American entertainment giants AEG are moving closer to a £450 million takeover Tottenham. AEG owner Philip Anschutz, the 34th richest man in the USA with a personal wealth of more than £4.4 billion, has been in talks with Spursâ Bahamas-based owner Joe Lewis for weeks. The pair are close to concluding a deal and Anschutz wants to keep current chairman Daniel Levy in place at White Hart Lane as his man on the ground at the north London club. The agreement would inject new funds into Tottenhamâs coffers and make it harder still for bitter rivals Arsenal to compete for the Champions League places, with Chelsea and the Manchester clubs blocking their path. Spurs formed close links with the AEG group last year as they put together a bid to buy the Olympic Stadium as a new home. But now Anschutz, a close friend of Lewis, is interested in buying the club itself. Spurs delisted from the Stock Exchange in January in a move Levy declared at the time was necessary to secure funding. And last September they were granted planning permission for a new 56,000-seat ground at Northumberland Park. Lewis, 75, who owns about 30 per cent of Spurs through his company ENIC, of which Levy is also chairman, has been keen to loosen his ties with the club for some time and at last it looks as if the right buyer may have come along. The reclusive Anschutz has a close interest in football, having been a major investor in the early days of Major League Soccer in the USA. Through his Anschutz Entertainment Group he, at one point, owned the Colorado Rapids, Chicago Fire and the San Jose Earthquakes. Anschutz currently owns LA Galaxy and played a key role in taking David Beckham to the club in 2007, as well as a majority stake in Houston Dynamo, plus several basketball and ice hockey clubs. AEG still own the O2 Arena in London and Manchesterâs MEN Arena, as well as other major sporting venues. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/302685/AEG-in-talks-for-Spurs
don't know if this is good new's or not.the good is the funds available for player's and the stadium,the bad is american owners,could turn out to be like the 2 that used to own the klan
Seems to me Americans want well run clubs that make money, not over extended basket cases like other US owned clubs that shall remain nameless. The trouble is they see the Premiership as a license to print money, for the most part, and that it most certainly isn't. Of course,such a deal would inject a huge amount of cash into the club, the problems start when they want to take some of that money out again. If you look at all three US owned clubs though, ManUSA is toothless compared to the magnficent beast it used to be financially, Liverpool, even with a change of Yank are still no better and Villa are nowhere. I hope Lewis is leaving the club in safe hands. Under his ownership we have moved forward significantly. A large bag of money would help, but we also need stability and continuity.
This is not fair on their owner. They have had plenty of money provided, but it is not his fault it was badly spent. I'm sure they have spent well over their Torres funds?
We cannot be compared with either LFC or United. LFC was in a financial hole and should have been put into Administration, but was, instead, sold cheaply by the bank. Its new Yank owner has pumped huge amounts of money into a black hole in a desperate attemp to make LFC successful again, and it is hardly surprising they are failing. With United, its Yank owners bought the club for a huge sum with the club's own money, whilst raping it for profits at the bank's expense, creating the crippling debts we now see. Anyone purchasing Spurs will be starting on a level playing field with a tremendously successful business model. In truth, and with the right investment, we could become a footballing giant. I told you we'd be able to afford Mourinho and RVP! Hang on to your hats, lads!
I'd welcome extra funds into the club, especially if it meant paying Modric and Bale the wages they could get at a rival club.
With our squad and a rich owner, we'd win the EPL for sure, and would definitely challenge for the CL title.
Also been reported in the Denver Business Journal the deal is worth about $697m US,those who want can covert in to pounds- buts its a fair bit of money. The fact that its being reported everywhere could mean this deal has legs. Won't get excited till i see Anshutz holding a Spurs shirt at the Lodge.
£450mill valuation? Joe Lewis must be laughing, he's doubled up in less than 10 years. Personally I'd rather we stayed owned by ENIC but whether this deal is true or not, we all knew it'd be sold sooner or later once the stadium got some momentum. Lets hope whoever comes in doesn't interfere too much and lets Levy(hope he stays) and the manager do their jobs.
Joe Lewis is worth £2billion and I'd rather we were owned by someone like him, who wants to grow the club for resale rather than becoming a rich man's toy or having a Gazidis to suck out the club's profits. I wouldn't get excited full stop. I was happy for ENIC owned Spurs to delist but if they've done it for this deal to go through then it's a little worrying.
I am a bit wary of the timing too, all the talk of Harry and who'd replace him and the approval for the new stadium. Hope it's not a distraction for the players.
To be honest I can't see why it would have a negative effect on the players. Carrot The club might be sold to a rich new owner - I better cement my place in the squad by playing to my maximum ability. The club might be sold to a rich new owner - If I prove my worth I might get a pay rise and new contract. The club is developing the stadium - I better cement my place in the squad by playing to my maximum ability. Bigger stadium = greater income - If I prove my worth I might get a pay rise and new contract. Redknapp - hmm, new owners, Levy staying as Chairman - hmm, new contract time.
This for me this is the difficult side of football. All I want as a supporter is for the team to do well and continue to play good football. The realities of professional football at the highest level mean money is a huge factor. This American co. presumably makes it's money from professional sport, it is not emotionally attached to the club as we are, and will make decisions based on financial gain. That includes keeping us supporters happy but only in a business sense. I think we all trust Levy but he will have to work within the constraints placed upon him and these may well change with a new owner.
I find it reassuring that Anschutz is already known to Joe Lewis and the club. The time and effort spent working on the OS deal must have lead to the development of a good working relationship and trust. I would prefer for the club to be bought by someone already known to it rather than to a corrupt east European or oil rich country.
I agree, except to add that the best way to make a return is to be challenging for titles, cups and qualifying for CL. They will surely encourage that as a way of making a return on their investment? The constraints at the moment have held us back a little, so can't imagine any new owners will be worse, and may loosen the purse strings a little?
Or the way the owners of Man U have manipulated finances, and this has hamstrung SAF in the transfer market.
Joe Lewis has never shown any real intention to invest hugely in the club. Perhaps he was always waiting for the stadium deal to go through, or may be he was just simply more interested in the club being profitable, as Arsenal appear to be, and was not prepared to go out on a limb. We'll probably never know, and at 75, JL is probably now too old to really care. As rich as JL is, the new owner eclipses him by some margin, and that really does make a difference, trust me. With £35 billion (as compared with a mere £2 billion), the new owner can afford to make the kind of investments in players, wages and stadium, that we can barely dream about. I've always believed that the Spurs brand is a far more attractive one than the £ity brand, and that with their kind of investment pot we would be far, far more successful. Well, now, it would seem that we could well put that to practice. I cannot see this being anything other than superb news!
