Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, has hit out at the spending power of the club’s Premier League rivals and accused them of distorting the transfer market.
In a less-than-subtle attack aimed at Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle United, Levy has blamed the criticism he has faced from a section of Tottenham fans on those clubs he believes are driving up prices and wages.
City were this week charged by the Premier League with breaking financial rules, while Chelsea spent more than £600 million in the last two transfer windows and Newcastle have paid around £250m on transfers since the club’s Saudi Arabia takeover.
Levy claims to have invested more than £500m in the Tottenham squad since the opening of the new stadium in April 2019 and committed a further £47m in the January transfer window on right-back Pedro Porro.
But Levy has faced chants of “get out of our club” from supporters in recent weeks and has pointed the finger at Tottenham’s rivals for increasing the pressure to spend big.
“The landscape of the Premier League has changed significantly in the last decade,” Levy said. “It is understandable that some fans call for more spending, much of which is unsustainable for many clubs. We are competing in a league in which we have seen increased sovereign wealth ownership and consortia finance; and in a league where the spending power is now vested in the hands of a few who dominate and have the ability to distort the market.
“Our aim has always been to combine the financial stability of the club with remaining competitive on the pitch. We have to do what is right for us and sustainable in the long-term.”
In a clear sign of escalating tensions between Premier League rivals Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, claimed on Friday that other clubs had driven this week’s actions against City.
“Yeah of course. It’s the Premier League,” Guardiola said. “You should go to the chairman, the CEOs, Daniel Levy, and ask them [about the charges brought against City].”
Among Spurs fans, Levy’s critics will point to the fact that he is yet to secure a naming rights deal for the stadium, which would give the club more money to spend on transfers, and recently lost a proposed £42.5m sponsorship deal with South Africa.
Levy’s statement came in the announcement of Tottenham’s latest set of financial results, which revealed an increase in revenue by 22.7 per cent to £444m for the year ending Jun 2022, up from £361.9m in the previous 12 months.
In a lengthy statement, Levy acknowledged that Tottenham have wasted money on the likes of Tanguy Ndombele and Giovanni Lo Celso, who each cost more than £50m, and expressed sympathy with supporters upset that the club’s only trophy success under his watch, the League Cup, came in 2008.
“We share our supporters’ frustrations at so many ‘near misses’ resulting in a lack of trophies,” said Levy. “Over the last two decades we have been in 14 semi-finals, made it to six finals and only won one of them. It must be our hope that we are soon celebrating a trophy win. We are immensely grateful to our fans who have supported us throughout and we want nothing more than to see them rewarded for their loyalty and passion.”