TOTTENHAM fans have been warned not to expect any significant investment in the team from their new owners by the chairman of AEK Athens, the Greek club which ENIC have already backed.

AEK's chairman, Cornelius Sierhuis, revealed his belief that "the investment of ENIC in Tottenham does not bode well for their supporters".

The warning came after Tottenham chairman Sir Alan Sugar agreed to sell just under 27 per cent of his 40 per cent stake in the club to leisure and media company ENIC for £22m.

That has given them a total stake of 29.9 per cent, just below the threshold requiring a bid for all of the club's shares but enough to give the firm a controlling interest.

The deal, which was confirmed to the Stock Exchange this morning but will not be completed until February, was masterminded by ENIC managing director Daniel Levy after Sugar announced he was selling up.

However, although 38-year-old Levy is a Spurs supporter, he will remain the power behind the scenes as a non-executive director and will hire a headhunting firm to find the club a new chairman and chief executive.

Only then will the position of boss George Graham become clear, with reports stating a review will take place at the end of this season, while the contract situations of Sol Campbell and Darren Anderton must also be addressed.

ENIC are likely to conduct an overhaul at White Hart Lane, looking at every possible way of making the club more profitable.

Given that the club have yet to conclude a tie-up with a broadcasting company such as BSkyB or ntl, that is another potential avenue of raising funds, along with exploiting Internet and commercial rights.

With Graham having recently warned that £50m needs to be spent on the team in order to compete with Manchester United and Arsenal, the pressure is already on ENIC to make an immediate impression.

Mark Jacob, co-founder of Save Our Spurs, said: "We would hope they will invest in the club and put Tottenham back to where we think they should be in the top five in England and competing in Europe."

But City analysts have warned ENIC have a history at other clubs in which they have an interest Rangers, Basle, Vicenza, Slavia Prague and AEK Athens, of adopting a cautious approach as they have shareholders to placate.

ENIC bought into AEK Athens in 1997 but reduced their stake to below 50 per cent last season.

Sierhuis's company NetMed duly invested in AEK in July 1999 and he points out that by the end of the season the club had won the Greek Cup while the previous two campaigns under ENIC had finished without any silverware.

"ENIC is still a part owner of the club, but the problem of AEK is to a large extent caused by ENIC's ownership of AEK," he said.

"ENIC refuses to invest in the club, either in players or the stadium."