Frank Warren has revealed he came ‘quite close’ to buying Tottenham despite his love for rivals Arsenal.
The promoter is famed for his work in the boxing world but things could have turned out very differently if he’d have tried his hand in football.
The 72-year-old is the founder of Queensbury Promotions, who represent current WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Warren has found success 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 into football business in the 1990s when the opportunity to acquire Tottenham came to light.
Warren linked up with former Spurs boss Terry Venables in hope of striking a deal despite his club allegiances lying with the Gunners,
Warren revealed how close he was to buying Tottenham prior to Alan Sugar’s takeover of the club in 1991.
“I nearly did, I nearly did with Terry Venables years ago,” Warren told That Peter Crouch Podcast when asked whether he ever thought about getting into football.
“I actually got the thing together for him to get involved with Spurs. We did that in my box at the old Arsenal Stadium.
“We sat down and we were going to do the deal with Irving Scholar and Tony Berry, who was a director there at the time.
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“We were quite close and the person who was going to fund it literally disappeared and he went and done the deal with Alan Sugar.”
Sugar purchased Tottenham in 1991, spending 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 stints as player and manager at the club.