Man United co-owners hit back with legal claim against Tottenham over deal linked to Harry Kane

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (Image: (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images))

A behind-the-scenes battle between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United minority owners Ineos has escalated after Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s firm launched a countersuit against legal action Spurs had taken.

Earlier this year, Spurs took action against the global petrochemicals giant after they ended their agreement with the club as official automotive partner two years early. Spurs were seeking £11m in compensation from the deal that ended prematurely in December 2024.

Ineos Automotive, the side of the business that had the deal with Spurs , saw the matter brought before the London Commercial Court as Spurs sought to recover what they believe to be monies owed from the deal.

Ineos Automotive argued that the option to terminate their deal three years into a five-year agreement was within their right.

But now in a new twist to the case, Ratcliffe’s firm has submitted a £1m countersuit with the High Court in London over allegations that Spurs breached the terms of the exclusive deal that was in place by holding talks with German car manufacturer Audi in 2023, a deal that was led, as reported by The Telegraph who first reported Ineos’ plans, by former chief commercial officer Todd Kline, who is now at Chelsea.

The planned deal with Audi, it is claimed in legal submissions made with the High Court, related to the proposed sale of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, a deal that materialised in the summer of 2023.

Spurs had initially launched legal action back in June claiming Ineos failed to pay a £5m-plus annual instalment that was due on December 1. Ineos, it was claimed, had failed to pay an inflation-related figure of almost £500,000, with Spurs seeking more than £5m in damages in addition.

In a defence and counter-claim submitted to the High Court last week, Ineos said: “The particulars of claim make no mention of a highly significant series of events by which the club, unbeknown to Ineos, started negotiating with a major competitor to Ineos with the intention of granting rights to that competitor which were exclusive to Ineos under the agreement.

“On or around 3 August 2023 (i.e. early in contract year two), Todd Kline of the club indicated to Ashley Reed of Ineos that the club had been in discussions with the German car manufacturer Audi AG in connection with rights which were the same as, or substantially similar to, the rights granted to Ineos under the agreement and/or the club had been negotiating with Audi in respect of rights which were exclusive to Ineos under clause 4 of the agreement. According to Mr Kline, the discussions and/or negotiations related to a proposed transfer of the club’s player Harry Kane to the German club FC Bayern Munich.”

Ineos’s defence went on to state that the sequence of events ‘ultimately resulted in the parties agreeing that Ineos could terminate the agreement with effect from the end of year three of the contract term’.

Ineos Automotive had been the automotive partner of Spurs since 2022, inking a multi-year deal worth tens of millions. But their exit from the club as one of their most prominent commercial partnerships was one of a number of sponsorship deals that they had looked to extricate themselves from, including sponsorship of the New Zealand Rugby All Blacks.

In March, Ineos reached an agreement with New Zealand Rugby after they were threatened with legal action for a similar issue of leaving a partnership early.

On that occasion a settlement was reached, and there remains the possibility that both sides may well find some common ground in the coming days on the matter that is satisfactory to both sides.

Ratcliffe, of course, has a minority stake of 27.1% in Spurs’ Premier League rivals Manchester United, with the deal he struck with the Glazer family back in December of 2023 handing him oversight over football strategy at Old Trafford, as well as the plans to create a new 100,000 seater stadium for a side that has struggled competitively in recent years.