Spurs now find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place

Football FanCast
columnist Dean Reilly feels that Spurs now find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

I often wonder how Dan Levy and the board must have felt last week when the news broke of City’s takeover. After years of building up the football club, conducting their business the right way, bringing Spurs to the brink of a Champions League place, one of our main rivals hits the jackpot and overnight they look likely to take our place as the team most likely to break the top 4.

I’m sure that I wasn’t the only Spurs fan who is looking on with envy at the ride Manchester City are set to go on. Unlike Chelsea, City have a rich history, a tremendous fan base and you do feel that their success and emerging as a superpower in football is certainly sustainable. They have no equal in the transfer market, can buy who they want, pay whatever wage and their presence will now rock the foundations of football.

In all honesty I think it is a grave shame for football. Roman’s arrival at Chelsea saw the stability of football shot to pieces, as transfer fees rose rapidly and why many felt that the game was starting to get back on its feet and some semblance of order; City’s new owners are going to destroy the hopes and dreams of many clubs and probably leave them with no option, but to seek new ownership themselves.

I have a huge amount of respect for Daniel Levy and think he has done a fabulous job in turning around the fortunes of our football club. He hasn’t been afraid to spend big and the club has never looked healthier financially; probably due to the fact that the club have a strict pay scale. You do however feel that for all these successes and groundwork put in place, the club now finds itself between a rock and a hard place, in what is the best move going forward. Do we tout for investment or should we smash our pay scale accordingly?

As mentioned one of the things that have to be respected by the club is our refusal to break our pay structure. Diego Milito came out over the weekend and reportedly revealed that he turned the club down because we wouldn’t pay him £65k a week. It is one of the reasons why the Spurs balance sheet looks as healthy as it does, but the club now has to ask themselves as to how long they can keep that in place. If the only way to compete against Man City is on the pitch, then surely we need to bring in the right personnel. Refusal to go £5k over our pay structure for Milito is all well and good, but when the consequence means we are left to lower our standards to a Heskey or Doyle, then that decision needs to be questioned.

So what is the next move for Spurs? Should they simply seek new investors or is smashing the pay scale the only way to compete?

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