Gareth Bale could leave Tottenham for financial reasons, says chairman

Tottenham may be forced to sell some of their leading players, including Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart, due to the financial implications of failing to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Spurs have been one of the competition's most refreshing stories in recent years, using a gung-ho approach that until Tuesday had served them remarkably well and made them many friends across Europe.

Real Madrid, however, smashed their dreams to smithereens this week, running out 4-0 winners in the quarter-final first leg at the Bernabeu. And with Tottenham's domestic form stumbling, a season that promised so much could end in despair.

A series of managerial catastrophes, each one backed as well the last, has left the club with one of the biggest squads in the Premier League, and with a restrictive wage bill.

Speaking to the London Stock Exchange following the publication of Spurs' half-year accounts to December 31, 2010. club chairman Daniel Levy admitted a a policy of streamlining the squad is likely to be undertaken in the summer.

'We have hosted one of the largest squads in the Premier League during this period,' he said in his chairman’s statement. 'It is important to create a healthy balance in any squad between competition for places and for players to play consistently.

'Whilst this large squad eased our progress in the Champions League, we shall continue to look to streamline our squad where appropriate.'

In an accompanying balance sheet, Levy reveals a startling reliance on Champions League revenue, despite this being their debut campaign.

Figures show Champions League-related income growth was ?22.9million, much of which was spent on an increase in operating expenses (?12.9m). The attached summary stated the increase in 'operating expenses were due in main to the costs associated with large squad size.'

On top of the usual costs of running Tottenham as a business, the club splurged ?40.7m in transfer and agents' fees, and recouped only minimal sums in return.

Prior to Tuesday's Champions League hammering in Madrid, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp suggested that only a world-record ?80m bid would be enough to tempt the club into selling star man Bale, who signed a new deal earlier this year. That would represent a remarkable ?75m mark up on a player who has only this season started to show anything resembling good form.

Van der Vaart is another who would likely fetch a significant amount in the transfer market having joined for a cut-price ?8m on the final day of the summer window.  Luka Modric, too, a ?16m signing, is attracting interest from Manchester United.

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Jeremy Hunt issues warning to BOA over financial disagreement

By Sportsmail Reporter Last updated at 11:44 AM on 27th March 2011

Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt has told the British Olympic Association to sort out their financial squabbles, declaring: 'There is no more money.'

The BOA are in dispute with the 2012 organising committee (LOCOG) over how any profits from the enterprise will be divvied up.

Making his point: Hunt has told the BOA to sort out their financial squabble

As it stands, the BOA would be entitled to a cut of any surplus after 2012, but with Paralympic losses expected to cancel out any Olympic gains, this would likely be a negligible figure.

Instead, the BOA want to take a share before the Paralympic results are taken into account and, despite the IOC ruling against them, are taking their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Should they be successful, it would require either LOCOG somehow to generate more money, or for the cash to be shifted from the wider sport budget, affecting other projects.

Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, is also worried the conflict could cause the bodies to take their eyes off the ball in other areas.

The clock is ticking: The London Olympics kick-off in just over a year

He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek: 'It's an extraordinary thing just over a year before the games that we're getting into this sort of dispute which, frankly, isn't going to benefit anyone. It's just going to line the pockets of lawyers.

'The BOA is fantastically important to the success of 2012. 'They have got to look after 550 athletes, it's a massive logistical operation to run that village...and they've got to run the holding camp. 'Everyone in that organisation needs to be focused on that logistical challenge.

'The second thing is I can't really see how anyone's going to be a winner from this because there is no more money. 'Sport got a very good settlement in the comprehensive spending review.

Eyes on the prize: London's 2012 chief Lord Sebastian Coe (right)

'No-one's going to be able to go back to the Treasury and ask for more money so even if the BOA win, the money's going to have to come out of another part of the sports budget or the Olympics budget. 'So I really hope everyone involved will settle this as quickly as possible and focus on what the country wants, which is 2012.'

The situation has led to speculation over the future of BOA chairman Lord Moynihan, whose position many feel would be untenable should his organisation lose. He and his chief executive, Andy Hunt, have already been excluded from LOCOG board meetings.

Asked to comment on Moynihan's position, Jeremy Hunt said: 'The BOA rightly operates at arm's length from the Government so who they have is up to them.

'But what I would say as the Culture Secretary is this is not the right argument for us to be having so close to having the Olympics in our country and we need to sort it out very quickly.'

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