Who is Joe Lewis? The owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC

Who is Joe Lewis? The owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC

By Don Scully

Since all this outcry over furloughing (cutting their ordinary staffs wages by 20%, while Lewis & Levy carryon on their luxury lifestyle), the penny-pinching, the Spurs fans are questioning their contribution to our team (or lack of it). Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis are coming under immense scrutiny, but it's not only the fans that are asking awkward questions, but the wider world.

Long before furloughing Pochettino has often spoken or hinted about the amount of investment available to him, especially in comparison to other big-spending teams in the Premier League, such as Manchester City. Given the manager's comments, supporters have also questioned why Lewis is not injecting money into the club. Figures estimate that Lewis is worth somewhere in the region of  £4.5bn - but who is the billionaire tax exile that lives in the Bahama and rarely showing his face at the club he owns.

Well, Joe Louis was one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949, and is considered………. Oh, sorry? Not that legendary one, the man who gave his earnings – during the second world war - to a good cause. But the penny-pinching Billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC, who wanted to save money by furloughing his hard-working staff, while he, himself, Levy and their productive players continue keeping hold of their wealth while living the life of Riley (also, I might add, while the rest of the country tighten their belts)… Oh, that one! Both names being similar, but are spelt different, and besides, Louis died in 1981 and was a legend (silly me!).

Joe Lewis is reportedly nicknamed 'The Boxer' after the boxing legend, and because both names are similar, he probably thought “we have so much in common I’ll bestow on myself that designation…” The original Joe was black, a legend, a charitable giver and a lot more, while the one, who calls himself the “boxer” is… erm? Well, we’ll leave it there.

The 2017 Forbes list released a couple of years ago made him the fifth richest man in the UK and 269th richest in the world (being scrooge helps the money grow).

The octogenarian lives in the Bahamas and through his investment firm Tavistock controls ENIC International Ltd with Daniel Levy, which owns Spurs, but the club is just one small piece of Lewis' empire.

It is believed that Joe Lewis was born above the Roman Arms pub in the east end of London, and he left school at the age of 15 to work in the family cafe.

Joe Lewis steadily turned the cafe into a whole host of restaurants as part of a successful catering business, which was sold for £30m in 1979.

He moved to the Bahamas soon after and used the money to become a currency trader, and from then on, he increased his wealth quickly. Daniel Levy, Joe Lewis' protege, has led the club's massive improvements off the pitch (not on it, though).

It is claimed he made mega money after betting on the fall of the pound on 'Black Wednesday' in 1992 and then doing the same against the Mexican peso three years later. The making of money is obviously in his blood. But charity isn’t the name of the game for him (at least where Spurs is concerned).

The tycoon, also an avid art collector, owns sprawling estates around the world in places such as Argentina, Florida and Bulgaria. His Lake Nona development near Orlando is one of the fastest-growing communities in the USA.

In the 1990s, when Lewis, his son Charlie and protege Levy, set up an investment trust called English National Investment Company (ENIC for short). It was Levy's role to control the football side of things and Charlie the restaurant side.

It soon became a fully listed company, and with it, they bought stakes in Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic, Vicenza of Italy, AEK Athens of Greece and Rangers in Scotland. This was followed by Sir Alan Sugar's stake at Spurs, amid rumours of Lewis moving for Manchester United (if that rumour was true then it wasn’t about Spurs being in his blood, but an opportunity and wealth creation enterprise).

The focus though is now very much Spurs as ENIC, with Levy listed as the company's managing director and executive director, taking full control of the club (with Lewis taking a back seat). Daniel is the face of Spurs and their enormous strides off the pitch in recent years. Tottenham also have a state-of-the-art training facility built in Enfield.

Lewis remains very much in the background (and a tax exile), although he did make upsurges in 2011 when he came to London to increase his stake in the UK's top pub operator, Mitchell's & Butlers.

In May 2013, Joe puffed out his chest and wanted to show his Spurs players his magnificent yacht the Aviva III during a post-season tour of the Bahamas. The then, skipper, Michael Dawson said: "I had never met him before, so it was nice to go over there and a great experience.

After the success of reaching the Champions League final last year, expectations were to aim to at least match the achievements during 2019/20. However, with the difficult start of the season and the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino, furloughing of their poorer staff (now back-tracked) and Tottenham scrooge-like behaviour, Lewis (and Levy) have found themselves increasingly in the spotlight.

Conclusions

It is evident that Tottenham is just a cash cow to Lewis. An investment that will make him even more money... In recent times it has been reported that he wants to sell the club. Hoping to add more capital to his portfolio before he dies. As for Levy, I believe he will stay and continue to turn the Tottenham stadium into a monument of his achievements. The stadium hopefully will be a stadium that keeps giving. I think the football team (i.e. Spurs) is way down on his list.

But my question is; it is ok making money (nothing wrong with that), but to what extent? Do they want to be known just as the takers or as somebody who also wants to give back to the community, but more in particular, back to the team, the supporters and his staff?

Trying to furloughing their hard-working staff while  Lewis, Levy, directors and the players can continue living the high life is a bit obscene.

Ever since Lewis and Levy came to the club, they’ve only managed to win one trophy under their stewardship (in 20 years), but penny-pinched all the way (i.e. starved the team and manager of proper funds to challenge for the big trophies). This has angered the fans, while the rest of the world sits up and monitors, what seems, uncaring gluttony.

They’ve got to ask the question; what do they eventually want on their tombstones?  “Here died a couple of rogue scrooges who only took, but never gave and squeezed the Tottenham Hotspur football club to death,” or “Here died two wealthy people who delivered and left as their legacy a great stadium, along with a great football club”? They must decide? I wonder what you think they will choose?

Heros or Villians?

Thoughts welcome.