Why Tottenham's decline isn't that much of a shock

 

As I’ve watched over the years, the decline of Tottenham Hotspur has been impossible to ignore. A team that once threatened to upset the established elite and for over a decade maintained their place towards the top end of the Premier League table has been allowed to fade away into a shadow of its former self. We were promised trophies, but in the end we have one Europa League, a litany of former managers and now a relegation battle to show for it. This, from a team that once saw itself as a key part of a proposed European Super League, is simply not good enough but the writing has been on the wall for years.

A confused message

All fingers point towards ENIC and their management of the club. Yes, we have a sparkly new stadium, yes we were perched within the top 4-6 places for a decade and until this season, the days of fearing a relegation battle were long gone. Now, following the sacking of Thomas Frank a mere 8 months after succeeding Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham are looking for the their 6th manager in 7 seven years whilst sitting a perilous 5 points above the drop zone. This is not how a supposed big team operates, it is how a confused and misguided club operates. They don’t seem to know what they want and having promised to pump money into the club and improve the team, the team has regressed and is putting in their worst display since 1998 when they were rescued by Jurgen Klinsmann. In fact at the turn of the Millennium there was a running gag that no team could have 10th or 11th as that was reserved for Spurs. Based of the last two seasons and the debacle that is this campaign, that would be a drastic overachievement but shows how far the side has fallen in recent years.

The Pochettino Years

There was a feeling throughout the latter half of the 2010s, spearheaded by Harry Kane and Son-Heung Min, that Tottenham Hotspur were only a couple of players away from challenging for and eventually winning titles. Runners up in 2017, two league cup finals and the 2019 Champions League final all promised more to come, but in truth, the team peaked in one mind blowing semi-final in Amsterdam. Rescued by Lucas Moura’s hattrick, Spurs made it to the final against the odds but they were gradually sliding down the league, failing to win away from home for most of the calendar year and having moved into a new stadium, the board tightened the pursestrings and failed to make any signings in back to back windows, leaving the squad to stagnate and causing unrest behind the scenes as Mauricio Pochettino felt he was not being sufficiently backed, which he alluded to in an interview where he highlighted the need for a painful rebuild. Having taken over from Tim Sherwood and turning the team into perennial Europa League qualifiers, he had moulded a team that was able to consistently punch above its weight and upset the biggest sides in the league. Sadly, it all fell apart and Poch was sacked in the November following a 7-2 mauling against Bayern Munich. Despite this, his name still echoes around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Spurs fans reminder more optimistic times, whilst he is probably the most popular Tottenham manager since Martin Jol.

Managerial instability & trophy droughts

What followed was a flurry of managers that would offer glimmers of hope and optimism but it would often be hampered by an overreliance on the partnership of Kane & Son, as Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte built their sides around the talismanic duo. Mourinho would be sacked a week before a cup final, with the team in 7th and Ryan Mason taking charge until the end of the season. Unfortunately sacking a serial winner and giving the role to a rookie was a gamble that just didn’t pay off. Conte was appointed mid season following the ill-fated reign of Nuno Espirito Santo and despite securing Champions League football, would eventually leave following an explosive, impassioned press conference after a defeat to Southampton in which he lambasted the culture of the club and took aim at the board. In recent days Postecoglou, who was sacked mere weeks after guiding Spurs to a Europa League victory in May 2025 in spite of crippling injuries and a dire league form, indicated that the points Conte made weren’t entirely wide of the mark, highlighting how he wanted four key players signing and received Dominic Solanke and three teenagers. The fact that the Europa League was one of two trophies won in 25 years under ENIC ownership has long been a bone of contention, as fans feel as if the board are more focused on making money rather than being a successful club, even though investing in the team better could lead to greater profits along the way, rather than fan protests accusing the board of ‘Profit before Glory.’

The decline reaches crisis point

Many teams have thought they were too big or too good to go down but eventually succumbed to the pressure as they were ill prepared for the battle they were sucked into. West Ham finished with 42 points and still got relegated, whilst Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Leeds United (admittedly in far different circumstances) all dropped out of the Premier League and had to fight their way back. If those teams can go down, why should Spurs think they are invulnerable to this? Sticking with a manager in Frank who clearly had lost the dressing room and arguably never had the backing of the fans was naive, especially as the team limped from one insipid league performance to the next. The results weren’t good enough and the board’s inability or reluctance to act quickly and invest in the team when they were in dire need of reinforcements not only hung the manager out to dry, but it felt like two fingers up in the face of fans who pay their hard earned money to watch the game, especially when Spurs season ticket holders pay the highest prices in the league for the privilege of watching dire football each week.

What next?

The mood amongst the fanbase is lower than it has been in years, with insipid showings in derbies versus Arsenal & Chelsea punctuating what has been a dire season. Take the Champions League out of the equation and the team has given fans precious little to cheer about all season and fans have slowly felt their relationship with the club gradually eroding, whilst the prospect of relegation whilst their biggest rivals could win the league is a situation borne in the worst nightmares of Spurs fans.

This isn’t a call for ENIC to leave but now is the time to put their money where their mouths are. Empty promises in matchday programmes have left a sour taste in the mouth and having seen a possible golden period squandered, this is the most important period in Spurs recent history. The wrong appointment sees them go down and further entrenches the feelings of apathy and discontent. However, get the next appointment right, whether it is an interim or otherwise, and the board might start to rebuild that trust with the fans that they have seen disappear through overpriced tickets, terrible football and poor recruitment. It’s going to be a long road, but hopefully the decline can be halted before it is too late.