Frank Warren has revealed he came “pretty close” to buying Tottenham despite his love for rivals Arsenal.
The promoter is famous for his work in the boxing world, but things could have been very different if he had tried his hand at football.
The 72-year-old is the founder of Queensbury Promotions, which represents the current WBC world heavyweight champion. Tyson Fury.
Warren has been successful in promoting and managing a host of past champions including Frank Bruno, Naseem Hamed, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Ricky Hatton.
But he came close to entering the football business in the 1990s, when the opportunity to acquire Tottenham came to light.
Warren linked up with former Spurs boss Terry Venables in the hope of agreeing a deal despite his loyalty to the club lying with the Gunners.
Warren revealed how close he came to buying Tottenham before Alan Sugar's takeover of the club in 1991.
“I almost did it, I almost did it with Terry Venables years ago,” Warren said. That Peter Crouch Podcast when asked if he ever thought about taking up football.
“In fact, I prepared everything for him to get involved with the Spurs. We did it in my box in the old Arsenal Stadium.
“We sat down and were going to close the deal with Irving Scholar and Tony Berry, who was a director there at the time.
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“We were pretty close and the person who was going to finance it literally disappeared and went and closed the deal with Alan Sugar.”
Sugar bought Tottenham in 1991 and spent a decade at the helm before selling his majority stake in the club in 2001 to leisure group ENIC.
He later appointed Venables as chief executive following spells as a player and coach at the club.
