Tottenham hire ex-Man Utd executives who left during Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s jobs purge
Exclusive: Daniel Levy hires Altius8 agency, founded by former Old Trafford employees, with intention to transform Spurs’ revenues
Sam Wallace15 July 2025 7:02am BST
The leading
Manchester Unitedexecutives who oversaw soaring commercial revenues and then left after Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s major cost-cutting programme have been hired by
Tottenham Hotspur.
The team led by United’s former commercial star Victoria Timpson is comprised of many of the club’s former leading women in the executive team, including Ali Edge and Florence Lafaye. While they were not public figures under the previous regime they drove United’s big commercial shirt deals with the likes of
TeamViewer and Snapdragon, which in turn helped finance the signings of a series of managers.
Timpson, who left United last summer after 16 years, was most recently its chief executive of global alliances and partnerships. She led the club’s central London office in pushing up commercial revenues – by 17 per cent in her final year.
Ali Edge worked at United for 29 years and was most recently a director
Timpson was briefly succeeded by Lafaye, United’s commercial director, who then also departed after 13 years with United. Edge worked at United for 29 years, a longer stint than even Sir Alex Ferguson, and was most recently a director in Timpson’s department. She was chiefly responsible for retaining commercial deals.
The trio, along with another former United commercial executive Tom Liston-Jones, who was head of data and strategy, have established a new 20-strong agency, which will be known as Altius8. It has agreed a deal with Spurs chairman Levy with the intention that they will have the same transformative effect on the club’s revenues as the team did at United.
Tom Liston-Jones was head of data and strategy at United
It is understood that a whole range of sponsorship assets will be overseen by Timpson and her colleagues although it is not clear yet whether that might include a potential naming rights deal for Spurs’ new stadium. A title sponsor is still yet to be sealed more than six years after the £1.2 billion stadium opened.
The new Spurs stadium has a F1-branded karting track, as well as the multi-use function that allows it to stage concerts and regular season NFL games by storing the football surface in a subterranean chamber. The arrival of Timpson and Altius8 along with new chief executive Vinai Venkatesham represents a new direction for Spurs under Levy.
The formation of Altius8 under Timpson’s leadership, industry sources say, will ask intriguing questions as to whether Ineos made the right decision in dismantling what was one of the few unqualified successes of the Glazer era at Old Trafford.
The Florida-based family, that has owned United for more than 20 years, had no choice but to drive commercial revenues in the early years to ensure it could meet the huge borrowing costs of the takeover. The operation that developed drew admiration and many attempts to replicate, across the European game. While former chief executive Ed Woodward, and his deputy – later successor – Richard Arnold established the London office it was Timpson and her team who came to seal all major deals over the last decade.
Victoria Timpson, former chief executive of global alliances and partnerships, left United last summer after 16 years
United’s
Snapdragon shirt-front deal, agreed with parent company Qualcomm in September 2023 for three years for £60 million annually, was then renewed in August by Timpson before she left. She chose to depart last summer during the first major wave of redundancies and departures initiated by Ratcliffe and Ineos.
Timpson previously secured the TeamViewer sponsorship during the Covid lockdown. That was worth £235 million over five years. The German tech company withdrew after the first year. Other commercial partners such as IT giant DXC; blockchain platform Tezos; the Microsoft PCs range CoPilot+; cosmetics multinational Estee Lauder; and Malaysia Airlines were deals agreed on Timpson’s watch.
As well as the quartet from United, Altius8 has signed Andrew Markham, formerly of Liverpool and Jon Naspe, who has worked at Manchester City and with sports car manufacturer Ferrari. Altius8 has launched with investment from Teneo, the global consulting and strategy consultancy. Representatives for Altius8 declined to comment
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