depth, not enough
11:11quality in the starting 11, no real
11:13identity, two or three decent players in
11:16every single position, but no stars, no
11:19out-and-out leaders, no play style or
11:21character. I mean, just look at the four
11:23options they have up front at the
11:25moment. Solanke, Richarlison, Kolo
11:27Muani, and Tel. [music]
11:28None of them are necessarily bad, but
11:31none of them are especially good either.
11:33It's like the Mount Rushmore of average
11:35Premier League strikers. And this lack
11:37of real quality has been evident on the
11:39pitch. They've been trigger-happy to
11:41spend like the other big clubs, but they
11:43haven't come close to matching their
11:45level. And this perfectly sums up the
11:47problem with Tottenham Hotspur. They've
11:48assumed the stature and identity of a
11:50footballing giant without the history,
11:53foundations, and any real direction.
11:56I know what some of you might be
11:57thinking. Spurs aren't the only big six
12:00club that operate poorly. Manchester
12:02United and Chelsea have been run pretty
12:04terribly in the last few years as well.
12:06I think City, Liverpool, and Arsenal are
12:08in a league of their own. But even on
12:10the scale amongst those six clubs, Spurs
12:12are quite clearly in the worst position.
12:15The thing is, United and Chelsea can
12:17almost get away with their mistakes
12:19because both clubs are so established
12:21and secure. They've won an insane amount
12:23of trophies between them. And more
12:25importantly, they have a strong modern
12:26history. United dominated football the
12:29whole time Sir Alex Ferguson was
12:31manager. And even during the arguably
12:33worst decade in that club's history,
12:35they've won a Europa League, two FA
12:37Cups, and two League Cups. Chelsea have
12:39won the league numerous times, as well
12:41as the prestigious Champions League in
12:432021. And whilst I know Spurs won the
12:45Europa League last season, I think it
12:47was too little, too late. It was also
12:49their first trophy in 17 years. But this
12:52didn't stop Spurs from acting like a big
12:54six side. It's hard to blame them for
12:56being ambitious, but it was executed in
12:59the complete wrong way. The thing is,
13:01there's plenty of clubs in English
13:03football that are closer to Spurs in
13:05size and stature than Spurs are to the
13:07United's, Liverpool's, and Arsenal's.
13:09Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest,
13:11>> [music]
13:11>> Newcastle, Everton, and Leeds all come
13:14to mind as clubs with proud history that
13:15have really started to push on in recent
13:17years. Out of all these sleeping giants,
13:20I think Villa have set the blueprint on
13:21how to really grow as a football club
13:23and start to challenge the the six
13:25monarchy in the right way.
13:27Villa have a huge fan base. They're
13:29located in the second biggest city in
13:30the country, and they have a history as
13:32an established and successful Premier
13:34League side. But, when they got promoted
13:36in 2019, [music]
13:37they patiently strengthened their
13:38foundations, and now they compete for
13:40three trophies in European football
13:42every season. Even when you look at
13:44their squad, no stupid overpriced
13:46signings or terrible business stands
13:48out. Watkins came from Brentford. Rogers
13:51was bought from Middlesbrough. In fact,
13:52most of their team has been there for
13:54ages. Like their captain, John McGinn,
13:56[music] who still starts basically every
13:58game after eight strong seasons. Unai
14:00Emery, as well as the players, have been
14:03trusted and developed at the club, and
14:05now they have the roots and identity of
14:07a solid Premier League team. And [music]
14:09Villa have just as much of a claim to
14:10the big six as Spurs do. But, this is
14:13how it's supposed to be done, and you
14:15have to credit the board and directors
14:16in Birmingham who have taken them to
14:18such a strong position. The funny thing
14:20is, this started off as a why Spurs
14:23cannot get relegated video. But, since
14:25then, they've actually put some form
14:27together, and will probably edge their
14:29London rivals to Premier League
14:30survival. But, it doesn't really matter.
14:34Don't get me wrong, going down would be
14:35embarrassing and create more problems on
14:37and off the pitch for the club. But,
14:39even if they stay up, a lot needs to
14:41change before they can really start
14:43competing in the Premier League. Since
14:45Levy's departure, the power at the club
14:47is allegedly becoming less centralized
14:49with more stakeholders having a say in
14:51how the club is run. Only time will tell
14:53if this pays off, but it should lead to
14:55less drastic rash decisions. De Zerbi
14:57seems to be a fairly good appointment,
14:59and their squad undoubtedly has the
15:01quality to pose a threat to any team in
15:03the league on their day. But, until the
15:05foundations of the club start to change,
15:07their identity won't. And that starts
15:09all the way at the bottom. More
15:11investment in day-to-day staff, healthy
15:13options in the kitchen, extra hours on
15:15the training pitch. I don't have a clue
15:17what goes on at Hotspur Way, but I know
15:19for for fact it's completely different
15:21from what happens at sober reality
15:23center, the actual training facilities
15:25or the Eti Had Campus.
15:27Football, an entertaining sport built by
15:30the fans for the fans, is awkwardly
15:32reliant on multi-billion pound
15:34businessmen calling the shots. But if
15:36any team really wants to dominate in the
15:38Premier League, then football always has
15:41to be the most important part of a
15:43football club.

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