Talk of Qatari investment to Spurs reopens a familiar conversation about sportswashing, but what can fans do when they’ll get no say in the final decision?
As a football supporter, nothing quite makes you feel as powerless as when talk begins over new ownership for your club. In other areas of running a club, the fans are heard. Or at least the club pretend they are.
When managers are sacked it often follows sustained complaints about that manager’s performance. Clubs love to give the impression that ‘we’re listening’, but that’s easy to say when we’re talking about this relatively disposable position. When talk starts to circulate concerning the actual ownership of a club, well, that’s far too important (and lucrative) for mere fans to have a say.
So the grim truth is that, just as happened with Manchester City, Newcastle United, Chelsea and the other clubs who’ve found themselves at the centre of conversation regarding sportswashing in the 21st century, Spurs supporters will have little to no say over whether Qatar buys a share in their club. But does that mean, as the talk continues to swirl in the air, that they should embrace the idea of joining this particular club as enthusiastically as has happened elsewhere?
It’s not difficult to see why Spurs should be appealing to potential buyers or investors. The foundations are in place. The club has just completed construction of one of Europe’s most modern and well-appointed new stadia, and while this has put the club into debt this seems to be manageable and accounted for, with the club’s finances prior to the stadium construction in very good shape, with naming rights for The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium still not agreed. The club’s training facility in nearby Enfield has also been significantly upgraded in the last decade while, in a broader sense, the Premier League is still considered ‘undervalued’ by some potential investors.
On top of this, a London location is always likely to appeal to foreign investors, while the expectations of the fanbase have been significantly tempered by decades of not having won very much. And while jokes about ‘Spursiness’ will also abound, as they always do, it’s worth remembering that identities can wax and wane over time, and that no club was more Spursy than pre-Abu Dhabi Manchester City.
Current UEFA rules preclude Nasser al-Khelaifi, the chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) and president of Paris Saint-Germain, from…
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