Kieran Maguire: Tottenham have ‘payment problem’ as £152m-plus announcement ‘lined up’
Tottenham and other high-profile clubs have a problem when it comes to converting their huge global following into hard cash.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Spurs’ efforts to monetise their fanbase.
As relayed by the Daily Mail last Friday (1 July), Spurs claimed in a recent job specification for a partnership development manager to have 615.5million followers worldwide.
The claim, if true, would mean one in 12 of the world’s population is a follower of the north London club.
Tottenham have made efforts to appeal to their broader fanbase in recent times, including with the launch of a new OTT streaming service.
But their commercial income of £152million for the latest accounting year is still well short of the figures earnt by the likes of Liverpool, Man City and Man United.
Maguire explained how Spurs hope to announce greater commercial revenues in future but must first find a way to further monetise interest in the club.
“It’s easy to have a follower because many of them come at zero cost other than clicking ‘like’ on social media,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“There’s no doubt that Spurs have concentrated fans in certain areas. I think that’s one aspect that has led to them lining up to announce greater commercial revenues.
“Given the success of Son Heung-min, for example, South Korea is one where they are probably now dominant. But you would struggle to find that in other markets.
“So, having followers is one thing but finding followers who are willing to stump up and address that payment problem is proving to be much more difficult. “
Spurs are set to embark on a pre-season tour of South Korea where they will play a K League XI and Seville in the coming days.
They recently announced that South Korean luggage brand Tumi would sponsor the tour.
In other news, Tottenham idol hails Daniel Levy after journalist’s £15million update,