I have some bad news this morning. Tottenham Hotspur’s Chief Financial Officer Todd Kline has resigned his position, according to multiple sources. He has been placed on “gardening leave” (i.e. he’s paid for not working until his contract expires) ahead of an expected move to a similar position at Chelsea Football Club.
First of all: “President of Business.” Lol.
Secondly, Todd Kline’s been here for three years now and… I’m not really sure I can tell you anything he’s done for the club. This is, of course, slightly uncharitable of me, as Kline’s role as club finance guy is very much a behind the scenes operation and the kind of thing that really doesn’t get much press most of the time.
On the other hand, Kline, an American sports executive with past ties to the NFL, was brought in with the primary remit of securing a lucrative naming rights deal for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. We’re five years into the new stadium being fully operational and… crickets.
So with that being said, Todd —
If we do choose to take the uncharitable reading of his tenure (and, y’know, at this point why not), then his decision to leave Spurs for Chelsea is kind of grimly funny. I mean, maybe the probably is Spurs and whatever job they gave him and also maybe he’ll be fantastic as the new Business President™ for Todd Boehly and Co. But also based on what I’ve seen so far Chelsea’s business acumen hasn’t exactly been top of the heap since Abramovich went away, so… y’know.
Ultimately I just can’t bother to get too worked up about this one way or another. Spurs have actually done some good business lately. Maybe that’s due to Kline and he’s ready to move on to something new and form a Club of Executive Todds down the road. But on the other hand, we still don’t have a naming rights deal and you had one job, Todd!
Whatever. This is news, I guess, but I’m done thinking about it now.