𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Tottenham Hotspur’s owners, the Lewis family, broke their long silence on Wednesday, issuing a rare statement taking “ultimate responsibility” for the club’s struggles and promising more investment for a rebuild.

Spurs confirmed their Premier League status on Sunday, beating Everton 1-0 to secure a second successive 17th-place finish at the expense of West Ham United.

The club have responded with a week of communications, first from chairman Peter Charrington, then CEO Vinai Venkatesham and now the majority-shareholding Lewis family, who say they are “bitterly disappointed” and acknowledge the club must do better.

Before the appointment of Roberto De Zerbi as head coach on March 31, Spurs had not won a league game in 2026. They dropped into the relegation zone for the first time in the season after losing the Italian’s first game in charge, against Sunderland on April 12. However, 11 points from the final six matches saw Spurs finish two points above West Ham United, in 18th.

The Lewis family, who have owned the club since Joe Lewis acquired a controlling stake in 2001, have promised investment in several areas, said their plans for Spurs “require investment — in our teams, the academy, our backroom functions and more — and we are fully committed to this.

“We are not selling the club. We are all in. We are investing in it. You will see more of this in the coming months.”

De Zerbi helped keep Spurs up in the top flight (Ben Stansall / AFP via Getty Images)

The statement added: “Our approach to running the club is, and has been, to trust the experts to do that, while backing them to be successful. The problems we found were deeper than we realised and were allowed to build over the last few years.

“We know that has eroded trust and we have to win that back. As owners, we take ultimate responsibility for the situation in which the club finds itself.”

A change in strategy – but actions louder than words

Analysis by Tottenham correspondent Jack Pitt-Brooke

This statement is the first time the Lewis family have ever commented publicly on Tottenham matters, even though ENIC first became majority shareholders when they bought Alan Sugar’s stake at the turn of the century.

Traditionally any communication was done by Daniel Levy, but he was sacked as executive chairman last September. Since, the Lewis family have started to take a more visible, involved role at Spurs. But they had traditionally communicated through chairman Charrington, who published a letter on Monday, and CEO Venkatesham, who has spoken to the BBC this week. This is the first time that the fans have heard from them directly.

There is an acceptance in the letter that the Lewis family have “ultimate responsibility” for the position of the club, although little engagement in the specifics that led Spurs to this point. When Venkatesham spoke to the BBC there was more of an engagement with specifics, including an admission that the appointment of Igor Tudor in February did not work out.

This letter states that the Lewis family are determined to make Tottenham a force on the pitch again, saying that “football comes first”. And there is a reference to potential future investment. The question fans will have is what exactly the strategy looks like this summer to get them back to being a competitive side again.

Who are the Lewis family?

The family is typically represented by Vivienne Lewis, Joe Lewis’s daughter, and Nick Beucher, Joe Lewis’s son-in-law.

Beucher is the co-chief executive officer of Tavistock Group, a global private investment firm based in the Bahamas, founded by Joe Lewis. Vivienne and Beucher were in attendance at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, sitting in the executive box with club chief executive officer Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange, among others.

After the match, fans unfurled banners in the stands which read ‘Love Tottenham, Hate Enic’ and ‘Promised Success. Delivering Failure. Enic Out.” ENIC Group is the investment company owned by the family trust of Joe Lewis which owns an 86.58 per cent share in Tottenham, and was how the ownership group were commonly referred to before long-serving executive chairman Levy was sacked in September.

Tottenham spent north of £130million on transfers last summer, the final transfer window under Levy, but it was considered underwhelming due to the failed pursuits of Morgan Gibbs-White, Eberechi Eze and Savinho. Levy was the Premier League’s longest-serving chairman before his dismissal, holding the position since February 2001.

At the peak of his tenure, Tottenham finished 2nd in the Premier League in 2016-17 and reached a Champions League final in 2019. He also turned Tottenham into a huge global brand and the ninth-richest club in world football, with one of the most impressive stadiums in Europe, but did not carry the footballing success into the following decade.

Spurs have finished in the top four only once in the 2020s, and in his final season in charge, Tottenham were crowned Europa League champions but ended the season in 17th, their worst Premier League finish. The Lewis family’s focus on the deep-lying problems at Tottenham reads particularly pointed towards Levy, who held great authority in the day-to-day running and long-term strategy of the club.