Tottenham Hotspur fans have been used to their club playing below its financial standard for years, and now the consequence of this is that Spurs are facing relegation. The club is in a state of crisis on the pitch, hovering just one point above the drop zone after another terrible loss, 3-1 to Crystal Palace, and their latest 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid is a sobering reminder of how far away they are from competing in the Champions League.
Well, Spurs could be set back even further this summer transfer window, rather than springing forward and making the sort of big moves that build on new additions like Mohammed Kudus and Xavi SImons.
According to a report from the Daily Telegraph's Matt Law, The Fan Advisory Board were recently told by the club that although Daniel Levy was deposed as CEO in August and his stringent wage structure was removed, the club's finances are apparently not as healthy as once thought. New leader Vinai Venkatesham totally threw Levy under the bus and said that he mismanaged the club with key mistakes that will now force Spurs to sell this summer transfer window to avoid financial penalties.
Maybe Daniel Levy wasn't so good with money?
It is a bomb from the blue for Tottenham Hotspur supporters, who thought, as anyone logically would, that Levy was such a stickler because he was simply cautious with money. The notion was that Levy put the financial over the sporting for the good of ENIC, and now to hear that he was suddenly actually wasteful is a bit suspect and highly concerning.
Tottenham have the biggest stadium in the Premier League, a raucous supporter base, and one of the top 10 highest revenues in world football, even after finishing 17th and not playing in the Champions League last season.
This news will feel, to many Spurs fans, like a preemptive excuse to not improve the team after what will usurp the 2024/25 season as the club's worst in history. It's really not even going to be close, and if Spurs are relegated, they will have financial issues and the need to sell players to keep to the Championship financial constraints.
But even if they stay up, it sounds like the bleeding could continue, and it all sounds like a familiar set of excuses and sudden twists pointing to the same familiar conclusion to Tottenham fans: that Tottenham will perpetually find excuses not to act like a big club. And such is their identity.