Levy 'open' to selling Tottenham stake after January talks with PSG president
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has admitted he is open to selling a stake in the club he has been in day-to-day control of for 22 years.
Levy has acted as the public face for Spurs owners ENIC since 2001. In that time the team have struggled to win trophies, but have undergone a remarkable transformation off the pitch after building a state of the art stadium.
That transformation was threatened in the summer though when Joe Lewis, formerly the majority shareholder in ENIC, was charged in the US with securities fraud. Lewis pleaded not guilty and was released on a £243million bail package.
Ownership of ENIC now lies with the Lewis Family Trust, who control 70 per cent of the shares, and Levy, who controls the remaining 30 per cent. Together, they own 87 per cent of the shares in Tottenham, though Levy has now admitted that some of those shares could be sold off.
“I’ve got no real interest to leave Tottenham, but I have a duty to consider anything that anyone may want to propose,” Levy told Bloomberg. “It’s not about me, it’s about what’s right for the club.
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“We run this club as if it’s a public company. If anyone wants to make a serious proposition to the board of Tottenham we would consider it, along with our advisers, and if we felt it was in the interests of the club we would be open to anything.
“We’re very much a club that believes in the academy producing players that can become hopefully superstars at Tottenham. We’re not a club that can buy success. That’s the reality and we have to understand that."
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Levy held talks with Nasser Al-Khelaifi over a minority shareholding back in January (AFP via Getty Images)Levy also revealed that Spurs have received offers in the past from investors in the Far East, Middle East and the United States. But he also admitted that "nothing had been put on the table" that was in the interests of the current shareholders.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi reportedly held talks with Spurs back in January over the possible purchase of a stake in the club. Though the likelihood of that coming to pass was played down by former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan.
“I find it curious to understand why Qatar would want to own a minority stake in Tottenham. They’ve got plenty of money and they don’t need to be minority shareholders in any football club," he told talkSPORT at the time.
“That [a full buyout] would probably be the likely outcome. I think there’s a point that Joe Lewis will say ‘that’s enough for me thank you very much’. If there’s enough money on the table then I’m sure that will come.
“Tottenham as a football club have got all their ducks in a line, except on the pitch. Commercially, they produce the best outcomes in football a few years ago with the biggest profitability ever seen by a Premier League football club.
“I never understood the purchase of Paris Saint-Germain, but they bought it for £70m and it’s not worth £4bn, according to Nasser. Having spent time with him, he knows his sport."
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