LONDON — The Champions League hymn resounded within the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday. Atletico Madrid were visiting, and Tottenham competed in football’s foremost club tournament, with a quarterfinal spot against Barcelona on the line.
Despite a 3-2 second-leg triumph for Igor Tudor’s squad, Tottenham endured a 7-5 aggregate loss, bringing their Champions League aspirations to an end. As the weekend approaches, they now face a relegation struggle to preserve their Premier League standing.
Who can predict when the Champions League anthem will next fill Tottenham’s £1 billion venue? At present, it seems it could be an eternity. Should Tottenham fall at home to Nottingham Forest on Sunday — Tottenham (16th) sits one point above the drop zone, while Forest (17th) hovers just outside it on goal difference — next season’s fixture list is more likely to feature Championship matches against Preston North End and Lincoln City than prestigious Champions League evenings against Europe’s elite teams.
“The encounter with Nottingham Forest on Sunday represents the most significant game in the club’s recent memory,” Paul Robinson, a former Tottenham goalkeeper who experienced relegation from the Premier League with Leeds in 2004, conveyed to ESPN. “It would simply be an utter catastrophe for the entire club, from top to bottom, if they were to be demoted.”
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Tottenham last faced demotion in 1977. They recovered after merely one season, but in those pre-Premier League eras, dropping a division did not carry the same financial devastation. Clubs could navigate it, often retaining their squad and feeling minimal impact, but in today’s game, relegation can signify an immediate £100 million blow and a player exodus. For a club of Tottenham’s stature, the ramifications would be immense.
But how did this situation arise? Tottenham reached the Champions League final under Mauricio Pochettino in 2019, secured the Europa League title with Ange Postecoglou less than a year ago, and their position as one of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ — alongside Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United — ought to render them too substantial and affluent to ever be concerned about relegation.
Nevertheless, they are not too skilled to descend. Tottenham has not clinched a Premier League victory in 2026 — their most recent league win was a 1-0 triumph at Crystal Palace on December 28 — and since the commencement of last season, they have suffered twice as many league defeats (36) as they have achieved wins (18). Tudor, named head coach until the season’s conclusion last month, is the club’s sixth managerial appointment since Pochettino’s departure in November 2019, and he has garnered just one point from four league fixtures in charge.
Instability has also plagued affairs off the pitch, with Daniel Levy’s 24-year tenure as chairman abruptly concluding last September. Sporting director Fabio Paratici followed Levy out the door in January.
All the hallmarks of a club in disarray are evident. Poor outcomes, underperforming athletes, changes in management, boardroom instability, and disgruntled supporters. Yet still: could Tottenham truly go down?
Where did everything go awry?
The prevailing opinion among many associated with Tottenham is that the 2019 Champions League final loss against Liverpool in Madrid represented a crossroads, with the club ultimately choosing the incorrect path.
Pochettino’s roster featured Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min, Hugo Lloris, and developing talent Dele Alli. The coach aimed to elevate Tottenham to the next tier, transforming them into victors rather than contenders, but the summer transfer window witnessed the arrival of prospective, rather than established, talent in the form of Jack Clarke, Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, and Ryan Sessegnon. By November, Pochettino was out, and Jose Mourinho took over, a shift that initiated the decline.
“By the time Mauricio departed, it was evident he needed to leave,” a boardroom insider informed ESPN. “He and Daniel [Levy] simply weren’t getting along; I believe they were both exhausted by one another.”
“But Daniel was heeding too many voices, the wrong voices, and I think he was captivated by the notion of having Jose as his manager. Jose is a superb coach, but he inherited a squad crafted for Pochettino — young players requiring encouragement and growth — and he is simply too erratic and confrontational for a youthful team. Tottenham required another Pochettino-esque figure after Mauricio’s exit, but they opted for a different course, and it has never been the same since.”
Ricky Sacks, host of the “Last Word on Spurs” podcast, echoes that viewpoint, stating that the inability to nurture Pochettino’s team was the fundamental cause of the issues the club is now attempting to resolve.
“The club has been spiralling aimlessly since 2019,” Sacks told ESPN. “There has been no coherent vision or identity; nobody understands their objectives, as they have swung from one coaching style to another.”
“They dismissed Mourinho four days prior to the 2021 Carabao Cup final against Man City, failed to back Antonio Conte, and then moved from Ange [Postecoglou] to Thomas Frank who, despite appearing to be a good individual, was simply never equipped to scale up from Brentford to a club like Tottenham. It has simply been a shambles.”
Alongside the frequent managerial changes, Tottenham has consistently failed to contend at the pinnacle of the transfer market. Tottenham’s most substantial acquisition — forward Dominic Solanke arrived from Bournemouth for a £65 million sum in August 2024 — is by far the lowest record-transfer among the ‘Big Six’, all of whom have spent over £100 million for a single player, with the exception of United, whose record signing is the £89.3 million deal for Paul Pogba from Juventus in August 2016.
Tottenham has also cultivated a reputation for being economical with player salaries. In their most recently disclosed financial statements, for the 2023-24 season, Tottenham’s wage expenditure amounted to £222 million — nearly half of the £413 million disbursed by City in the same timeframe — but that figure meant they allocated just 42% of their earnings to wages. In contrast, Aston Villa’s most recent wages-to-revenue ratio was 71%, while Newcastle United’s figure was 68%, indicating that Tottenham is also lagging behind clubs outside the ‘Big Six’ when it comes to vying for new recruits.
Tottenham’s proprietors, ENIC, managed by the Lewis Family Trust, infused £100 million of fresh capital into the club last October, but persistent conjecture regarding a potential sale has not subsided despite ENIC’s denials that they are seeking to offload what is, beyond the pitch, a major football institution.
It is the magnificent 62,000-seat arena, the club’s century-old heritage, and their immense fanbase, both in London and worldwide, that grants Tottenham their position in the ‘Big Six’, but former manager Postecoglou recently questioned whether they merited being described as a “big” club.
“Clearly, they’ve [Spurs] developed an exceptional stadium, and superb training facilities,” Postecoglou conveyed to “The Overlap,” a well-regarded podcast. “Nevertheless, when one examines the outlay, particularly within the compensation framework, they do not function as a premier club.
“I observed this firsthand as we endeavored to recruit athletes, since we were not pursuing that specific echelon of talent. My attention was drawn to Pedro Neto, [Bryan] Mbeumo, [Antoine] Semenyo, and Marc Guéhi, recognizing that if our aim was to ascend from fifth place to a position of competing for honors, that is precisely the strategy other major clubs would adopt at such a point.”
Conversely, Spurs chose Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert, and Lucas Bergvall — individuals earmarked for the future rather than for current contributions, much like Ndombele, Sessegnon, and Lo Celso were in 2019.
Despite shortcomings in player acquisition and numerous managerial shifts, former Spurs custodian Robinson is convinced that Levy has been unfairly characterized as the primary catalyst behind the club’s decline in standing.
“Daniel often faces criticism and endured considerable pressure, but when on-field performance is satisfactory, attention rarely drifts toward the director’s enclosure,” Robinson noted. “Spurs boast a magnificent stadium and practice complex — and Daniel Levy played a role in their creation — yet supporters are utterly weary of hearing about it because the sporting aspect has been overlooked.
“I believe Daniel received poor counsel at times, perhaps heeding too many voices as the club expanded, but credit to him, he responded to the fan base when they clamored for trophies and appointed two ‘immediate-success’ managers in Mourinho and Conte. He simply failed to adequately support them with ‘win-now’ players to achieve their desired outcomes.
“It’s undeniable that player recruitment has been notably deficient in recent years, but Spurs have also parted ways with their leading goal-scorers — Kane, Son, and Brennan Johnson — from each of the past three seasons.”
0:41
Tudor: Tottenham’s triumph against Atletico Madrid vital for team spirit
Igor Tudor reflects on Tottenham’s Champions League elimination following their 7-5 aggregate defeat to Atletico Madrid.
Tottenham’s inability to secure the players desired by the then-manager persisted as an issue right until Levy’s departure from leadership. Last summer, Frank sought Crystal Palace forward Eberechi Eze, Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, and his former Brentford striker Bryan Mbeumo, but the club failed to acquire any of them. They also attempted, unsuccessfully, to sign Antoine Semenyo in January, with the Bournemouth forward ultimately choosing a transfer to City.
A source informed ESPN that a drain of skilled senior personnel within the club’s leadership has also harmed the organization — “they’ve never been adept at retaining staff,” the source commented — with Victoria Hawksley (LIV Golf), Michael Edwards (Liverpool), Paul Barber (Brighton), Damien Comolli (Juventus), and former chief scout and technical director Steve Hitchen all cited as individuals permitted to leave Spurs during the Levy era.
However, with Levy no longer at the helm and CEO Vinai Venkatesham — who arrived from Arsenal less than a year prior — conveying to Tottenham’s Fan Advisory Board earlier this month that “significant transformations” are requisite after criticizing Levy’s management of the club, further disruption is probable in the forthcoming months, regardless of which league Spurs find themselves competing in.
Is it conceivable for Spurs to truly face relegation?
Wednesday’s 3-2 victory against Atletico, following last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Liverpool, has uplifted spirits within and around Spurs, but the upcoming Forest fixture continues to generate apprehension among the club’s supporters.
“It feels like a genuine relegation decider, and the impetus gained from winning or losing will be immense,” Sacks remarked. “The last two matches boosted morale, but they were, in a sense, without immense pressure.”
“Forest is distinct. The pressure is substantial, and we must secure a win, so the players are compelled to battle and strive, and we are uncertain if they possess that capability. Let us not overlook that they have only triumphed in two home league games throughout the entire season.”
Despite Spurs being perceived as a judicious, well-governed, yet prudent club — a characteristic for which Levy has received both commendation and critique — the grave financial ramifications of relegation cannot be overstated.
According to UEFA’s 2025 European Club Finance report, released last month, Spurs registered the third-largest pre-tax deficit (at £129 million) in Europe last year, trailing only Chelsea and Lyon, notwithstanding generating a club-record revenue of £580 million. Turnover was the ninth-highest across Europe due to the stadium’s commercial undertakings, including NFL games and concerts, and participation in European competitions. The club’s net liabilities, resulting from loans for the new stadium, amounted to £772.5 million, while reserves diminished from £198 million to £79 million.
Tottenham’s financial shortfalls prompted CEO Venkatesham to caution the fan advisory board regarding the necessity of monitoring the club’s adherence to Financial Fair Play regulations; thus, there is no ambiguity that relegation would precipitate severe challenges for the club.
Last season, Spurs garnered £127.8 million in Premier League prize money despite finishing 17th. Relegation would be mitigated by three years of parachute payments, but these would fall from £48.95 million in year one to merely £17.8 million in year three; concurrently, they would only be earning £5.7 million per annum from the EFL’s broadcasting agreement. Aston Villa, Sunderland, and Leeds United were compelled to close entire sections of their stadiums post-relegation due to the expense of maintaining them without sufficient spectators to fill the seats. Could a similar fate befall Spurs?
They would represent the most prominent club to descend since Leeds in 2003-04, a relegation that triggered a financial collapse at Elland Road and a mass exodus of players. It took the club 16 years to regain its position in the top division.
“I believe it would be more alarming and an even greater narrative than Leeds if Spurs were to drop,” stated Robinson, who was part of the 2004 Leeds squad. “Spurs have consistently been a European competitor; they reached the Champions League final seven years ago and secured the Europa League last year, so this would be a much more significant event.
“When a team is facing demotion, players are aware they will be departing. At Leeds, you might arrive for training uncertain whether someone would still be present or if the club had transferred them for financial reasons. That is what relegation entails — initial devastation, followed by the struggle for recovery. Accomplishing that is no simple task.”
2:17
Gibbs: Tottenham’s draw with Liverpool is the ‘narrative of the season’
Kieran Gibbs details the issues plaguing Liverpool this season after their late draw against Tottenham in the Premier League.
The specter of relegation has, however, fostered solidarity among the Spurs fan base. Plans for a demonstration against the owners preceding the Forest match have now been abandoned in favor of a wholehearted endeavor to cultivate an atmosphere of encouragement and optimism, with supporters now intending to greet the team bus with pyrotechnics and large crowds on Sunday.
“Given the gravity of the circumstances, no one desires to be accountable for contributing more negativity, so the emphasis is now on supporting the players and presenting a 100% united front in that regard,” Sacks affirmed. “Significant issues with the ownership persist, and the majority of fans desire new proprietors, but that is now a concern for another occasion. The paramount objective is remaining in the Premier League; the squad requires our assistance — the club requires our assistance — so we wish to demonstrate support, and Tudor is endorsing our efforts to do so.
“He has instructed all the players — including those injured — to travel on the team coach this weekend, so we can extend a genuine welcome and convey our backing.”
The direst scenario of their rivals Arsenal clinching the league — even worse, they could still achieve the quadruple — and being relegated by Chelsea in the season’s penultimate game at Stamford Bridge is depriving Spurs fans of sleep, as is the prospect of next season’s derby being against League One promotion-contending Stevenage.
Richarlison’s equalizer at Anfield, and Xavi Simons’ match-winning display against Atletico, have offered Spurs a glimmer of hope, so perhaps the season is not destined for catastrophe. But this is Spurs, and their supporters have grown accustomed to anticipating the worst and seeing their fears confirmed.