Thread: AEG buyout

I am worried if this is true based on the Redcafe/Swedish story, but hopeful that DL and Joe Lewis will retain enough voting shares to essentially keep control of the club. In short I will wait for concrete ITK information from the likes of @Blue Crew and @EliteKiller etc etc before getting to too nervous.

If it's just a stadium deal which is probably more likely I could just about put up with the AEG Arena more than the Qatar Airways Stadium.....although on here and in general I will always refer to the ground as White Hart Lane.

Already a thread ..... ITK - AEG Buyout

I'm generally anti-foreign owners, but this would actually not be a bad thing. i'm not anti simply because they're foreign, but because it is much less likely for a foreigner to have a genuine attachment to the club, which means that they could get cold feet one day and not really care what happens to us after their departure.

However, you can get bad British owners too, so it is more about having the right owner. Joe Lewis has supported Spurs all his life but is getting on a bit now & it's going to happen sooner or later. I think it says a lot that he isn't just looking to auction us off to the highest bidder - let's be honest, with our current stock being so high, it'd be a pretty easy sell - but is instead in talks with a close friend. Even there, talks have taken time. Joe Lewis clearly has the club's interests at heart and wants to make sure that whoever inherits it is able to take us forward.

AEG have a great track record in this respect and, let's be honest, to have been such a massive investor in the MLS for so long, Anschutz must seriously like his footy.

I doubt we'll see any real change though. We barely ever see Lewis as it is and Levy will continue to run the club should Anschutz takeover. With his $4.4billion net worth, Anschutz is almost 3x more rich than Lewis, whose net worth is about $1.6billion. That should certainly help us move into our shiny new White Hart Lane, as would any affiliation with AEG, and we would find it much easier to attract top players to the club.

However, whilst I want to see top players, I don't want us paying over the odds for them. We need to be able to pay the bigger transfer fees, but only here & there. We don't need to start throwing cash about willy-nilly & particularly with the wages we pay. Our wage structure does need to come up a little bit from now but we don't want or need to be paying the silly money Chelsea/United/City etc pay. THAT is what causes problems in the long-term - a transfer fee is a one-off payment which a sugar daddy can fund himself (for now) but wages are a contract with the club, meaning should a mega-rich owner lose interest or something should happen whereby they can no longer run the club, the club itself is still contractually obliged to pay those wages. Should the Sheikh disappear from world football, City would still have to find over £200kpw to pay Yaya Toure.

I think Anschutz is a very shrewd businessman though who looks to build a legacy. There are certainly worse people than AEG who could be trying to buy Spurs

Mods....merge these two takeover threads perhaps?

At least then I wouldn't look such a twat, having just noticed @BlueCrew LA post on this one

Originally Posted by edmonds44

http://www.tottenhamhotspurs.tv/foru...eg-buyout.html

Originally Posted by EliteKiller

Already a thread ..... ITK - AEG Buyout

To be fair, that thread is in the "In The Know" section, this is in the actual news section. I get that people have been posting in the other thread, but this is really the place to discuss it now it has become proper news.

keep the ITK section purely for rumour

@basskadet

thank you sir, you've put my mind at rest there. I love the way is club is run, but i can see the point, joe lewis isn't getting any younger, i just want someone who has passion for the club really

Originally Posted by basskadet

I'm generally anti-foreign owners, but this would actually not be a bad thing. i'm not anti simply because they're, but because it is much less likely for a foreigner to have a genuine attachment to the club, which means that they could get cold feet one day and not really care what happens to us after their departure.

However, you can get bad British owners too, so it is more about having the right owner. Joe Lewis has supported Spurs all his life but is getting on a bit now & it's going to happen sooner or later. I think it says a lot that he isn't just looking to auction us off to the highest bidder - let's be honest, with our current stock being so high, it'd be a pretty easy sell - but is instead in talks with a close friend. Even there, talks have taken time. Joe Lewis clearly has the club's interests at heart and wants to make sure that whoever inherits it is able to take us forward.

AEG have a great track record in this respect and, let's be honest, to have been such a massive investor in the MLS for so long, Anschutz must seriously like his footy.

I doubt we'll see any real change though. We barely ever see Lewis as it is and Levy will continue to run the club should Anschutz takeover. With his $4.4billion net worth, Anschutz is almost 3x more rich than Lewis, whose net worth is about $1.6billion. That should certainly help us move into our shiny new White Hart Lane, as would any affiliation with AEG, and we would find it much easier to attract top players to the club.

However, whilst I want to see top players, I don't want us paying over the odds for them. We need to be able to pay the bigger transfer fees, but only here & there. We don't need to start throwing cash about willy-nilly & particularly with the wages we pay. Our wage structure does need to come up a little bit from now but we don't want or need to be paying the silly money Chelsea/United/City etc pay. THAT is what causes problems in the long-term - a transfer fee is a one-off payment which a sugar daddy can fund himself (for now) but wages are a contract with the club, meaning should a mega-rich owner lose interest or something should happen whereby they can no longer run the club, the club itself is still contractually obliged to pay those wages. Should the Sheikh disappear from world football, City would still have to find over £200kpw to pay Yaya Toure.

I think Anschutz is a very shrewd businessman though who looks to build a legacy. There are certainly worse people than AEG who could be trying to buy Spurs

@basskadet excellent post (again) agree 100% with the points made, and assuming DL at the helm I think we would be in excellent hands. This fella is the guy paying Beckham an obscene amount of money presumably and Joe Lewis is going to be tied up with the Mitchell & Butler takeover for a while as well.

If it happens and the above scenario transpires...well fine with me. Wonder whether we get away with 'The AEG Arena at White Hart Lane' for media/commercial and die hard fan purposes?

Originally Posted by Don Diaz

I am worried if this is true based on the Redcafe/Swedish story, but hopeful that DL and Joe Lewis will retain enough voting shares to essentially keep control of the club. In short I will wait for concrete ITK information from the likes of @Blue Crew and @EliteKiller etc etc before getting to too nervous.

If it's just a stadium deal which is probably more likely I could just about put up with the AEG Arena more than the Qatar Airways Stadium.....although on here and in general I will always refer to the ground as White Hart Lane.

The Hammarby story is nonsense. If Anschutz was trying to fill his own pockets, why would he buy some small Swedish team in the 1st place? The reason he's not spent money and, if true, is looking to rent the stadium out is so he can make the club self-sufficient. I would suggest that Hammarby's finances were probably not in a very good state to begin with and if in 5-10 years the club is turning a profit whilst also competing, then he's done a good job.

Look, this foreign owner thing is a bit mis-leading. As I stated above, the last thing you want (particularly with UEFA's "Financial Fair-play" rules coming into effect) is some billionaire coming in and start throwing his cash at everything. THAT is what get's you into problems, particularly at a small club like Hammarby.

Besides, Tottenham is a COMPLETELY different model. We are ALREADY self-sufficient and competing, which will give any owner a little more scope & flexibility to push us onward.

This seems like an overly elaborate scheme to get Robbie Keane back to Spurs.

Originally Posted by basskadet

The Hammarby story is nonsense. If Anschutz was trying to fill his own pockets, why would he buy some small Swedish team in the 1st place? The reason he's not spent money and, if true, is looking to rent the stadium out is so he can make the club self-sufficient. I would suggest that Hammarby's finances were probably not in a very good state to begin with and if in 5-10 years the club is turning a profit whilst also competing, then he's done a good job.

Look, this foreign owner thing is a bit mis-leading. As I stated above, the last thing you want (particularly with UEFA's "Financial Fair-play" rules coming into effect) is some billionaire coming in and start throwing his cash at everything. THAT is what get's you into problems, particularly at a small club like Hammarby.

Besides, Tottenham is a COMPLETELY different model. We are ALREADY self-sufficient and competing, which will give any owner a little more scope & flexibility to push us onward.

Yes I'm with you 100% have posted more recently which you will be aware of. Thanks.

There certainly seems to be a bubbling enthusiasm for the takeover here. The promise of more money poured into the club seemingly being the paramount reason....and while I think it's ok as fans to be optimistic about potential investment I think there is a hint of willful gullibility. I find it difficult to be sold on new ownership without having some semblance of a vision from those that are going to back the club; don't get me wrong I'm not saying AEG have a poor track record in the sports/entertainment side of the business, nor am I suggesting that they are bound to have a poor tenure. It is true that AEG have certain resources (finances and otherwise) that can be beneficial to the club but I think there should be some optimism tempered with caution from these very initial reports. This is especially true considering what has happened in regards to new owners in the recent past (Rangers, Newcastle, Liverpool etc.). There is still much to be answered, as a fan I for one am very interested in the dynamics of management that might come about; after all the Levy/Lewis-ENIC partnership has a certain repertoire that has worked well for quite a while...how is this business relationship going to compare/contrast with the potential AEG(Anschutz)/Levy partnership? They have had significant dealings recently but it will be interesting to see how things transpire with a much "tighter" business partnerships.

Just one question but droves of which are yet to be answered. Perhaps it will all go smoothly...if it does go down at all...but I think it's not wholly bad to throw a little caution in the wind. And apologies for the long post..... and coming off as the proverbial "debbie downer." None the less as always, COYS!

Quote:
Philip Anschutz's company AEG owns my local Swedish team, he bought Hammarby extremely cheap just so he could make use of the new arena that is being built for tax money and use it for concerts etc. He has so far not spent a dollar on improving the team that got relegated to the second division under AEG's ownership but they don't care about that, they are even considering letting Hammarby's rivals play on the new arena to make more money...

Anschutz and his company AEG are leeches just like Silent Stan Kroenke and some other American sports team owners investing in Europe. He will make a splash sometimes to get good PR but Anschutz only really cares about making money so I doubt Spurs would be better off with him as owner. I think he is interested in Spurs because they want a new stadium and he sees a money making opportunity.



Seen this elsewhere........I'd be worried what they would do with our stadium when the season is going on. Would they have concerts and other shit going on during a weekend that were away? I surely hope not.