Tottenham Hotspur are one of just three Premier League clubs who have a solid degree of headroom when it comes to Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and a new motion being discussed could deliver Spurs a £100m boost in the market.
Whatever fans think of Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, it’s undeniable that he has turned the club into a financial behemoth, with commercial revenue growing all the time.
This is largely down to the income from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which hosts music events and other sporting events like NFL and boxing throughout the year.
When it comes to the transfer market, other Premier League clubs like Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, and Newcastle United are all thought to be in need of selling players in order to comply with PSR restrictions. Tottenham face no such problem.
Premier League votes could earn Spurs potential £100m
Top-flight clubs will convene on June 6 to discuss a few different concepts when it comes to the way the league operates financially.
While the idea of a squad cost control ratio — which would limit clubs to spending 85% of their turnover on transfers — and an anchoring system, that would see spending limited in line with the lowest-paid club’s TV income, are expected to be the core of the conversation, there is another motion.
According to iNews, Premier League clubs have started discussing the idea of “auctioning off” headroom, where clubs that are in a healthy position would trade off their financial cushion to clubs who are at risk of breaching PSR. It is not known whether this will come up at the AGM, as it is in its early stages.
Analysis from Off The Pitch suggests Tottenham, Brighton, and Brentford are the only three teams who actually have headroom at this time, with Spurs believed to be at around £20m above the threshold.
Rolling this over the next three years of the Financial Fair Play assessment period, and throwing in the money the club will earn from European football, the total headroom is projected to be at around £100m, which would give Spurs a real advantage if this motion were passed.
Surely the whole point of PSR is that clubs need to control their spending and not go beyond their means. The idea of another club that has abided by the rules then bailing them out feels counterintuitive to the rules, even if it could benefit Spurs long term.