According to a statement from Tottenham Hotspur Foootball Club, their corporate parents ENIC Group, owned by 85-year-old British businessman Joe Lewis, will provide a massive financial investment into the sports franchise.
Yesterday saw an announcement that ENIC will be injecting £150 million ($187.64m) into the club to help manager Antonio Conte and his team challenge for trophies next season. The tremendous work that Conte did, to salvage a lost season and secure a return to the UEFA Champions League for next term, are going to be justly rewarded.
“The equity injection provides the Premier League club with greater financial flexibility and the ability to further invest on and off the pitch,” the Spurs club statement reads.
“The investment represents permanent capital, with no ongoing interest cost to the club, and which may be drawn in tranches until the end of the year.”
The fall and recovery of Tottenham over the course of 2021 to 2022 is a tremendous story in its own right.
Last summer, they should have hired Conte, and they tried, but failed. Instead, they had to settle for Nuno Espirito Santo, who took a side that was already damaged by Jose Mourinho, get and made it even worse.
The very short-lived Nuno era was a total disaster, but Conte salvaged it, taking over a side in total disarray and guiding them to fourth place.
Now he’s gonna get a massive summer transfer window war chest to work with, and that’s a great thing because we see a ton of room for improvement in north London.
“The delivery of a world-class home was always a key building block in driving diversified revenues to enable us to invest in the teams and support our ambitions to be consistently competing at the highest levels of European football,” chairman Daniel Levy said.
“Additional capital from ENIC will now enable further investment in the Club at an important time.”
Conte’s side returned to Europe’s elite competition with a 5-0 win over Norwich City on Championship Sunday, beating out local arch-rivals Arsenal for the final UCL slot. Conte, who took charge in November, has consistently throughout the season that his squad needs major upgrades in order to challenge for the top trophies.
Conte’s candor is a good thing for this club, and they seem to be moving in the right direction. They are definitely in a better place than fellow big six fallen from grace clubs Manchester United and Arsenal. That said, THFC still hasn’t won a trophy of any sort since 2008, and they still need to make major strides in order to try and end that drought.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
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