The nightmare of the Sugar years at the helm come to an end tonight when ENIC take over the club. I would like to wish them every success in returning Tottenham to the top and suggest the removal of Gooner George (without any contract payoff would be the most urgent action - along with getting a left half, couple of central midfielders and a decent striker all of Champions league/International quality). No easy task, but after the inaction of the last few years resulting in us falling further behind the pacesetters, I'm sure the supporters will welcome a new approach and give it a few years to show some progress, especially if it makes an effort to heal the rift between those who run the club and the supporters (again, sorting out the brain dead at the ticket office would be a good place to start)
On Sugar - thanks for saving us from the financial trouble in 1991, but you were incapeable of running a major football club and have £22 in profit to compensate you for the abuse you took once in a while when frustrations at your lack of ability in managing the PLC boiled over.
The ENIC statement as reported on the official site
ENIC Completes Acquisition of Strategic Interest and
Board Changes
Following completion of the acquisition of 27,356,649 ordinary shares of Tottenham (representing 26.9 per cent of its ordinary issued share capital) by ENIC Sports plc (a wholly owned subsidiary of ENIC plc) ENIC’s holding in Tottenham is 29.9 per cent of its issued ordinary share capital. The Board of Tottenham announces that Sir Alan Sugar has today resigned as Chairman and as Director of the Company with immediate effect. Daniel Levy, a Non-Executive Director of the Company and Managing Director of ENIC plc, will act as Non-Executive Chairman pending the appointment of a new Chairman.
The Board of Tottenham also announces the appointment of David Buchler (pictured) as an Executive Director of the Company in the role of Executive Vice Chairman. David will have specific responsibility for developing the overall strategy of the Company, in conjunction with the Board, a task which should be completed in stages over the next six months. During this period, David will also be responsible for the day to day running of Tottenham. David is 49 and a qualified accountant. He has over thirty years experience in business development and strategy including a wide range of work in football in the UK. He is Chairman, Europe & Africa for Kroll the world’s leading risk mitigation company, quoted in New York.
Commenting on the changes, Daniel Levy, Non-Executive Chairman, said:
"The Board’s priority is to develop a detailed plan for the Company both over the short term and for the next three to five years. We are ambitious for success, both commercially and on the field, and believe that Tottenham will achieve both. We believe there are a number of opportunities to attain these objectives."
David Buchler, Executive Vice Chairman, said:
"I have been asked by the Board to produce a strategic development plan for the Club. The objective is to position the club once more as one of Europe’s leading football clubs and in a stable environment to bring continued success on a consistent basis. The review of the club’s activities and its working practices will be all embracing and will take into account the views and concerns of all the different constituents that are interested in the club’s success."
Some more about
the new Regime
Tottenham's new owners moved in at White Hart Lane on
Wednesday, with a vote of confidence for manager George
Graham and a pledge to try and keep skipper Sol Campbell
at the club. Alan Sugar stood down as chairman of Spurs
as the English National Investment Company completed
their takeover and took their stake in the club to 29.9%.
Daniel Levy, managing director of ENIC Plc, will act as
non-executive chairman of the club, pending the
appointment of a new chairman. But the man responsible
for the day-to-day running of the club is David Buchler,
who has been appointed as executive vice-chairman.
Buchler's aim is to transform Spurs into a major European
football force.
In an exclusive interview with PA Sport he praised Graham's
achievements at White Hart Lane and also said he was
determined to hold on to Campbell. "At the moment we
have a manager who has lost only one of the last nine
games, and who has led us into the quarter-finals of the
FA Cup - that isn't bad and I think we have got to give
him credit for that," said
Buchler, a 49-year-old chartered accountant and Spurs
season ticket holder.
"I don't think there is any supporter - myself
included - who wouldn't want Sol, Darren Anderton and the
rest of our top players to stay at the club, and I am
going to do everything I can to try and persuade them to
stay." But Buchler warned there would be no major
spending spree on new players until the future of the
transfer market is resolved.
He said: "I have been going to White Hart Lane since
I was eight, and followed them right through the 1960s,
70s and 80s. I live on my memories and I am really keen
to position the club once more as one of Europe's leading
football clubs.
"I also want to provide a stable environment in
which to bring continued success on a consistent basis.
"It is a case of looking at a club which has money
and finding out how to spend it properly in order to
achieve the success you want. "If I can get the
balance right between the passion I have for the club and
the game and the business acumen that needs to go with it
to achieve consistent success, then we have got a chance
of getting to where all supporters want us to be.
"There has been more than £40million spent on new
players over the past five years and you have to ask why
we have not got a successful side which is consistently
winning trophies. "A couple of cups in the 1990s is
not what I regard as continued success on a consistent
basis. "But the whole question of transfers in
Europe is up in the air at the moment, so I don't want to
waste money before a lot of questions have been answered."
Buchler will have specific responsibility for developing
the overall strategy of the Company, in conjunction with
the Board, a task which should be completed in stages
over the next six months.During this period, he will also
be responsible for the day to day running of Tottenham.
He has more than 30 years experience in business
development and strategy including a wide range of work
in football in the UK. He is chairman, Europe &
Africa for Kroll the world's leading risk mitigation
company, quoted in New York.
The search is now on for a new chairman, and Buchler said
the company was looking for "somebody with suitable
weight and City calibre" to replace Sugar long-term.
Commenting on the changes, Daniel Levy said: "The
Board's priority is to develop a detailed plan for the
Company both over the short term and for the next three
to five years.
"We are ambitious for success, both commercially and
on the field, and believe that Tottenham will achieve
both. We believe there are a number of opportunities to
attain these objectives."