New takeover rumours

[Yiddo]

Im happy the way we are now to be honest.

We could eventually lose both our Manager and Chairmen which is quite frightening really.

 

[Jordinho]

Of course they do. But does want to work for them?
He's gonna get 111m from this sale.
Running Spurs is difficult job with long hours and the guy gets little praise.
He does it because he owns 25% of the club and Joe Lewis is a personal friend and doesn't interfere.
Will he want to do the same job with that money in the bank and AEG looking over his shoulder the whole time?
They will have to offer him a ridiculous package of wages and incentives.
He's run the club for 10 years and it will probably feel to him a good time to go out on a high.

Or he could want to see it through. I reckon he's having more fun now that he knows what he's doing, compared to when he started. And who knows if Levy will sell his share.

 

[Rorschach]

Of course they do. But does want to work for them?
He's gonna get 111m from this sale.
Running Spurs is difficult job with long hours and the guy gets little praise.
He does it because he owns 25% of the club and Joe Lewis is a personal friend and doesn't interfere.
Will he want to do the same job with that money in the bank and AEG looking over his shoulder the whole time?
They will have to offer him a ridiculous package of wages and incentives.
He's run the club for 10 years and it will probably feel to him a good time to go out on a high.

You are assuming he sells his shares too which may not necessarily be the case. What if Levy thinks he can make more money by holding his shares? He may then choose to 'manage' his investment in the best way he can by staying at the helm.

I see this whole move as a potential risk to the club. I have no basis for that assessment except things are fine now and I don't know how this will play out.

 

[jpp]

Or he could want to see it through. I reckon he's having more fun now that he knows what he's doing, compared to when he started. And who knows if Levy will sell his share.

No reason why he should give up just because he would have an extra ?ú111m. He is a very wealthy man already, not everyone works purely for money.

 

[jaysea67]

Levy doesn't own "his shares" in Spurs directly. The shares are owned by ENIC in which Levy has a minority shareholding. Unless ENIC sells part of their holding to a new buyer eg. AEG and part to Levy personally I don't see an option for ENIC to exit but Levy to maintain an equity interest. Secondly, if ENIC sell their shares, it wouldn't necessarily mean that Levy would get the cash in his bank. ENIC might decide to reinvest the proceeds elsewhere.

 

[Klinsmania]

No reason why he should give up just because he would have an extra ?ú111m. He is a very wealthy man already, not everyone works purely for money.

Exactly, he's a business man so he won't simply just give up because he's got ?ú111m in the bank. In my industry, people make billions on big sales all the time, and they don't simply give up and live off the money. They try to make more and build an empire to ensure that their kids/grandkids etc need never have to worry.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

Group.

I would welcome their investment.

Huge experience running and building entertainment venues.

If we can get the stdium paid for privately great......any deal that involves leveraged debt can fudge right off.

Exactly, think they should make leveraged buy outs illegal.

 

[SandroSays]

I'm pretty scared - none of the American take-overs recently have been good for the clubs involved have they? Man United, Aston Villa and Liverpool seem to be beeing leeched into mediocraty, whereas under Joe Lewis and Levy, we've been slowely improving with steady investment in the team.

Even if Levy stays the new owners will probably want to recoup their initial investment as soon as possible and that + the new stadium costs = Gregor Raziak (probably).

 

[skyfarer]

Tbh, I'm wary of this. AEG does not exactly pour money into the soccer clubs they own, and they'll probably be looking to maximize their return on the stadium by pimping it out to every Justin Bieber fan in England (their natural domain). So they are not likely to give us any more than Lewis does (ie. nada), and may even pull a Hicks/Gillette style takeover at worst (buying us with debt).

Unless Anschutz has suddenly decided to become a sugar daddy because he just loves football and Spurs sooooo much, or will leave our team alone to Levy's care while funding our shiny new stadium, I don't see any advantages in a takeover by him. Surely there is some Chinese mega-rich corporation out there with money to burn and a name to spread? After all, if they don't act fast basketball is going to cement itself as the #1 sport in the biggest country in the world. With FFP, the best thing that could happen would be us unearthing the football Jeremy Lin.

(I also have a personal distaste for Anschutz and his funding of homophobic 'family values' and creationism-promoting foundations, tbh. I couldn't care less that he's conservative or Christian or what-have-you, I just can't stand organizations that harm people for the most flimflam of reasons (and well, I just HATE HATE HATE creationism). Exclusion is against the ethos of sport and what I hope my club will be. I highly doubt that will ever enter in any of AEG's football-related decisions, but ideally I'd like an owner who I can feel vaguely good about. Hey ho.)

 

[EJG]

I'm pretty scared - none of the American take-overs recently have been good for the clubs involved have they? Man United, Aston Villa and Liverpool seem to be beeing leeched into mediocraty, whereas under Joe Lewis and Levy, we've been slowely improving with steady investment in the team.

While the level of debt the Glazers have dumped on Man Utd isn't something I want to happen to Spurs, they haven't exactly been unsuccessful since the Glazers took over. Three Champions League finals, one win, and I think they've won the PL four times since then too.

 

[SandroSays]

(I also have a personal distaste for Anschutz and his funding of homophobic 'family values' and creationism-promoting foundations, tbh. I couldn't care less that he's conservative or Christian or what-have-you, I just can't stand organizations that harm people for the most flimflam of reasons (and well, I just HATE HATE HATE creationism). Exclusion is against the ethos of sport and what I hope my club will be. I highly doubt that will ever enter in any of AEG's football-related decisions, but ideally I'd like an owner who I can feel vaguely good about. Hey ho.)

Didn't know about that - makes me even less enthusiastic. Although Lewis isn't exactly an angel tbf.

 

[chancer]

(I also have a personal distaste for Anschutz and his funding of homophobic 'family values' and creationism-promoting foundations, tbh. I couldn't care less that he's conservative or Christian or what-have-you, I just can't stand organizations that harm people for the most flimflam of reasons (and well, I just HATE HATE HATE creationism). Exclusion is against the ethos of sport and what I hope my club will be. I highly doubt that will ever enter in any of AEG's football-related decisions, but ideally I'd like an owner who I can feel vaguely good about. Hey ho.)

Thanks for this info, must read up a bit on it later. Like you, this crap gives me the creeps, big time.

 

[SandroSays]

While the level of debt the Glazers have dumped on Man Utd isn't something I want to happen to Spurs, they haven't exactly been unsuccessful since the Glazers took over. Three Champions League finals, one win, and I think they've won the PL four times since then too.

That's true, when you put it like that. They've also had a very good season so far.

 

[EJG]

Just watching SSN and they read out a statement from AEG denying they have any interest at all in buying Spurs, but they did say they have a close working relationship with us and will continue to do so. Reckon they may end up doing something with us re the stadium but it seems like buying the whole club isn't on the radar.

 

[thfcsteff]

Just watching SSN and they read out a statement from AEG denying they have any interest at all in buying Spurs, but they did say they have a close working relationship with us and will continue to do so. Reckon they may end up doing something with us re the stadium but it seems like buying the whole club isn't on the radar.

This is absolutely what I have heard too...not interested in buying the club per se, but I think there's a lot of 2+2 going on which, in this case as I hear it, is unfounded.

 

[monkeybarry]

Don't want a sugar daddy or bought success.

i think there is a different between an Abramovich/Sheikh who just pump in an open cheque book VS someone that runs the club as a business and therefore spends accordingly

essentially every club falls into the later

 

[zin]

The Anschutz Entertainment Group, who supported Tottenham in their failed attempt to move into the Olympic Stadium, have denied reports that they plan to buy the north London club. AEG president Tim Leiweke says: "We have a very good business and personal relationship with Tottenham and have been involved with a number of transactions over the years. However at no time have we had a desire to purchase that club."

 

[billyiddo]

I have no desire to lose enic or levy as owners/chairman what so ever, in fact i think it will be a sad day when they decide to leave

 

[skyfarer]

Thanks for this info, must read up a bit on it later. Like you, this crap gives me the creeps, big time.

In the USA he is quite famous for his conservatism and support for George Bush, as well as for being very reclusive.

Summary (sources, wiki, sourcewatch, articles etc):

- Conservative Christian, Evangelical Presbyterian Church

- Republican donor, GW Bush supporter

- Funded Colorado's 1992 Amendment 2, designed to overturn local/state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The initiative passed but was invalidated by court decision.

But there is so much else about Anschutz that Prescott, New Labour's Old Labour standard-bearer, must presumably have recoiled from. For instance there was his funding in the early Nineties of a group called Colorado for Family Values, which pushed a ballot initiative known as Amendment 2, which wished to overturn state laws protecting gay rights. The measure passed but was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1996.

Source: The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/philip-anschutz-the-westerner-407105.html)

- Funded the Discovery Institute, anti-evolution Seattle think tank promoting intelligent design.

Anschutz is also involved with the Discovery Institute, a "think-tank" he funds in Seattle which criticises the theory of evolution and argues for the involvement of a "supernatural" actor in the development of living things. Critics accuse it of offering little more than a new spin on creationism, and the institute was recently caught up in a notorious lawsuit about the teaching of creationism in schools.

Source: The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/philip-anschutz-the-westerner-407105.html)

The Center for Science and Culture (CSC), formerly known as the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (CRSC), is part of the Discovery Institute, a conservative Christian think tank[2] in the United States. The CSC lobbies for the inclusion of creationism in the form of intelligent design (ID) in public school science curricula as an explanation for the origins of life and the universe while casting doubt on the theory of evolution.

....

An internal CSC report dating from 1998 which outlined a five-year plan for fostering broader acceptance of ID was leaked to the public in 1999. This plan became known as the Wedge strategy. The 'Wedge Document' explained the CSC's key aims are "To defeat scientific materialism and its destructive moral, cultural and political legacies" and to "replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by GHod."

....

The CSC's Teach the Controversy campaign seeks to promote the teaching of "the full range of scientific views" on evolution[13] on "unresolved issues" and the "scientific weaknesses of evolutionary theory"....The strategy has been to move from standards battles, to curriculum writing, to textbook adoption, all the while undermining the central positions of evolution in biology and methodological naturalism in science. The CSC is the primary organizer and promoter of the Teach the Controversy campaign. Examples of Teach the Controversy in action were the Kansas evolution hearings, the Santorum Amendment, 2002 Ohio Board of Education intelligent design controversy, and the Dover, Pennsylvania Board of Education intelligent design controversy.

The cultivation of support for ID and its social and political agenda in higher education is a very active part of CSC's strategy. The CSC has claimed that established scholars in the scientific community support intelligent design....Since its founding in 1996, the CSC has spent 39 percent of its $9.3 million on research according to Meyer, underwriting books or papers, or often just paying universities to release professors from some teaching responsibilities so that they can ponder intelligent design.

The Center is funded through the Discovery Institute, which is largely underwritten by grants and gifts from wealthy Christian fundamentalist conservative individuals and groups, such as Howard Ahmanson Jr., Philip F. Anschutz, Richard Mellon Scaife, and the MacLellan Foundation.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Science_and_Culture

(Yes yes wiki I know. Good reference list here, though. It's an interesting read if you have the time. I live near Seattle so the thought of having a creationist hub there creeps me out.)


- Foundation award to Focus on the Family

For those of you lucky enough to not know about Focus on the Family, they are a hilariously homophobic organization obsessed with teh gays. Here's a mild quote from James Dobson, the founder:

"[The homosexual] agenda includes teaching pro-homosexual [sic] concepts in the public schools, redefining the family to represent "any circle of people who love each other," approval of homosexual adoption, legitimizing same-sex marriage, and securing special rights for those who identify themselves as gay. Those ideas must be opposed, even though to do so is to expose oneself to the charge of being "homophobic."
ÔÇô "Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide" by James Dobson, founder.

"Focus on the Family announced Thursday it will take over sponsorship of an annual student-led event against homosexuality. The event is called the Day of Dialogue, formerly known as the Day of Truth. ÔÇ£We want to offer students the facts (about homosexuality) to engage a dialogue in schools,ÔÇØ Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger said.

Focus today launched the website Dayofdialogue.com, a resource for students interested in being part of the homosexual protest next April.

ÔÇ£The Day of Dialogue gives you, as a student, the opportunity to express the true model presented by Jesus Christ in the Bible (on homosexuality),ÔÇØ the website says.

Source: THe Gazette (http://www.gazette.com/articles/focus-107851-gay-taking.html#ixzz1mfKQFSdQ)


- Funded Parents Television Council (anti-TV indecency, quite homophobic), The Foundation for a Better Life, the Institute for American Values (also super antigay), and other conservative media

But Anschutz is not only a wealthy tycoon who has built a business empire that encompasses everything from railways and ranches to cinemas and sports teams, he has also used this vast wealth and influence to promote his conservative Christian views, to campaign against gay marriage and to fund an organisation that questions Darwin's theory of evolution. His money also pays for another group based in Washington to attack and lobby against liberal elements of the US media and to rail about alleged indecency on television, while his movie production company, the Anschutz Film Group (AFG), has made Christianity-themed films such asThe Chronicles of Narnia, an adaptation of C S Lewis's children's story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

....

Then there is the Media Research Council, a Washington-based group that attacks the liberal media and which in 2003 was responsible for half of the complaints received by the Federal Communications Commission about alleged indecency on television. According to the non-profit group Media Transparency, Anschutz also funds a number of other ultra-conservative organisations, including the Institute for American Values, which campaigns for marriage and against single parenting, and Enough is Enough, which campaigns against internet pornography.

Source: The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/philip-anschutz-the-westerner-407105.html)


****

I'm not arguing that other club owners aren't way more dodgy and massive abusers of human rights, or that Anschutz doesn't also donate to a lot of great social causes like poverty alleviation, but I live in the U.S. where science and birth control and people's bedroom habits have become major political issues so the evangelical spiel annoys the brick outta me. It wasn't so long ago that I graduated from a high school in the South - so many smug classmates who think they've disproved evolution aaaaarrrgh ](*,)

I can't really think of a rich owner I'd be proud to have though. Maybe Gates or Skoll for their philanthropy efforts. I've been calling for a Chinese sugardaddy, but watch him fund child labor and dissident torture or something :frown:

 

[hodsgod]

Group.

I would welcome their investment.

Huge experience running and building entertainment venues.

If we can get the stdium paid for privately great......any deal that involves leveraged debt can fudge right off.

That could be the only reason, to welcome them. They can at least bring the right commercial activities to help support the stadium. I am only concerned about how much money would they want to take as profit each year. As far as I am aware the current owners have never taken anything out ofbthe club.

One further point, they aren't getting my shares!