14 hours ago
31
Speculation over a takeover at Tottenham Hotspur has increased in the aftermath of Daniel Levy's shock departure as the club's long-serving chairman.
The bombshell announcement arrived on Thursday evening with Levy, who had held the high-ranking position for almost 25 years, thanking Spurs and its supporters. He said: "I am incredibly proud of the work I have done together with the executive team and all our employees. We have built this club into a global heavyweight competing at the highest level.
"More than that, we have built a community. I was lucky enough to work with some of the greatest people in this sport, from the team at Lilywhite House and Hotspur Way to all the players and managers over the years.
"I wish to thank all the fans that have supported me over the years. It hasn’t always been an easy journey but significant progress has been made. I will continue to support this club passionately."
As football.london understand, Levy's exit was enforced by the Lewis family behind Spurs owners ENIC as the final step in their reshape the structure of control in N17. The club's statement clarified Vinai Venkatesham has been hired as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Thomas Frank is the new men’s head coach whilst Martin Ho is the new women’s head coach, and lastly Peter Charrington has joined the board and will step into the newly created role of Non-Executive Chairman.
It also reaffirmed ENIC's commitment, specifically outlining: "There are no changes to the ownership or shareholder structure of the club."
football.london understands as much, and that this fact isn't set on changing any time soon. There are no current plans to sell the club and that the changes to the hierarchy have been made to create a club better prepared for continued sporting success moving forward.
But this has done little to quell any talk of a major change above board at Spurs, especially with MSP Sports Capital's latest deal happening parallel to events in North London. This week they are reportedly in the process of making a major profit by selling their stake in McLaren Racing.
In his former role, Levy had previously revealed that Spurs were seeking fresh investment with MSP Sports Capital said to be in talks to acquire a 40 percent stake in the club.
The firm were formed in New York in 2019 by Jahm Najafi as an investment fund with interest in sports teams, media rights, distribution technologies, content creation, sponsorship, eSports, betting, and data. They hold ties to four football clubs - FC Augsburg, AD Alorcon, GD Estoril and SK Beveren - plus outside of football, one of their first ventures was to invest in McLaren's motorsport endeavours.
MSP lead a consortium along with other entities Ares Investment Management and the UBS O’Connor hedge fund to acquire an initial 15 per cent stake in McLaren Racing for £185m. At the time, the team had last won an Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2012 and were valued in-post at over £560m.
McLaren also compete in IndyCar, were a part of Formula E between the 2023 and 2025 seasons, and are set to enter the World Endurance Championships from 2027.
Over several years the team's fortunes in F1 have been turned around under the guidance of chief executive Zak Brown. Last year they won the constructors' championship and following Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, are on track to do so again following the next meeting in Azerbaijan in two weeks' time.
Australian driver Oscar Piastri currently heads the 2025 drivers' championship with a 31-point lead over British teammate Lando Norris in second place.
Over the course of this meteoric rise the consortium spearheaded by MSP have increased their stake to 30 per cent of McLaren Racing, but according to reports have started the process of selling up. This will see majority shareholders Mumtalakat - the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund - and UAE-based investment group CYVN Holdings buy out the remaining shares they do not already own to take 100 per cent control of McLaren.
According to Sky News, the transaction could be announced as soon as Tuesday, September 9.
If confirmed, sources believe the total value of McLaren to have increased from £560m almost five years ago, to a gargantuan £3bn in the present day.
In theory, this will hand MSP a major profit on their past investment and could be viewed as a move to get their ducks in a row before deciding on their next venture.
English (US) ·