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EPL Tottenham Hotspur chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has said there is “firm backing” from co-owners, the Lewis family, but the club must be “cognizant of and aware of the financial fair play rules”. In a video released on the club’s You Tube channel, Venkatesham reiterated that the Lewis family has no intention of selling the club amid speculation following the removal of Daniel Levy as club chairman last Thursday, and will invest to help the men’s and women’s teams achieve their ambitions to be “successful on the pitch”. Advertisement “(The Lewis family) are very, very passionate about Tottenham Hotspur and are ambitious for the club, ” Venkatesham said. “When I talk about their ambition, their focus is on ensuring that everything we do across the complete breadth of the club really centres back and is focused on giving our men’s team and women’s team the best chance to be successful on the pitch over the long term. ” “I think it is very fair to say that we have firm backing from the Lewis family against our ambitions to be successful on the pitch, both on the men’s side and women’s side. They know that’s going to require investment, and we have their firm backing. ” Tottenham had a busy summer transfer window. They spent heavily on Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United for £55million and Xavi Simons for €60million (£51. 8m; $70m) from RB Leipzig. They also signed Kota Takai from Japanese side Kawasaki Frontale for £5million ($6. 8m), and Mathys Tel joined permanently for an initial €35m (£30m), after spending the second half of last season on loan from Bayern Munich. Spurs went back to the German champions to sign Joao Palhinha on a season-long loan with an option to buy. While the club are not presently in danger of violating profit and sustainability regulations, Venkatesham outlined the club’s desire to stay clear of any sanctions by developing young players and “selling players at the right time”. “I would also say, like all other 20 Premier League clubs, we also need to make sure that we are cognizant and aware of the FFP rules and that means we need to continue to grow our revenues, ” he explained. “We need to continue to develop players both from the academy and young players that we buy, we need to make sure that we’re selling players at the right time and we also need to make sure that every time we’re recruiting a player we’re making smart decisions both from a sporting and financial perspective. Advertisement “If you don’t do that, because of how the financial regulations work, you can find yourself in a position where you’ve got money to spend, but the regulations don’t allow you to spend it. ” Further to that, Venkatesham outlined that there is a focus on the club from the “next generation” of the Lewis family, including Joe Lewis’ children Vivienne and Charlie Lewis, as well as Vivienne’s son-in-law, Nick Beucher, the co-CEO of Tavistock Group, the investment company based in the Bahamas founded by Joe Lewis. He also clarified the role of former banker Peter Charrington who has stepped into the role of “non-executive chairman” following Levy’s departure after being appointed as a non-executive director in March. “It’s probably important to say that he’s going to be doing a different role to the one Daniel did, ” Venkatesham said. “Daniel was executive chairman, that meant Daniel was full-time and involved in the club on a day-to-day basis. Peter’s role is non-executive chairman, and that means he won’t be involved with the club on a full-time basis and he won’t be involved on a day-to-day basis. “His model is all around empowerment. He’ll be empowering us on the ground to get on with things but of course he will be leading the board and will be a very important part of the club going forward. ” (Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Elias Burke is a football writer who regularly covers Tottenham Hotspur. He has previously covered U. S. soccer, West Bromwich Albion and Derby County for The Athletic. Follow Elias on Twitter @Elias Burke