The owners of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club should be focused on footballing success above all else and should respect the Club’s supporters and the role they can play. We need to move on from the recent past and create a positive vision for the Club’s future.

The Spurs Charter is a set of principles about the leadership and direction of our Club, setting out the way we believe any owner or director of THFC – current or future – should behave.

It has been written by a cross-section of fans including current and former fan representatives, governance professionals, Season Ticket Holders, One Hotspur Members and Official Supporters Club members. The custodians of THFC should be clear on how the lifeblood of the Club – the supporters – want and expect our Club to be run.

The Spurs Charter aims to bring people together. It can give groups such as the Supporters’ Trust and the Fan Advisory Board clear areas to address with the Club where the current ownership is falling short. And we hope by providing a vision for the Club we want in the future, it will give those calling for full or partial change an answer to ‘what comes next?’.

We are not an organised group, just a loose collective of fans wanting the best for our Club. We know many fans are disillusioned and disaffected, and that long-standing ties of support are being stretched and broken. But Spurs fans cannot stand by while our Club loses its identity. The Spurs Charter can be a rallying point for positive change, something to be for rather than against.

The principles below can be endorsed by all supporters. Any reasonable owner of the Club should agree with them, too. We welcome dialogue with the current owners or prospective buyers if they are prepared to take part in discussions honestly and openly.

The founding signatories do not seek position or any personal benefit. We invite all fans who support these principles to sign the petition, and to use them to campaign for a better future for our Club.

The Spurs Charter

1.      Owners are temporary custodians whose priority must be success on the pitch for the men’s and women’s teams. Every action they take should have this objective as its focus, at every level of the Club and in every competition.

2.      At Tottenham Hotspur, there is a responsibility to achieve success in the style upon which the Club built its reputation, and owners must recognise and nurture this essential part of the Club’s DNA.

3.      The Club is not a purely commercial asset – football is the Club’s business. Owners should genuinely embrace and actively promote the Club’s role as a football club, run openly and with the interests of supporters at its heart. Information should be willingly shared with supporters unless there are clear and lawful reasons for not doing so. Owners should not agree to any obligation to keep information confidential unless there is a legal obstacle to doing so.

4.      Owners should commit to maintain affordability of match tickets for supporters and to encourage access for younger, senior and disabled supporters. Priority should be given to a longer-term strategy of reducing prices through the deployment of funds from other income streams. No one should be priced out. Access to match tickets should be considered a central part of the Club’s approach to equity, diversity and inclusion.

5.      The Club should be governed in a genuine partnership with supporters that embraces the spirit as well as the letter of the Government’s White Paper and the subsequent Football Governance Bill. Fan interests should be represented at Board level, and properly Independent Non-Executive Director positions should be created.

6.      The Club should embrace at least the same levels of corporate governance, reporting and transparency required of holders of public office, recognising the importance placed on football by a large section of the public as well as the cultural value of football in the UK. All directors should adhere to the Nolan Principles of behaviour, namely selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, leadership. Consultation should be conducted in accordance with the Gunning Principles that ensure proposals are discussed before decisions are taken, with adequate information and time for genuine discussion provided, and conscientious consideration given to responses.

7.      No decision should be made that would be likely to cause shame or embarrassment to the supporters. If owners are in any doubt, they should ask the supporters.

8.      A broad range of individual supporters should be given a chance to own shares in their Club. This will provide the owners with an opportunity to raise funds and to broaden and strengthen the ownership base whilst simultaneously providing supporters with a say in the day-to-day running of the Club that cannot be ignored or dismissed.

9.      The Club should aim to set the highest standards for equity, diversity and inclusion. This should not be a box-ticking exercise but a transparent plan with milestones and performance indicators. The plan should be shared openly with supporters. As a large entity with a turnover of hundreds of millions of pounds, commercial factors should never be used to override EDI principles.

10. The Club should continue to play a leading role in the community in which it is located, and it should also treat that community as a partner. The Club has a proud history that has been passed from generation to generation. Tottenham is key to this. As the Club strives to succeed and seeks continual improvement, it should also seek continuous improvement of its local area and wider community that benefits those communities.

11. The Club should operate in an environmentally sustainable way and take active measures to reduce or mitigate negative impact. Sustainability should never be used as an excuse to compromise the Club’s main strategy and goals.

The above requirements are proposed in the best interests of the Club and the supporters, and any reasonable owner should be more than willing to commit to upholding them.

Founding signatories

Alan Fisher, Tottenham On My Mind 
Annelise Jespersen, former TISA spokesperson
Anthoulla Achilleos, former THST Vice Chair
Billy Cairns, THFC Season Ticket Holder
Katrina Law, FSA National Council & FSE Board member, former THST Co-Chair
Martin Cloake, former THST Co-Chair, THFC author
Return Of The Shelf
Richard Cracknell, podcaster and host
Ricky Sacks, podcaster
Tristan Foot, THFC Season Ticket Holder, OSC Member
Spurs Song Sheets