Director quits with Spurs short of ?20m

Concern about the financial position of Tottenham Hotspur escalated yesterday after the sudden departure of the the Premiership club's finance director, Paul Viner, only days before the deadline to issue their financial results.

Tottenham have been trying to raise almost ?20m in new financing since the summer. The position has caused anxiety because Spurs must publish their financial accounts by Tuesday, otherwise the club will be in breach of City rules.

The resignation of Viner as finance director and company secretary heightened these concerns, particularly because the club are thought to be looking for new bankers as well as new financing. Last night the club would say only that his departure was with "immediate effect". They refused to elaborate on when the financial figures would be published.

Tottenham have already warned the City that they will make a loss for the year ended June 2003 of "not less than ?5m" after losing money on transfers. It is thought the club have been trying to refinance a ?17m loan and attempting unsuccessfully to find support from shareholders for a new issue. Enic, which owns 29% of the shares, is now expected to come under pressure to step in to resolve any looming crisis.

Once considered one of England's "big five" clubs, Spurs have never finished higher than seventh in the Premier League since the competition's inception at the start of the 1992-93 season.

Yet they have never been particularly thrifty, even by Premiership standards. The Deloitte and Touche report into football finance found that the club's net spending on transfers in the six years to 2002 was ?53m, with further significant outlay last summer.

The return as manager of Glenn Hoddle in April 2001 failed to work out. Hoddle, who had been a successful player with the club, had been authorised to spend ?11.25m on three strikers - Helder Postiga, Bobby Zamora and Fr?d?ric Kanout? - during the close-season but was sacked six games into the campaign with the club third from bottom in the Premiership. Kanout? is facing two months on the sidelines after suffering ankle ligament damage against Leicester last weekend.

The listing ship has since been righted under the caretaker manager David Pleat, who has guided Spurs to 12th in the Premiership. Pleat, Tottenham's director of football, is unlikely to get the manager's job on a long-term basis, however, and the chairman Daniel Levy is privately furious that the latest financial uncertainty surrounding the club is hampering his efforts to secure a new manager.

Leading candidates such as Blackburn's Graeme Souness, Celtic's Martin O'Neill, Charlton's Alan Curbishley and the Porto coach Jose Mourinho would expect transfer funds to be in place before they would join Tottenham.

The high short-term borrowings at the club must also be addressed before plans to expand their White Hart Lane stadium or to relocate to a new ground can be taken further.