Tottenham have taken out a low-interest loan out of concerns that they face huge losses between now and June 2021.
Tottenham have confirmed that they have loaned £175million from the Bank of England due to fears that they could lose in excess of £200m in revenue due to the coronavirus crisis over the next year.
With their remaining nine matches of the Premier League season to be played behind closed doors and the possibility of having to play at their empty 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur Stadium until 2021, Spurs are braced for massive losses due to a drop in matchday and commercial income.
Other events at the newly-built £1billion stadium are also set to be cancelled, such as concerts, boxing fights and NFL games.
Spurs are also braced for TV rebates, with a £170million pushed back to the 2020-21 season to protect immediate cash flows but further rebates possible if the league’s return is further delayed.
And so the north London club have sought help from the government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility, which will provide them with an unsecured loan, repayable with a 0.5 per cent interest rate.
It is a major insight into how badly the repercussions of the deadly virus – which has claimed the lives of nearly 400,000 people worldwide according to official statistics – will affect even the richest of clubs.
Spurs – who this week confirmed they have had one positive coronavirus result in the latest round of Premier League testing – had the eighth-highest revenue in Europe prior to the coronavirus pandemic according to the 2020 Deloitte Football Money League.
And a study by the University of Liverpool in April claimed that Spurs had overtaken Manchester City as the most valuable Premier League club, worth around £2.56bn following their world-record £113m profit for the tax year ending in June 2019.
A Tottenham statement read: “The global pandemic has created unprecedented economic and social challenges and the entertainment sector has been particularly affected.
“We are yet to see the full extent and duration of the economic impact. As of today, it is unclear when there will be a return to spectator-attended live events.
“Due to the significance of income from matchday, conferencing and third party live events such as concerts and other sports, our estimated revenue loss, including broadcast rebates, may exceed £200m for the period to June, 2021.”
Spurs explained that the money will not be used for player acquisitions but “to ensure we have financial flexibility and additional working capital during these challenging times”.
Back in April, the Champions League runners-up were forced into reversing their decision to sign up to the government’s furlough scheme to cut the salaries of non-playing staff to 80 per cent for the foreseeable future.
They added: “The Club has opened a multi-use venue designed to deliver diversified revenue streams and created jobs, homes and schools as part of the regeneration of our neighbourhood.
“We are ever-conscious of the responsibility we bear to ensure the future stability of our Club for all stakeholders and, in doing so, support our communities and our continued investment in the area.”
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said: “We have always run this Club on a self-sustaining commercial basis.
“I said as early as 18 March that, in all my 20 years at the Club, there have been many hurdles along the way but none of this magnitude – the COVID-19 pandemic has shown itself to be the most serious of them all.
“It is imperative that we now all work together – scientists, technologists, the Government and the live events sector – to find a safe way to bring spectators back to sport and entertainment venues.
“Collectively we have the ability to support the development of new technologies to make this possible and to once again experience the passion of fans at live events.”
Speaking recently, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho declared that he believes the transfer window will calm down in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
He signed Steven Bergwijn from PSV Eindhoven for £27million in January, though some of that was made back by the £17m departure of Christian Eriksen to Inter Milan.
But the Portuguese coach is set to have very limited funds for the next window, especially if the Londoners miss out on Champions League qualification.
Mourinho’s sit eighth, seven points off fourth-placed Chelsea, and face finishing outside of the top four for the first time since 2014-15.
“It is normal you are going to have a different market, I dont see the world – especially the football world – ready for some crazy numbers we used to have,” he said.
“The first questions after that is will be when will the transfer window be?
“I dont think it will be in July or August anymore, it has to go further than that.
“I would like my club to be what I know what we will be: sensible, balanced and not going to spend rivers of money.
“We are trying to respect the situation, not just the football but the situation in the world and society overall.
“But it is the last thing we are thinking, we are not thinking about it. There are no talks about it. We think about safety and following every rule.”
