"There will be activity this summer"
Click here for the full minutes of the meeting between the club and the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust.
Covers off questions around the Stadium, transfers, Harry and the press, ticketing, finance, fair play rules, kit and sponsorship and some other bits and pieces.
Stadium
• The Club is very busy behind the scenes trying to make the NDP viable. There are two dedicated people working 24/7on the stadium project and a committee of 15 meets weekly to discuss progress. The Club is seeking public sector grants to help reduce the costs and in light of this has appointed Savills to explore this avenue.
• The Club is carrying out market research to ascertain what the appetite for corporate hospitality is as well as considering a moderate increase in capacity.
• At the same time the legal challenge regarding the Olympic Stadium bid process continues. The club should know the results of their challenge by the end of July. There are two reasons for this; (i) Uncertainty remains that NDP will ever become viable and (ii) Genuine concern that the bidding process was unfair.
• With regards to other Haringey locations DL confirmed that a site near Tottenham Hale was considered but, due to the amount of property that would need acquiring, this would have been extremely time consuming and in all likelihood just as expensive as NDP with a further need for seeking planning permission from the local authorities.
• With a capital cost of £250-£300m it is just not viable right now.
• Re funding, the Club has not gone to Market yet re Naming Rights and the Supermarket deal is on hold.
• The Section 106 agreement has been agreed but is not yet exchanged.
• Ultimately, despite the huge investment this would be from THFC in the local community, there is no public sector money being made available.
• No timeframe can be put on how long this may take to resolve one way or the other.
• BK asked what supporters can do to assist THFC? DL advised that it would be beneficial for THFC supporters to lobby David Lammy, Boris Johnson, the Sports Minister and the Local Authority to constructively point out the benefits that would accrue to the local community from providing some Public Sector grant support to the stadium project. Ultimately this should be a Private/Public Sector project so all pressure exerted on the decision makers would be very welcome.
• DL advised that he has no preference re stadium he just wants a stadium solution whatever that may be.
Transfers
• The club has to trim the existing First Team squad as only 25 players are allowed excluding home grown Under-21’s who don’t count towards the 25.
• There will be activity this summer but the club does need to sell players for the above reason.
• DH asked if it was a deliberate tactic to wait until the end of the window before any intense activity? DL said he understood why there was this perception but this was far from deliberate, it was just the way the transfer market worked with buying clubs having their 1-10 wish lists and the fact it takes time to work this through.
• The Manager puts forward recommendations for purchases and the Board of Directors have the final decision taking into account the long term financial implications for the Club. For example, a hypothetical situation where the Board would need to say No would be where the selling club is seeking a sizeable transfer fee for a 30+ year old with little chance of re-sale and/or the possibility of a different manager appearing during that player’s contract who didn’t see that player as part of his squad.
• The lack of home grown players was raised by John Morrow. DL agreed that academy produced players needed to improve. S. Caulker is a very promising academy resource right now.
Harry and the Press
• The subject of Harry’s public criticism of some THFC fans as idiots was raised as an inappropriate comment to make. This was accepted by the Club however mitigating circumstances of a leading question from the Sky reporter was raised and the fact that the club had spoken to Sky about this.
• It was agreed that Harry had an incredible relationship with the media (They like him/He likes to speak with them) and that with this there would be some positives and negatives.
Discuss amongst yourselves. There's a few things that really stand out. It's worth reading the full set of minutes. I'll revisit most of it again in more detail when I get a moments chance.