Levy wins Spurs vote

Caretaker boss David Pleat will have £15m to buy new players

Tottenham shareholders have backed chairman Daniel Levy's plan to raise £15m for new players.

They voted in favour of Levy's proposal to raise the sum through a share issue at an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday.

The money will be used to buy new players for the mid-table Premiership outfit.

A number of shareholders had opposed the scheme, claiming it was unfair to small shareholders.

They also argued that it was a way for Enic, the company that owns Spurs, to increase its holding at a low price.

Opponents of the scheme had included former director Howard Shore, who resigned from the board last year.

Birmingham owner David Sullivan, who owns shares in Enic, and businessmen Johnny Green and Mike Sherwood were also opposed.

Seven proposals were voted on during the meeting.

Hopefully we shall go on and appoint a top-class manager in the summer Spurs chairman Daniel Levy

For five of the proposals, where they needed a 75% majority, Enic won 77% of the vote.

On the other two proposals, where they needed 50% of the vote, they secured almost 57%.

Levy said: "I very much hope that fans will see a strengthening of the squad in the summer.

"We do not have a great deal of time left in this transfer window, but we are still working on several deals."

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Levy expects to have a new manager in place in the summer and he believes Wednesday's vote has boosted Tottenham's chances of securing their target.

"Hopefully we shall go on and appoint a top-class manager in the summer," said Levy.

"Had this vote gone against us, it would have shown certain outside parties that the shareholder base was in disarray, and why come to a club in that situation?

"But nearly 80% have voted in favour and I think that says something."