Monday 27 August 2007

The Famous Five go to White Hart Lane

“I am an ambitious chairman, we are an ambitious club and we want Champions League football at White Hart Lane. " Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, August 21, 2007

"I was in the hotel because a friend came who had nothing to do with football." Sevilla coach Juande Ramos, August 20, 2007

"You know quite well that if you ever go against the orders of the chief—that's me, my girl, in case you didn't know it—you won't come out with us again. You may look like a boy and behave like a boy, but you're a girl all the same. And like it or not, girls have got to be taken care of." Julian, Five on a Hike Together, 1951

The fiasco of the Martin Jol \ Ramos affair has drawn some unwelcome attention to those in control at Tottenham, a splendid example of the best that English capitalism can offer in opposition to the multifarious international consortia that are hoovering up the Premiership.

There were four men meeting Ramos in that hotel room in Seville (apparently two left by the front door and two by the back) and one more playing golf in the Bahamas. This is a quick guide to the five of them.

Joe Lewis ("Julian")

Lewis is ultimately the money behind Spurs, although he seems to have little or no interest in the day to day business.

He is said to be the 16th richest person in Britain, worth something over £2,000 million. How exactly he counts as being in Britain when he spends all his time in the Bahamas is something The Sunday Times doubtless explains in detail when it does its list. Perhaps it is "British person" rather than person in Britain; as yet, he hasn't renounced his citizenship. He has homes all over the globe; Forbes counts him as the 486th richest person in the world.

Joe Lewis had no higher education. He was born above a pub in "the East End of London" about 70 years ago and made his initial wealth expanding the family's catering business (he started as a waiter and it eventually became the Beefeater pub chain), then selling luxury goods to tourists, before finally moving into currency trading and tax exile in the 1970s.

Lewis is the main investor in the Tavistock Group, which he founded 30 years ago. Tavistock Group is a global, private investment company. The company has grown to encompass "a broad portfolio of interests" in over 170 companies in 15 countries in areas including property, financial services, life sciences, energy, industry and consumer goods. "The company employs a simple investment philosophy looking for value opportunities where its capital, flexibility, management support and strategic hand can build value." Tavistock Group has offices in Argentina, the Bahamas, China, the European Union, Mexico and the United States. Among Lewis's property holdings are 3,600 acres in the Bahamas and 8,000 acres in Florida. He is currently investing heavily in health-care and bio-technology in Florida, which may be a consciousness of his own mortality.

Joe Lewis spends most of his time and much of his money on celebrity golf (he once paid over £1 million to charity for a day's golf with Tiger Woods - his other well-funded celebrity partner is Ernie Els). He owns two golf clubs, which play each other for charity once a year (perhaps this is the model envisaged for football in due course).

Lewis has two children. His son, Charles, left the Enic board along with the finance director in 2001 after "a string of financial misfortunes". His daughter fronts a lot of Tavistock's charitable work.

At one stage Lewis, through Irish connections, was linked with Desmond, JP McManus et al in the plan to bring Celtic and Rangers into the English Premiership.

Sources : Forbes.com; The Sunday Times; Tavistock Group website; Sunday Business Post, November 04, 2001

Daniel Levy ("Dick")




Daniel Levy is chairman of Tottenham Hotspur and Lewis's man at Enic - the English National Investment Company - which owns the controlling interest in Spurs. Levy was reportedly the one who first encouraged Lewis to invest in football clubs.

Levy was born on 8 February 1962, in Essex. His family, through their holding company A. Levy and Sons Ltd, owned the Mr Bywrite "straight talking, no-nonsense" male fashion-retailing group. (Incidentally, this group later changed its name to Blue Inc and was sold in its entirety to Marlow in February 2006).

He has a first class degree in economics and land economy from Cambridge, graduating in 1985. He is married with four children and said to be a Spurs fan of long-standing.

From university, Levy went into retailing, but at some stage he struck up a relationship with Lewis. Levy joined the board of Enic in 1995 and is now chairman.

Enic's ultimate owner is a company, Crailes Holdings, registered in the Bahamas, where little information is provided about companies. Enic , however, have been happy to confirm that Lewis is behind Enic, with Levy, via family trusts, owning 29%.

"It is very much a joint effort between Joe and Daniel," a spokesman said. "Daniel himself takes responsibility for the decisions at Tottenham."

The first grand plan was to build an international sporting group with a strong bias toward media income. This brought them to Glasgow Rangers for their first investment, followed by a £2.4 million stake in Vicenza.

Levy pushed Enic from being a finance operation into a leisure concern. In May 2000 the firm spent £500,000 buying gambling website UKbetting.com, and took a stake in the Streets Online e-tail chain. Enic also took on the Warner Brothers Studio Stores chain in the UK and other bits and pieces, including a restaurant in Las Vegas.

Enic first tried to buy Spurs off Sugar in 1998, when they valued the club at £80 million. At first, Sugar held out for a higher price but eventually in 2000 Enic agreed to pay £22 million for a 27% stake (a valuation of the whole club at about £81 million).

In 2000, Enic was also in negotiations to buy Wembley (at a time when JP McManus and Desmond were pushing the National Stadium concept in Ireland). Levy and Lewis withdrew from the £222 bid for Wembley because it was "too complex", which probably translates as "no clear profit" .

In the mid-to-late 1990s Enic embarked on a wider plan to buy a major football club in every European country. The intention was to pool resources and even players, to cash in on football's revival and television windfalls across the continent. By the time Enic finalised the purchase of 27% of Spurs from Alan Sugar in 2001, the company also owned large stakes in FC Basle in Switzerland, AEK Athens and Slavia Prague as well as the original chunks of Rangers in Scotland and Vicenza in Italy.

This portfolio turned out to be fraught with difficulties. In May 1998, after Slavia and AEK qualified for the Uefa Cup, Uefa had ruled that two clubs in "common ownership" could not play in the same competition. Enic spent £1.3m appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, which allowed AEK and Slavia to compete pending its decision but ultimately upheld Uefa's ruling because Enic owned more than 50% of both clubs.

Levy described the decision at that time as "a retrograde step for football in Europe", but with its multi-ownership plan in tatters, Enic began to sell all the clubs except Spurs. After AEK and Basle were offloaded, Enic sold its 20.2% stake in Rangers in August 2004, then Vicenza three months later.

According to Enic's most recently published accounts in 2006, that left only a 31.5% stake in Tottenham and its 96.7% ownership of Slavia Prague. Enic still appeared to own Slavia up to July last year, but the company says that in fact it had reduced its holding in Slavia to a minority interest. This came to light when Spurs were drawn against Slavia in last season's UEFA Cup. In any event, the tie would have been fine because they owned less than 50% of Spurs at the timr, even though everyone was clear they controlled the club.

With the purchase of Sugar's remaining stake this year, of course, the share in Spurs is now up to about 66%.

Apart from Spurs, Enic's main interest is now said to be "property investment."

In contrast to, say, Kemsley, Levy is not demonstrative with his wealth. He even declines to spend money on shareholders, Enic issuing no dividends but aiming to build capital value, or indeed on himself. In 2000, he was reported to take home just £10,000 a year from his work at Enic (although he does take fair chunks from Spurs and other companies - see below).

Sources : BBC News, 20 December, 2000; David Conn, The Guardian September 27, 2006

Paul Kemsley ("George")

Kemsley (or PK as he apparently likes to be known) is Tottenham's vice-chairman. A long-term Spurs fan, the carpet in his office is navy blue and white stripes and the walls adorned with signed shirts and memorabilia.

He was one of the early public faces of the new ownership, attending Q & A sessions with supporters when Levy was much more reticent. At a session in 2002, he "introduced himself to the members as an Executive Director of the Football Club whose primary responsibility is property". It's noted that several supporters present knew him and had travelled with him to away matches in the past. At that point Kemsley stated clearly that the club was not for sale and that he along with ENIC and other major investors hoped to see a return on their equity as a result of success on the pitch. However, the reference was to a "5 year plan", and those five years are now up.

It was through Kemsley that the meeting with Ramos was set up. He made contact with London based property developer Tony Jimenez, a man with interests in Seville, who has been acting as UK agent for Ramos.

Levy, Lewis and Kemsley, are involved in a property development company, Rock Investment Holdings, which has acquired a spread of commercial and residential sites around England. Lewis holds his 50% stake in Rock via a holding company, Rapallo, of which Levy is the sole director. In the year to December 2004, Levy was paid £240,000 by Rapallo; in the year to June 2005, he was also paid £525,000 by Enic for his work as Tottenham's chairman. Rapallo, like Enic, is ultimately owned by Lewis via a company incorporated in the Bahamas.

Kemsley set up Rock in the 1990s, but the business shot to prominence in 2005 when it became involved in a takeover battle for Countryside Properties. In the end the takeover didn't go ahead, but Kemsley sold the shares at a profit anyway. He said at the time, "It was great profile-wise and we made a few quid along the way. There was no question of the money not being there. The support we had from Lewis was unparalleled. He sent me £300m in cash to buy the equity. Telling him I didn’t want the money was not an easy phone call to have to make.”

More recently, starting late last year, Kemsley appeared to be building up for a takeover of Quintain Property and Development, which has large regeneration projects close to Wembley football stadium and the former Millennium Dome in London. However, in July 2007 he sold his 11.9 per cent holding at a profit. He and HSBC also recently made a profit of more than £30 million in just five months when Rock bought and then sold the Grade I-listed former headquarters of Midland Bank. A hankering towards shorter-term profit taking may not be what Spurs fans really hope to see.

Kemsley is also involved in a profit-sharing deal with the club itself, partly relating to Spurs' long search for a bigger ground. Tottenham have agreed to pay Kemsley 15% of any profits the club makes from its property investments, a deal some fans have raised objections to, but which Levy defends as a fair return for the work Kemsley will do. Piecemeal, land around White Hart Lane has been bought to create a larger footprint for the stadium, but the club insists it will not expand its current ground unless the project forms part of wider regeneration, involving public money, of the rundown area of Haringey around it.

Online gambling is another area that has got Kemsley excited on occasion. He took stakes in a number of quoted businesses, although not all his investments have been successful. Gaming VC is one he prefers not to dwell on. He has had more success with stakes in Party Gaming, the poker operator, Betex, which has a licence to run a lottery in China, and Gaming Corporation, a gambling portal. Arguably his biggest success was with Fun Technologies, an AIM-quoted company that specialises in so-called “skill games”, which allow customers to play solitaire, chess and other games for money. Unlike casino games or sports betting, it is legal in America.

Kemsley also fancies himself as a poker player and was spotted in a big money game with professionals on youtube. "Looks like some novice with lots of money to burn", was one on-line observer's comment.

He certainly has a wide social circle. Alan Sugar and Philip Green are friends. (He has appeared on The Apprentice with Sugar). In July, when Kemsley celebrated his 40th birthday with a grand party in Granada, Spain, entertainers over the weekend included Jackie Mason, the Gypsy Kings, Duran Duran, Billy Joel and Craig David. There were almost enough footballers for a team, including Robbie Keane and Jamie Redknapp. Robert Earl, founder of the Hard Rock cafe, flew in, too.

Another guest was 'Magpie' Mike Ashley, billionaire founder of Sports Direct and the new owner of Newcastle United. One anecdote Kemsley has told is quite instructive about both of them, "When I was 15, I was a Saturday boy at this place called John Paul Menswear. Mike (Ashley)'s first sports shop was opposite, and I'd always be in there playing darts. He would beat me every week and I'd usually go home with no money".

Although the rumours that Ashley had funded the party were denied, he is widely said to be one possible buyer for Spurs if, as also rumoured, the whole plan is to add value to the club before flogging it off.

Sources : Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust Members Meeting, 1 August 2002; Matthew Goodman, The Sunday Times, December 4, 2005; David Conn, The Guardian September 27, 2006 ; The Evening Standard, June 12, 2007; The Financial Times, July 13, 2007 ; The Financial Times, July 18, 2007; Ian Ridley and Daniel King, Daily Mail, 25 August, 2007

Damien Comolli ("Anne")




Comolli was appointed as Director of Football in 2005 after Chelsea "head-hunted" Frank Arnesen. He is now aged 35. Technically, at least, he is Jol's boss, with responsibility for the medical, academy, scouting and club secretarial departments.

Levy does not seem to trust managers and was keen to establish this European model, initially with Arnesen and Santini. Explaining the scouting system in the club magazine this year, Comolli was clear about who governed the process. “Obviously we [the scouting department] come up with all the names and I tell Martin this is the reason why we think this player is No 1, No 2, No 3 and so on. Of course Martin has a vital say in all of this and he might say he prefers one player to another, so we can swap around, but basically we’re always working on a team of players who currently play for other clubs.” In practice, this seems to mean that Jol doesn't necessarily get the players he wants, or even players in the positions he wants.

Comolli started out as a defender in Monaco's youth team but injury and an underlying lack of true quality made him turn to coaching, at the age of 20, with encouragement from Arsene Wenger, then manager at the French club. He started with the under 16s. He spent three years at Monaco, a season in Japan with the Nagasaki Under-18s, and then joined Wenger at Arsenal in 1997.

Comolli also gained a Law degree at the Universite de Nice in 1995.

At Arsenal he was chief European scout. Names such as Kolo Toure, Jeremie Aliadiere and Gael Clichy stand out among the untested players he brought to the club, while he also helped to sign Thierry Henry and Robert Pires.

After leaving Arsenal, he was technical director at Saint-Etienne for a single season, when they finished sixth, but he then fell out with the club hierarchy. "I did not agree with the direction the club was going in terms of management. We had different points of view. I am not in football just to sit behind my desk. I say what I think if I think something is wrong. I am respectful of the people who run the club but I didn't agree and I left."

On his initial appointment at Spurs he portrayed himself as a workaholic. "I have no time for myself,'' admitted Comolli, who is married with two children. "My family is great and very supportive. When you are in professional football and you are passionate you don't even know what time it is. Whatever it takes you do it, because it's a privilege to be working with your passion.

"Football is about details and I think making the right decision in every aspect is important. Otherwise it would be an easy job and it's not an easy job. Football is a very small world but you can still make a difference by working harder. I'm talking about everything. Every detail counts if you want to be successful. "

Levy's take was "He'll be a huge asset to the club with his forward-thinking approach to international networking and partnerships." Whether the discussions with Ramos come under that heading, I really don't know.

Sources : John Ley, Daily Telegraph, Sept 16, 2005; The Evening Standard, Sept 8, 2005; The Sunday Times, August 26, 2007

John Alexander ("Timmy the dog")

Alexander is the club secretary at Spurs and only along at the meeting because he is their contracts man. He is also, presumably, the one who really should have known better.

Born Liverpool 1955, John Alexander signed as a professional for Millwall after graduating from London University with a BA Hons in Geography. He went on to play for Reading, where he was a member of the 4th Division championship winning side in 1979, and later Northampton Town.

On ceasing to be a professional footballer, John worked for the BBC for five years before joining Watford in 1987 where he was Assistant Secretary to Eddie Plumley before becoming Secretary. He joined Tottenham Hotspur as Club Secretary on March 27 2000 from Watford, replacing Peter Barnes, who left White Hart Lane to join West Ham United.

In June 2005 the Football Administrators Association announced that John Alexander was to be their new Chairman. He took over from Alan Jones who served as Chairman for over four years. The Football Administrators Association draws its membership from those concerned with the administrative side of the game, consisting mainly of Club Secretaries and their assistants, but also including several Chief Executives. It is a sister association of the League Managers Association.

Hence, he should have known better than to go behind his manager's back. And to get caught, of course.

As the Daily Mail said "at the very least, (it) shows that the 15th wealthiest club in the world .... are unfamiliar with behaving like a big club". Enid Blyton has nothing on this little adventure.

Sources : FAA website; Ian Ridley and Daniel King, Daily Mail 25 August, 2007

Epilogue

In the meantime, "according to sources at Tottenham and in the City", Enic’s ownership is not intended as a long-term investment. Towards the end of last season talks were held with an American consortium about a potential takeover . Although that approach did not result in a formal offer, ENIC remains eager to profit on its ownership of Tottenham and would sell its holding for an appropriate price. Both club and owners are being advised by Seymour Pierce, City financiers who specialise in Premier League takeovers and who, through Keith Harris, the former chairman of the Football League, brokered the purchase of Manchester City by Thaksin Shinawatra.

After accounting for its complex structure of ordinary and preference shares, Tottenham’s current stock market value is £212m. Last season the word was that ENIC would settle for a 50% mark-up on that figure, but the £470m buyout of Liverpool and the battle for Arsenal have widened their eyes. The asking price for Spurs now stands nearer to £450m.

Two things are essential to "achieve full market potential" (sell for as much as possible) : Champions League football and the redevelopment of the Lane into a larger stadium of Emirates size. Both aims would be largely embraced by fans, whose main complaint about the current ownership has been the time when a sponsor's logo meant they had a bit of nasty red on their shirts.

If Kemsley and Levy can achieve both aims before cashing in, they may yet retain the "best owners in the world" tag they have been given by some groups of fans.

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