THE meltdown spreading across the global money markets reached White Hart Lane this week as Tottenham Hotspur's billionaire sugar-daddy Joe Lewis felt the effects of the credit crunch.

Briton Lewis, who bankrolls Spurs from his top secret base in the Bahamas controls Tottenham's parent company ENIC.

This week he became one of the planet's super rich whose feathers were ruffled by the credit crisis, where banks are reluctant to lend each other cash to cover running costs.

Lewis watched on as £550m he had invested in doomed US bank Bear Stearns evaporated before his eyes as it collapsed from lack of funds.

This fuelled speculation that he would have to sell the north London club to claw back some of his money, but he has a reassured Spurs chairman Daniel Levy that he wouldn't be selling.

A club source told the Telegraph: "I don't think Joe needs to raise money by selling the team. He's probably still sitting on the best part of £2 billion worth of assets."

Lewis owns a majority stake in ENIC, a company who owns 82 per cent of the Carling Cup champions.

The club turned a healthy £27m profit last year. This is in contrast to figures showing that Premier League borrowing rocketed from £674m in 2005 to £1.6bn in 2006.

But the shock waves caused by the crisis and the threat of an impending global recession could torpedo Tottenham's plans for a swanky new stadium. Few institutions might be in the mood to lend the club cash to finance its plans.