Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has made it clear that he is hoping for a levelling of the Premier League playing field and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has clearly heard.
Spurs released their financial results on Friday which showed a 22.7% increase in revenue to £444million, thanks to their first full season with a full capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. However, the club still ended the financial year with £50.1million in losses, down from £83.9million from the previous pandemic-hit 12 months.
Within his chairman's statement, Levy made it clear what he believes has been put into the club for transfers but also pointed towards what he saw as an uneven playing field.
READ MORE: Daniel Levy admits transfer mistakes as Tottenham reveal financial results
"Since opening the stadium in April, 2019, we have invested over £500million in our men's first team squad – putting us in the top five of spending in the Premier League – with a further £47million commitment in the January window, as we continue to support the team in the world’s most competitive league," he said.
"Our spend levels show we have invested in the team – however, we walk a fine line between long-term investment and short-termism. This is why our recruitment must be first class as mistakes at this level have a financial and sporting impact for future seasons. We have felt, and continue to feel, the financial impact of supporting player purchases which have not worked out as planned. We have taken steps to improve this area of operations and we believe the recent transfer windows reflect this.
"Our aim has always been to combine the financial stability of the club with remaining competitive on the pitch. We have to do what is right for us and sustainable in the long-term."
Levy's hope is that new financial rules for European clubs will help level the competition after a January window which has seen Chelsea spend more than £323million on new players with the space of the four weeks.
"The landscape of the Premier League has changed significantly in the last decade. It is understandable that some fans call for more spending, much of which is unsustainable for many clubs," said the Spurs chairman. "We are competing in a league in which we have seen increased sovereign wealth ownership and consortia finance; and in a league where the spending power is now vested in the hands of a few who dominate and have the ability to distort the market.
"We welcome the changes to the governance of the game which will compel greater financial sustainability and financial fair play (FFP). Major changes have been introduced in Europe around FFP regulations, including the newly-launched UEFA financial sustainability rules, the full impact of which will be felt from season 2025/26. They are based on three pillars: solvency, stability and cost control and clubs will have three seasons to adjust to them. Many expect that these new rules will be a game changer for the sport. Even tighter regulations may follow."
Tottenham's stadium is beginning to produce the kind of revenue the club planned to help them compete at the top of the game and aim for Premier League titles, but they are also putting a lot of faith into financial regulations that have thus far in their current incarnation failed to curb the mega-spending sides.
It is clear that at a time when Manchester City have been charged by the Premier League with more than 100 breaches of its financial rules, Levy's name was on the mind of Guardiola.
"The club proved they were completely innocent," said Guardiola, in reference to a two-year ban from European competitions for breaching UEFA's FFP regulations being overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020. "What's happened since Monday is the same as what happened with UEFA. We have already been condemned.
"You have to understand that 19 teams in the Premier League are accusing us without us having the ability to defend. We are lucky we live in a marvellous country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. We didn't have this opportunity, we are already sentenced. I am fully convinced we will be [proven] innocent."
He added: "One week after UEFA made a statement against us, nine teams - Burnley, Wolves, Leicester, Newcastle, Spurs, Arsenal, [Manchester] United, Liverpool, Chelsea – wrote wanting us out of the Champions League. Like Julius Caesar, they are not in this world, they are not enemies or friends, just interests. They wanted to put it out to take that position that we won on the pitch, take it in our position. Now it is not different, absolutely zero.
"Personally, I am happy we are here. I think we have good lawyers, but we can’t say UEFA had bad, bad lawyers. I think the Premier League, supported by 19 teams to put it out for them, will have good lawyers too to defend their position."
When asked whether the charges were driven by the other clubs, Guardiola replied: "Yes of course. It's the Premier League. You'll have to go to all the CEOs, the Daniel Levys, all these kind of people and ask them. Have a press conference and ask them."
It is not the first time the City boss has namechecked the Tottenham chairman, having shown his frustration when the Manchester side were unable to prise Harry Kane away in the summer of 2021.
Levy will feel that Tottenham will be in the best possible position to compete with football's elite if the restrictions do truly kick in from the 2025/26 season with the north London club's self-sustaining revenue pouring in from the huge stadium on the high road.
The problem though is not only whether those restrictions do have the effect Levy hopes they will, but also whether Spurs could be left behind in the two years before they kick in if they do not spend the right money themselves on the right players.
READ NEXT:
Cristian Stellini admits that Tottenham like James Maddison ahead of Leicester match
- Daniel Levy admits transfer mistakes as Tottenham reveal financial results
- Tottenham injury woe for yet another summer signing as well as Yves Bissouma news
- Tottenham's £150m ENIC capital increase explained, how much has been taken and what happens next
- Cristian Stellini explains that Fraser Forster has a different set of skills to Hugo Lloris
