🔒 Boardroom Talk: Sponsoring English Football club a good call. But there’s a better call than Spurs.

By Alec Hogg

SA government’s proposed sponsorship of Tottenham Hotspur may or may not have something to do with the creative mind of one Stephen Koseff. The co-founder of Investec has long served as a sounding board for SA’s political bigwigs – and also happens to be an obsessive Spurs fan (his company’s logo once adorned the club’s shirt).  

I’ve known Stephen since the early 1980s when he occupied shared office space in the modest IGI building at the bottom of Mooi Street, where Investec began life as a leasing company. Undoubtedly, after Rwanda’s success with Arsenal, his rational brain would quickly see the enormous leverage of the proposed football sponsorship. But whoever decided on the Spurs is missing the point.   

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SA already has a massive foot in the English Premier League door through Brentford FC, whose main sponsor is Durban-based gaming company Hollywood Bets. Unfortunately, there is no publicly available detail on what the KZN business pays to have its name on Brentford shirts. Still, it’s undoubtedly a fraction of what SA taxpayers would pay Spurs.

Here’s the thing: in terms of exposure, there is little difference between Brentford and Spurs nowadays. They drew 2-2 at their last meeting and currently occupy 7^th and 5^th places in the EPL, separated by just three points. So the television coverage (which sponsors pay for) would be very similar.  

Brentford is managed by the footballing genius Thomas Frank, whose other talents make him the kind of business partner any developing country should seek: loyal, frugal, and dedicated. Best of all, Owen and Devin Heffer at Hollywood Bets would surely be only too happy to make the introduction. Make the right call Cyril……

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