In The Money: Tottenham made to look like fools with Daniel Levy masterplan as Liverpool fan example raised
Sportswriter Martin Calladine has highlighted a flaw in a Daniel Levy masterplan that has left Tottenham looking like fools.
Tottenham announced a multi-year partnership with blockchain-based fan engagement company Socios on their official website in September, joining the likes of Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus in doing so.
Spurs explained that the link-up was a way “to provide fans worldwide with access to a unique range of club-related activities, rewards and experiences”.
Reading between the lines, it basically means a way to make supporters feel special, even if they are effectively being asked to purchase things that would perhaps have once been available for free.
However, Calladine took to Twitter on Monday (8 January) to share an example of why the scheme is open to exploitation at the expense of loyal Tottenham fans.
“If you want an idea of just how little Socios fan tokens have to do with actually being a fan, here’s a guy telling Spurs fans how great Spurs tokens are because he used them to get box tickets at Spurs, then admitting he isn’t a Spurs fan, then mocking Spurs,” Calladine said.
The post Calladine was referencing was from a Twitter used who claimed he purchased £35 worth of tokens, which he used towards two match tickets for a Level Four executive box for the recent win over Burnley.
What’s the problem with that? Well, the user went on to suggest he is not even a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. In another example, a Liverpool fan suggested he had got his hands on tickets.
Football finance expert Calladine, who has written books such as ‘No Questions Asked: How Football Joined The Crypto Con’ and ‘Fit and Proper People’, added: “Spurs, meanwhile, insist that the tokens are nothing to do with creating a market for trading high-risk investments but are, rather, a membership rewards programme. The club must surely know this isn’t true.
“Unless, of course, the members they are rewarding aren’t Spurs members, but Socios customers, like a Liverpool fan who holds a token in every club and uses them to access Spurs rewards while mocking the club and its fans.”
Exactly how much Tottenham are bringing in through this scheme is unknown, but its issues are well documented and incidents like this only leave the club open to ridicule from others.
Calladine has previously pointed out how the price of a fan token can fluctuate massively from one day to the next, rising from below £3 for one on 18 December to £6.50 on 20 December.
Even at that higher price, 10,000 tokens sold would bring in £65,000. Even multiplying that number by thousands more is surely a drop in the ocean when you consider Tottenham are an entity that recorded a total revenue of £444million in its June 2022 accounts, as per the club’s official website.
Any sort of profit will be considered a positive from Levy’s perspective, but it is true Tottenham supporters who could be made to pay the real price.
In other Tottenham news, a 64-touch player oozed quality in the win over Burnley and earned comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo.