Tottenham's Sir Jim Ratcliffe row is 'embarrassing and fundamentally wrong'
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Tottenham's Sir Jim Ratcliffe row is 'embarrassing and fundamentally wrong'

Keith Wyness
Keith Wyness

Boardroom Consultant AUTHORITY Former CEO of Everton, Aston Villa & Aberdeen; 20+ years executive leadership in the Premier League. FOCUS Club governance, commercial strategy, executive recruitment, and high-stakes football negotiation. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Operational Analytics, including Deep-Data Metrics like Commercial Revenue Growth (CRG), Boardroom KPI Weighting, and Strategic Infrastructure ROI. He provides executive-level analysis to reveal the boardroom reality behind club performance that fans rarely see.

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Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and Man United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe have faced similar criticism for the running of their respective clubs after their struggles this season.

Spurs and United sit 13th and 14th in the Premier League table respectively with 11 games left to play this term.

Both clubs are fighting it out for the Europa League trophy this term and could meet in the final with both club's in danger of missing out on European football for next season.

Everton's former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – has weighed in on an "embarrassing" new row between key figures at the two clubs.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou
Tottenham sit 13th in the Premier League - one place above Man United. (Credit: Imago)

INEOS' Tottenham move is a 'bad sign', says Wyness

As per the BBC (19 February), INEOS are in talks with Spurs about ending their sponsorship deal early as Ratcliffe pursues cost-cutting measures across his empire.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness insisted "something is fundamentally wrong" at INEOS as they funnel money away from their other ventures and into United.

12Crystal Palace2736+2
13Tottenham2733+14
14Man United2733-6
15Everton2732-4
16West Ham2630-17
Man United and Tottenham are struggling in the 2024-25 campaign

The petrochemical firm are currently Tottenham’s official hand sanitiser and 4×4 vehicle partners, with the INEOS brand visible pitch side at their stadium.

Wyness insisted the move from Ratcliffe is a "bad sign" for the British billionaire.

He told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “With INEOS right now, everywhere you look it’s a mess.

“Every sports partnership or sponsorship they’re in, it’s not a happy one.

“I think it’s embarrassing for them to walk away from the Tottenham deal. You’d have thought it has nothing to do with Man United, it’s meant to be that the INEOS Grenadier 4x4 has a separate budget and separate strategy.

“If it’s really the case that he’s having to rob money from other divisions to put into Man United, that’s a bad sign.

“It could be that they are just not getting the right results and now want to terminate the deal.

“We’ll have to get more detail. But INEOS aren’t thinking things through right now and there’s conflict around every corner - something is fundamentally wrong.”

Tottenham
Eze is a top target for Tottenham ahead of the off-season. (Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media)

Eze on the radar at Tottenham this summer

Industry insider Mick Brown told Football Insider on 27 February that Tottenham are plotting a move to sign Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze in the summer transfer window.

Tottenham staff have held concerns about Son Heung-min's long-term future, and Eze is viewed as a potential replacement for him.

Crystal Palace are reluctant to let their star man leave without a replacement lined up, while they also expect to lose England star Marc Guehi.

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