Expert reveals how Tottenham face staggering £250m hit if they are relegated to the Championship | OneFootball

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has revealed that Tottenham face a £250m black hole if they are relegated to the Championship this season.

Spurs are having an awful season with new interim boss Igor Tudor failing to get a new manager bounce as Tottenham were beaten 4-1 by arch-rivals Arsenal in the North London Derby on Sunday.

Thomas Frank was sacked earlier this month after a run of terrible form in the Premier League and their defeat to the Gunners over the weekend means that Tottenham have won just twice in their last 18 league matches.

Despite not looking in danger for most of the season. Tottenham are now facing a relegation battle with West Ham – who occupy the final relegation spot – just four points behind them and in better form than Spurs.

And Maguire has outlined the financial cost to Tottenham of losing their Premier League status and being relegated to the Championship, including failure to qualify for the Champions League.

Maguire told talkSPORT: “That’s right [relegation would be a financial disaster for Tottenham].

“I think if you go from Champions League, where they are at present, to the Championship, we’re probably looking at a potential reduction in revenue of around about £250million.

“They will be in receipt of parachute payments, instead of the money they get from the Premier League.

“Last year they got £127million from the Premier League – it would be £45million in terms of parachute payments.

“They won’t get any of the money from the Champions League… they’ve earned £70million to date, plus they’ve got gate receipts from those matches.

“If you look at the gate receipts, they’re going to struggle to get 62,000 if it’s Lincoln City at home on a Tuesday night.

“Spurs fans support their team, but being able to extract for that value will be really difficult.”

Maguire added: “And then you’ve got to look at their sponsors.

“They’ve got a £40m deal with AI, they’ve got the big deal with Nike… there’s likely to be relegation clauses in those as well.”

When asked if Tottenham players will have relegation clauses in their contracts, which would reduce Spurs’ wage bill in the Championship, Maguire replied: “Certainly at the elite end of the Premier League, clauses are all focused on bonuses for qualifying for the Champions League and how they are organised.

“Clubs such as Spurs wouldn’t have ever countenanced the prospect of relegation, so it’s unlikely to have such clauses.

“But I would expect an exodus at the end of the season… the club will look to cash in and players will want to play at the elite end of football…there will be players wanting to leave and players that the club will want to leave.

“That will help to reduce the wage bill, and what Spurs have in their favour is that they already substantially have the lowest wage bill of the so-called ‘Big Six’.

“Even so, it will be a challenge – and they also owe £300m in unpaid transfer fees to players that they’ve already signed because they bought them on instalments.”