Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, said that he “hated the idea” of a £30 cap on away tickets for supporters, despite warnings from the head of the Premier League that the clubs had gained a reputation for being “greedy bastards”, leaked emails have revealed.
Richard Scudamore, the executive chairman of the Premier League at the time, even stated three years ago that an agreement on the cap could be used as leverage with government ministers to influence the outcome of an investigation by Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, into how the league sells its TV rights. The emails — published by Der Spiegel, the German weekly news magazine, from the Football Leaks cache of documents — also disclose the level to which the “big six” clubs have worked together on various issues, with Ed Woodward, the Manchester United executive vice-chairman, suggesting that they vote as a block.
The £30 cap was first agreed by the 20 top-flight clubs in March 2016 after lobbying by Scudamore, and was reinstated for another three years this month. Scudamore stepped down as chairman in December but is still paid by the league as a consultant.
In the build-up to the March 2016 meeting, Scudamore emailed the clubs about the proposed away cap, saying: “No amount of charity giving or the deployment of slick PR can make up for the reputation we have garnered, fairly or unfairly, in the court of public opinion, of being greedy bastards and not giving two hoots for the fans.”
In response, Levy emailed the executives of the other members of the “big six” — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and the two Manchester clubs as well as Spurs, saying: “Happy to do a call with us 6 . . . I personally hate the idea.”
The emails indicate that Scudamore tried to use the Ofcom investigation as another reason for the clubs to agree to the cap, saying he could “certainly use it directly with government ministers who can directly influence Ofcom opinion”. He went on: “I need to be careful what I put in an email but you understand.”
Ofcom closed its investigation in August 2016, saying that it had taken account of the league’s decision to increase the number of matches sold for live broadcast to at least 190 matches per season for 2019 to 2022.
The regulator told Der Spiegel that the investigation was not focused on ticket prices and that it is independent, impartial and free of political influence.
The Premier League declined to comment while Spurs said: “As a club we absolutely supported assisting away fans — however we had proposed our preferred method for supporting away fans which related to assisting with travel costs. The issue was debated and resulted in an unanimous decision to set the away price.”
It is no secret that the executives of the “big six” have held meetings together — and in June managed to secure a greater share of overseas TV rights income rather than having it split completely equally between all 20 clubs.
The emails show that in November 2015 Woodward orchestrated a move to block a vote on an undisclosed issue.
“Just to ensure we are all on same page,” the Manchester United executive vice-chairman emailed to other “big six” executives, “Plan A get vote pushed . . . plan B vote against it as a block.”
Manchester United also declined to comment.
Der Spiegel also reported that in September 2017, Nike, the sports goods company, offered €59 million (about £52 million) for the right to provide the match balls to the Premier League until 2025.
