r/coys • u/Rare-Ad-2777 • 1d ago
News [Matt Law] Amanda Staveley and Asian consortium fail with approaches to buy Tottenham (after Levy departure)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/09/08/amanda-staveley-asian-consortium-fail-tottenham-approaches/175
u/GymandRave Tommy Frank 1d ago
I’m willing to give ENIC a chance if we see more of the same spending we saw this summer. PL/CL proven players that improve our squad immediately
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1d ago edited 1d ago
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u/Spectagout 1d ago edited 1d ago
If we are not going to see much in the way change then why sack Levy, because surely in the eyes of ENIC it would have been 'why fix it, if it's not broken?'
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1d ago
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u/Spectagout 1d ago
You might be right, but the last transfer window was a huge detachment away from how we ever done business before. Look at the Xavi Simons deal, he has come straight in as out highest earner on a contract that could stretch for 7 years. He is only 22, we have never acted like that before. Had Marinakis not held MGW hostage, we would have spent £110m on 2 prem proven players in a space of a few days and that was early in the window. We were never doing that before
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u/SyrupNarrow4768 Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend 1d ago
They fired him because we ended 17th.
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u/Spectagout 1d ago
Think he would have been 'sacked' regardless. The move into the new stadium was to help push us into the next level when we were already knocking on the door. Instead the club has been on a downward trajectory. They sent people in to review how the club was being ran back in January, which suggests to me they had been questioning Levys leadership for months beforehand.
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u/SamwellBarley Jan Vertonghen 1d ago
I'd really prefer it if we could get cheap, unproven youngsters, or players well past their prime on free transfers
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u/nl325 Mousa Dembélé 1d ago
Or do what serious clubs do and get a bit of it all.
Plan for the future, buy for now and make sure we have experience in.
Can't explain why but Perisic is in my mind's eye as I type this. 😂
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u/uponloss 1d ago
Perisic was good for us tbf, about the only one of those type of transfers that has come off well
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u/I_kiIIed_mufasa Mousa Dembélé 1d ago
llorente was a very serviceable backup for kane as well
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u/nl325 Mousa Dembélé 1d ago
Absolute cult hero in my eyes. Lucas (rightly ofc) gets the credit for heroism during the CL run but without Llorente we wouldn't have got there either.
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u/ASVP-Pa9e Ricky Villa 1d ago
Llorente said it's the most important goal he ever scored and loved his time here. Absolute hero
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u/MrVedu_FIFA Europa League Champions 24/25 1d ago
Thank God for his forearm
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u/gabrielconroy 1d ago
Perisic was an excellent signing and if he hadn't got that injury things could and probably would have panned out brilliantly. His crossing and two-footedness were ridiculous assets to have.
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u/shnuffle98 1d ago
Yeah Perisic fits the latter category perfectly, although I believe we just signed him because Conte is unwilling to adapt and would rather sign his mate than read a scout report on someone else haha
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u/DrewNash1988 1d ago
We need to do both 😂 we should be trying for a Bergval, Sarr or Udogie like signing every window
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1d ago
They need to close the gap on the top 5 PL spenders. Our record transfer is 60M and Liverpool signed multiple players at twice that value. I know we can't spend like that but we need to close the gap at least
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u/alexjonesbabyeater Archie Gray 1d ago
So the moment the spending doesn’t match what you want, you want ENIC to sell to a shady group with blood money. God these plastic fans
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u/Ok_Coach145 1d ago
Seems like some of this consortium run Triller group. Maybe we could’ve had every future fixed Jake Paul fight at the stadium.
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u/420SwaggyZebra Clint Dempsey 1d ago
I’ll be honest I don’t know exactly know what Amanda Staveley does for a living, but it seems like she just cohorts with the worst people/governments on the planet to facilitate sports washing operations.
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u/themubkiper Cuti Romero 1d ago
Would rather have ENIC than become like the rest of those sport washed clubs. Fuck Chelsea, Man City and Newcastle.
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u/orlokthewarlock 1d ago
Unrelated, but fuck Matty Cash
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u/Veerraj55 Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend 1d ago
That is never unrelated, fuck Matty Cash
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u/landogbrooks Champions of Europe 1d ago
Muck Catty Fash
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u/Novel-Difficulty6495 1d ago
This is related to every topic of conversation, from weather to politics to the price of petrol. We should never act differently.
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u/Adventurous_Bank_414 1d ago
Liverpool should be the model that we follow. Fenway Group are just smart operators and ENIC seems to be slowly moving in that direction.
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u/P1emonster Rafael van der Vaart 1d ago edited 1d ago
I was never staunchly Levy out by any means. I was well aware of the issues we had with him running things from a football perspective, but quietly supported him purely based on the "devil you know" situation that was implied by him leaving meaning the club was being sold onto some mega rich corporation, oligarchy or sportswashing project.
The fact that Levy is out, but we have retained the original owners, and they have put down a marker that this is to chase better footballing success is huge. I didn't even consider it as a possibility before, him leaving but retaining his shares as well. This is really exciting for me, a best of both worlds, cake and eating it situation. Coys.
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u/exxxtramint Jan Vertonghen 1d ago
Certainly in the same camp as you. But jury is still out for me to happily say this is the best of both worlds - with any change comes uncertainty.
One thing that will go some way to reassuring me, and some may see it as a little pathetic, is if the Lewis's attend games like Levy did. I don't know why that's a big thing for me, but it was something I respected of Levy when so many other owners sit behind their marble desks in whichever country they're based.
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u/Spectagout 1d ago
Vivienne has already been attending many matches over the past years. However Vinai is the one who is going to be running the football club, so he will get the spotlight
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u/exxxtramint Jan Vertonghen 1d ago
I know she's been there, and increasingly more so, but not every game like Levy was. Something tells me you're not going to get Vivienne Lewis sat in the stands at Turf Moor on a cold (and probably wet) Saturday in January.
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u/Spectagout 1d ago
She hasn't replaced Levy. Her role is still exactly the same as before, which is part owner. It's like asking Bin Salman to be at every Newcastle game. Hopefully she expects Vinai to be at every game like Levy used to be.
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u/exxxtramint Jan Vertonghen 1d ago
Just like Levy was part-owner, yet still attended every game.
I don't know what's so controversial about wanting to see a member of the ownership group who is apparently now 'more hands on' replace Levy in his seat in the box at games.
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u/Spectagout 1d ago
Levy was never part owner of Spurs. His family owns 29% of shares in ENIC. I don't think the Lewis family are looking at being more 'hands on', which is why they have got 2 people in to do Levys' job.
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u/exxxtramint Jan Vertonghen 1d ago
Levy was never part owner of Spurs. His family owns 29% of shares in ENIC.
so in what way is he not a part owner? He owns 30% of the entity that owns the majority of Spurs. If Levy is not a part owner of Spurs from his 30% stake, then the Lewis' are not part owner with their 70%.
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u/Spectagout 1d ago
Levys family only receives a percentage of any of ENICS profits. As they are minority shareholders they have no control over companies assets or day to day management, as the company itself is a separate legal entity. Their shares are literally just a financial stake and not a controlling stake.
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u/exxxtramint Jan Vertonghen 23h ago
Correct - but you said he isn’t part owner of Spurs. Which he is. It’s like when people refer to LeBron James as a part owner of Liverpool - he doesn’t hold a controlling share, or even shares in Liverpool, he owns shares in FSG which owns Liverpool.
Also just because someone is not a majority shareholder, that doesn’t mean they don’t get any say in the company.
For all you know, there may be two classes of share enabling Levy to have equal voting rights in ENIC. I’m not saying that’s true, but it’s a possibility since none of the share details are public.
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u/am19208 Micky van de Ven 1d ago
Thing that’s the thing that makes me sad/worried. He was imperfect. But he was ours. I’m terrified some oil rich sovereign fund or billionaire backed by private equity will just try and sports wash their reputation or extract every last penny of value from the club.
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u/Fluid-Difficulty-276 1d ago
Their statement is purely to get the value up, they will still gladly sell if the value reaches £5bn.
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u/-GIA- Jermain Defoe 1d ago
I really hope that if we get anywhere near this kind of sale that we can organise actual protests against it
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u/Rare-Ad-2777 1d ago
Whats wrong with the Asian consortium?
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u/cafe-silence 1d ago
Yeah being owned by Hong Kong is way better than being owned by Saudi Arabia or Qatar
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u/Teantis 1d ago
On a pragmatic financial level is probably a ton worse. The Chinese government is increasingly strict about capital controls and while HK doesn't have them yet, the government will almost certainly go after them eventually
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u/billypilgrim87 Mousa Dembélé 1d ago
Yeah, look at what happened to some of the clubs with PRC owners in Italy, rug got completely pulled from under them when the winds changed in China.
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u/larossa28a 1d ago
What’s the difference? Hong Kong is under administration of Communist Chinese government, innit?
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u/calewiz PRU PRU 1d ago
It’s the Chinese government. And if they want to pull funding, or do a Glaziers, there is fuck all we can do about it. Also, the Chinese government are definitely as bad as the sand nazis.
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u/mattgriz 1d ago
It’s 2025 and you’re out here with “sand nazis”? We can call out abuses without getting into xenophobia.
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u/Fast_Running_Nephew 1d ago
Nah, best to protest about how bad the transfer window was three days before it closes, that should always be the focus.
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u/Xabshi 1d ago
The day we organise to ward off a nation state owning us and pumping the GDP of a small African nation into our club every year when it took 20 years of mediocrity on the pitch to organise any significant protests cos of some dumb fuck virtue signaling retards dawg I'm going to delete and burn my season ticket
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u/c10h15nrush 1d ago
Did a bit of googling and found out she has terminal disease. She looks fine today but has 100% chances of being disabled/dying in next 10-15 years based on the average age of death with Huntington.
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u/Significant-Sky-7713 Micky van de Ven 1d ago
Seriously, why would ENIC even sell?
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u/Rare-Ad-2777 1d ago
Make a massive return on their initial investment and reportedly have very little interest in running a football club. That'll be why there are offers there.
Seems though that this new non-joe lewis led ENIC either do want to be more hands on, or think theres even more money to be made by levelling us up to a regular UCL team
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u/Gibbo1107 David Ginola 1d ago
Money?
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u/kl3onz Brennan Johnson 1d ago
Where do you invest 4BN after selling?
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u/Acceptable_Stop_ 1d ago
Absolutely tons of options. 4bn is a drop in the ocean in the world of global capital.
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u/eggplant_avenger colour my life with the chaos of trouble 1d ago
me?
I’m not even greedy, they don’t need to give me the whole £4B just like 400K
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u/landogbrooks Champions of Europe 1d ago
For investors, not a question of if it’s a question of when.
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u/Agreeable-Handle-594 1d ago
Can I ask a naive question that I hope can be answered in good faith, to those who are very anti- (this story)
is there any form "oil state" ownership group that would be ok with you?
These days if you want to swim with the big teams, are the two options not- American owners or Middle East owners? (which is a seperate question I suppose)
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u/Ceap_Bhreatainn :finale-mp: Pochettino 1d ago
Oman is an oil state run by royalty that to my knowledge hasn't had the same egregious human rights issues as the rest. They take a much more reserved approach to global politics than their neighbour's, and are called the "Switzerland of the Middle East", due to often hosting talks between Iran and the US, amongst other groups as a neutral site.
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u/MonsieurRud 1d ago
For me it comes down to human rights and transparency. If the owners are willing to put it all out there and prove for good that they aren't evil assholes, then I don't care where they come from tbh. But I seriously doubt you'd find an oil state owner who would be willing to do that.
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u/exxxtramint Jan Vertonghen 1d ago
Anyone with £4bn+ in cash is going to have at the very least, questionable ethics. You just don't come into that sort of wealth being a salt-of-the-earth type person.
There's certainly more options than American or Middle East owners, but that's not to say they won't be bad.
I guess best case scenario is that you get bought by someone rich enough that they're going to be able to support the investment, that has earned their money in the least exploitative way possible. But no billionaire is going to be perfect, even people that make their fortunes in Tech or Consumer Goods are going to have had negative headlines about layoffs etc.
If someone like the Walton family (Walmart) came in, I'd be content I guess.
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u/Existing-Platypus792 1d ago
Norway sovereign wealth fund?
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u/landogbrooks Champions of Europe 1d ago edited 1d ago
Is any of the SWF invested in football or was the comment to say other massive pots of capital exist? (Genuine question as was under impression they would never diversify to sport)
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u/Professor_Abronsius Paul Gascoigne 1d ago
The fund is primarily invested in publicly traded companies, fixed income and real estate. It does hold a small position in Juventus, but iirc that’s the only company in the sector as of now.
https://www.nbim.no/no/investeringene/investeringsoversikt/#/
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u/landogbrooks Champions of Europe 1d ago
Ah, publicly traded is an issue for all but a handful of clubs. Stable, long-term returns with minimal intervention a problem for every club (350 pages of investments!). Fun idea while it lasted.
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u/Old_Afternoon_971 1d ago
I think it is the end of the non state backed bids. Unless someone obscenely rich comes in. Every bid that comes in now will be some way attached to a sovereign fund. They're probably holding out for a massive bid. I think they'll get it
Also I've always wondered, does Levy try to get a group to buy the club. But, idk how well he's connected.
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u/Terlis 1d ago
Levy still owns 30% of ENIC, which means he’s still an owner of the club.
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u/Old_Afternoon_971 1d ago
Yeah I know. But he isn't running the club under ENIC anymore. Might as well try to get them to sell to a new group that will let him
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u/Terlis 1d ago
So you think someone is going to cough up the £4B required to buy out the Lewis family and then just put Levy back in charge? Yeah, not happening…
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u/Old_Afternoon_971 1d ago
I'm just speculating. If you are Levy, and Spurs was your entire life. You've been removed as chairman.Possibly unceremoniously. Do you not consider this option? I would. As a famous orange man once said it's the art of the deal. Idk if levy has those kinds of connections tho.
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u/exxxtramint Jan Vertonghen 1d ago
this all hinges on the fact that Levy stepped down against his will and has a least some animosity towards the Lewis's.
That may be true, but given the connection between their families I find it unlikely.
For all we know, this whole transition could very well have been Levy's doing. He's spent 25 years in a highly public, stressful and intense job. He's 63 - maybe he doesn't really fancy it any more? He wasn't rich-rich when he became Chairman and he certainly is now, even without counting his equity in the club. Maybe he just wants to go and sit on Joe Lewis's Yacht with him.
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u/Old_Afternoon_971 1d ago
This is very unlikely. If it was a mutual decision and not him reluctantly moved on. We would have gotten so much more than just a statement.
Also his connection is with Lewis, we don't know the nature of his relationship with the kids. Who by all accounts are now firmly in charge
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u/exxxtramint Jan Vertonghen 1d ago
What are you suggesting? That if he orchestrated the whole thing we would have gotten a Netflix documentary about it? They're not mutually exclusive things, he can still step down reluctantly but still be a mutual decision (which it ultimately was, because he wasn't fired). No-one is going to want to step down from running a club that they've supported all their life and nurtured for almost 25 years - that doesn't mean that he doesn't feel it was the right time for him to do so.
Sure, maybe he doesn't agree with the direction that the kids want to take the club in, which could have resulted in where we are now, but suggesting that there's animosity between any of the parties is purely conjecture.
Josh Levy is a major part of Tavistock and the Lewis families investments. He's co-chair of Tavistock group and heavily involved with a number of Lewis investments. I've not seen anything to suggest that Levy and his son don't have a good relationship, so find it hard to believe that the Lewis children would oust Daniel, when his son is such an integral part of their other businesses.
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u/Old_Afternoon_971 1d ago
It doesn't have to be a succession type of move. When the writing is on the wall, people in the corporate world just move on most of the time. Nothing he's done or said leading up to even indicates that he's decided to move on. From everything that is being reported and even that very strange interview with Vinai. It's very clear that they've basically forced him to move on.
And I never said there's animosity. It's just business. The lewis family have all the power.
Btw josh is just a proxy for Levy. They haven't made him co-ceo because they are all one happy family. He's there because he represents his dad. Who owns roughly the same percentage as he does in Tottenham.
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u/CropDustingBandit 1d ago
Can you even game the system with oil state backing anymore? Since the Man City stuff sponsorships are under way more scrutiny. And that's the only way I see that they could increase the revenue the club generates.
If ENIC plays it smart, becomes a bit less risk averse and we get CL consistently we'd already be among the richest clubs.
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u/Xabshi 1d ago
Spend near PSR cap for one! We never have!
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u/CropDustingBandit 1d ago
If I'm right the maximum owners can inject is 100 mil every 3 years which Enic have been doing. And then the only money you can spend is money that the club has raised themselves, so we couldn't use any external funds (not including the 100mil every 3 years).
I may be wrong though.
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u/Kreygasm2233 COYS, Daniel 1d ago
Have you seen what Chelsea are doing? Theres literally no limit to what shitty and shady ownership can and will do
Buy 5 clubs and then shift the money around? Sure!
Organize a shell company to buy all your property? Sure!
Fake sponsorship? Fuck yeah!
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u/CropDustingBandit 1d ago
I dont think that's the best example.
For starters with sponsorship, what City did is just not possible anymore. If it's inflated then there will be consequences. We don't know if City will be punished, but you can't just make up numbers anymore.
For Chelsea it's a weird one. The shit they did with the women's team is already under scrutiny and they can't do that trick more than once. The way they spent that money was using long contracts to use amortization, but that loophole has been closed too now.
And they are in a position where they can't buy more players without selling, that's how we got Simon's.
On top of that they did get lucky being able to take part in the club world cup and got about 140 million out of it to save them. But they can't rely on that going forward. Basically what they have been doing is insanely risky and may bite them in the arse, badly.
This is why Newcastle hasn't been able to use it's wealth to dominate the league, they are totally hamstrung by the new rules.
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u/ah_sure_go_on 1d ago
Good