Tottenham sue Sir Jim Ratcliffe for £11.1m, new documents reveal

Telegraph

4 hours ago

Tottenham Hotspur are suing Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos for more than £11 million, it can be revealed.
Almost two weeks after Spurs filed a lawsuit at the High Court against Manchester United co-owner Ratcliffe's Ineos Automotive Limited, Telegraph Sport has obtained the 'particulars of claim' lodged by the club.
In it, they accuse Ratcliffe's firm of breaching a five-year, minimum £17.5 million deal it signed in 2022 for Tottenham to promote the Ineos Grenadier as their 'official 4x4 vehicle partner'.
The club claim the company failed to pay a £5 million-plus annual instalment due on Dec 1 last year, having also not paid an inflation-related figure of almost £500,000 on Aug 16.
Spurs, who say they terminated the contract on Mar 11 as a result, are also claiming a minimum of £5,275,974 in damages after the deal was ended with more than two years left to run.
The particulars of claim lays out details of a contract Tottenham say involved annual payments starting at £2.125 million in year one and increasing to £4.6 million in year five, all plus VAT and index-linked to the rate of inflation.
Spurs says they are also claiming interest and 'further or other relief as the court thinks fit'.
The club declined to comment on their lawsuit.
An Ineos spokesperson said: 'Ineos Automotive was a partner of Tottenham Hotspur from 2022, expanding on a partnership agreement that Ineos Group had in place with the club since 2020.
'We had a contractual right to terminate our partnership contract and in December 2024 exercised that right.'
When news of the legal action first emerged, Ratcliffe's firm told Telegraph Sport it had exercised 'a contractual right to terminate' its partnership with Tottenham in December.
A spokesperson added: 'Like any business, we have to be diligent in how we operate and where we invest marketing budgets. It's completely normal for partnerships to be reviewed on a regular basis, and we've decided that the partnership wasn't working out for us. We have the right to terminate the partnership.'
Spurs' claim was lodged less than a month after they beat Ratcliffe's United in the Europa League final to secure a place in the Champions League.
They and Ineos have been in partnership since 2020, when the petrochemicals company was named as the club's 'official hand-sanitiser supplier' during the coronavirus crisis.
Ineos, however, has been cutting ties with a number of leading sports organisations in recent months, notably Sir Ben Ainslie's sailing team and the All Blacks rugby union team.