SPURS ANNOUNCE RECORD PROFITS

Stadium plans in advanced stage, Kemsley resigns

Tottenham Hotspur have announced record turnover and profit for the last financial year.
Last year's UEFA Cup campaign, when Martin Jol's side reached the quarter-final stage, and successive fifth-placed Premier League finishes, led to the club posting a turnover of £103.1million for the year ending June 30 2007, up £29million on the 2006 figures.

Operating profit before football trading and depreciation increased from £4.6million to £32million while operating profit before training totalled £29.7million from £2.4million for the previous year.

The club's profit before tax increased massively to £27.7million from £600,000 with retained profit for the year £18.9million.

Chairman Daniel Levy insists the club will continue to prioritise investment in team personnel plus stadium and training facilities.

"All parts of the business have continued to perform well to produce record revenues and profits," he said in his chairman's statement.

"Cash generation has been strong. Our priorities for the club are focused on continued development of the first team where we have built an exceptionally talented squad, progressing our state-of-the-art training centre and the development of an improved, larger stadium."

Here we reproduce the whole part of Levy's speech regarding the training facilities and the stadium:

There is no doubt that our two key capital projects, the Football Training Centre (First Team and Academy) and the Stadium are fundamental features of our future plans for the Club.

A new planning application has been submitted for the Football Training Centre at Bull's Cross, Enfield. The recent purchase of Whitewebbs Sports Club has provided the opportunity to significantly remodel the layout and design of the site, leading to a positive planning balance, a better proposal, one which will have less impact on the Green Belt land, with only 3% comprising of buildings.

In light of this, we have withdrawn our appeal of the previous application and are currently seeking the support of all our stakeholders for the new proposal. The Centre will be important in sustaining the Club’s position in domestic and European competition, developing home grown talent, which in turn benefits the national team, and in extending the benefits associated with professional football to the wider community through an extensive and innovative community outreach programme to be delivered by The Tottenham Hotspur Foundation.

The Planning Committee of the London Borough of Enfield will meet to discuss this application in November 2007. Our hope is that we are able to achieve consent at local level for this facility, which is not only in the interest of the Club but addresses local and national agendas as well as providing a potential training facility for the Olympics.

Our review of Stadium options is now substantially complete. I can report that a limited number of potential sites have been identified in the London Boroughs of Enfield and Haringey including the expansion possibilities of the existing stadium. These obviously remain highly sensitive on commercial grounds, but we are now working to a timetable that will see us commit to one option during the first half of 2008.

I am delighted to announce that Tony Winterbottom, who worked for the Mayor of London as the Executive Director of Regeneration and Development at the London Development Agency, joins a team which is headed by myself, supported by your Finance Director, along with a multi-disciplinary group of architects, transport consultants, heritage specialists, planning consultants and a host of other experts to bring this project to fruition.

The team will work in conjunction with The Tottenham Hotspur Foundation with respect to community affairs. In addition we are in discussion with Council bodies, the LDA, Transport for London, the GLA, the Mayor’s office and local and central government officials. There has been initial consultation with supporters and their representative groups and this will be an ongoing process".

Meanwhile, Tottenham have confirmed vice-chairman Paul Kemsley has left the club. The Chairman revealed Kemsley has resigned from his position as non-executive chairman to focus on his business interests in the United States.

"It is with regret that I announce the resignation of Paul Kemsley as non-executive vice chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football & Athletic Co Ltd with effect from this year's forthcoming general meeting.

"Paul has recently expanded his property business interests in the United States and feels that inevitably his time spent overseas will impact upon his ability to fulfil his role with the club. Paul has worked with me for the past six years at the club and I thank him for his advice and counsel during this period."

Mr Levy had this to say about matters on the pitch:

"Player movements in the latter half of the year have been far less than in previous years, an indication that much of the rebuilding of the squad has been achieved. Last season saw us integrate a number of new players who have since settled well and now embark on a second season in European competition.

The following players have joined since we last reported: Darren Bent, Gareth Bale, Younes Kaboul and Kevin-Prince Boateng for the First Team; Adel Taarabt’s loan became a permanent move; Hossam Ahmed Mido joined and departed. Exciting younger players to join our Academy included Yuri Berchiche, Danny Rose and Dean Parrett.

Danny Murphy, Reto Ziegler, Mark Yeates and Emil Hallfredsson left the Club and Rodrigo Defendi, Rob Burch and Charlie Lee were released. We wish them all well.

I am pleased to report that, during the year, sixteen of our First Team professional players were called up to represent their respective national teams and this reinforces the continued quality of our current squad of players.

Tom Huddlestone and Jermaine Jenas were both offered and signed new, extended contracts. We very much hope Jermain Defoe will also extend his contract with the Club. We have progressively introduced an increased element of performance related remuneration into player contracts designed to reward success.

Our Academy re-structuring continues to produce excellent results. During last season five graduates from the Academy moved to professional contracts as third year, full-time players. A further seven moved to the Development Team under Clive Allen at the end of the season. The same period saw eight Academy scholars called up for international duty, along with six of our schoolboys. Most notably Thomas Pekhart who at 18 has played for the Czech Republic in the U20 World Cup in Canada.

The Academy participated in four international youth competitions and was successful in winning the prestigious Verona tournament. During the pre season our U18s won the Eurofoot tournament, this age group being a flagship group for the Academy with players showing potential for the First Team.

Our pre-season tour of South Africa was a great success. We enjoy strong historical support, enhanced by the previous tour in 2003 when we supported the South African bid to host the 2010 World Cup. The team returned from the tour victorious in the Vodacom Challenge. The players undertook several corporate social responsibility visits and were congratulated on their contribution throughout the tour. Their behaviour and conduct made them a credit to our Club.

An extended association was established with South Africa with the announcement of our partnership with SuperSport United, a Premier Soccer League (PSL) team owned by SuperSport, that will see the Clubs’ academies working together. It represents an excellent opportunity for coaching exchanges and the development of talent both for ourselves and also for the benefit of the South African game. SuperSport is one of the largest broadcasters in Africa, broadcasting to 57 countries and the relationship will result in extensive coverage of both the Club and the joint academy throughout the continent."