EXCLUSIVE – The Tottenham Hotspur owners have pumped a hefty sum of capital into the north London club amid a busy summer transfer window
The Lewis family have injected £100million into Tottenham Hotspur with more to come, football.london understands, as the owners seek to provide the north London outfit with the funds to push on to new heights.
Under a new ambitious head coach in Roberto De Zerbi, Spurs want to banish consecutive 17th-place finishes into distant memory and instead fight further up the Premier League. The Lewis family, with Vivienne Lewis and her son-in-law Nick Beucher the most prominent members in terms of backing the club, promised at the end of the season to invest in the club and in a statement said that “actions will speak louder than words”.
After swatting away three parties interested in buying their stake in the club last year, the Lewis family made it clear that Spurs were not for sale and have added another £100million into the Premier League outfit, on top of the previous £100million injected back in October, to ensure CEO Vinai Venkatesham has the financial muscle to make the changes required.
football.london understands it won’t be the last of the money the family put into the club through their investment company ENIC and it is investment rather than raising debt.
The new £100million can used for various means, including transfers and further improvements within the club, but at a time when transfers are mostly paid in instalments it will provide Spurs with the extra working initial capital to get bigger moves over the line.
Such is the nature of the investment that former Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is understood to have been invited to add his proportionate share to that £100million in order to not dilute his portion of the club. Levy is currently the subject of a claim from Eight Sports Capital Limited that they have a legally binding sale and purchase agreement for a large portion of his stake in ENIC.
It has been a busy start for the club in the transfer market with the £52million signing of Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton and free transfer moves for Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka. With the defence reinforced with that quartet, Spurs have also held talks with Newcastle for £100million-rated midfielder Sandro Tonali and want to bring in West Ham star Mateus Fernandes, who has a £85million price tag.
Now the money from the Lewis family will help fund the initial payment for any such ambitious deals and other changes being made throughout the club.
In their first statement since ENIC took over the Lilywhites 25 years ago, the Lewis family had made their intentions clear after Tottenham’s season ended with De Zerbi helping keep them in the Premier League on the final day.
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“To the fans, as owners of 25 years, we have lived the highs and lows of Spurs with you,” read the statement.
“Finishing 17th this and last season does not reflect the stature or potential of this football club. We are bitterly disappointed and share your frustration. You, and we, expect more than this. We know this must never happen again.
“Our approach to running the club is, and has been, to trust the experts to do that, while backing them to be successful. The problems we found were deeper than we realised and were allowed to build over the last few years. We know that has eroded trust and we have to win that back. As owners, we take ultimate responsibility for the situation in which the club finds itself.
“We also take responsibility for rebuilding Spurs. Our ambition is to recapture the spirit of the club and bring back the excitement, the fearlessness and the bold football we have always felt defined us. That means football comes first. The board and executive team have laid out their plans to meet this ambition.
“This will require investment – in our teams, the academy, our backroom functions and more – and we are fully committed to this. We are not selling the Club. We are all in. We are investing in it. You will see more of this in the coming months.
“We care deeply about Spurs. The rebuild the Club needs, and you deserve, has begun. The change required is deep. It will take time and commitment, but change is happening. We know that actions will speak louder than words. The Lewis Family.”
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