It might not have been the wisest idea for Igor Tudor to opt for a nautical reference. “The boat is going in the direction I want,” said the Tottenham manager. The temptation was to reply that it is a sinking ship, that the vessel Tudor commands is the Titanic, with deluxe furnishings, but going down.
Thursday’s 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace suggested that, in 2026, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will host the NFL, Bad Bunny, Atletico Madrid and Lincoln City. It would be an eclectic assortment. Few go from Champions League to Championship in a few months. Tottenham might, and there would be something hubristic about a club that signed up for the Super League in 2021 descending to a very different division five years later. Although considering Spurs’ only wins in 2026 have come against German opposition, perhaps they should apply to join the Bundesliga instead.
The prospect of Tottenham going down, which first felt doom-mongering by some of the support, has started to look ever more realistic. A midweek in which West Ham won away from home, Nottingham Forest earned a surprise point at the Etihad Stadium, and Spurs lost at home ended with their chances of demotion – according to the Opta predictor – shooting up to 16.1 per cent.
They have been in relegation form. They have 29 points in 29 games this season; going back further, it is 32 from 36, 36 from 41. After the heady days of Ange Postecoglou’s first 10 matches, they have 107 points from 95 top-flight outings. They have been a poor Premier League team for two and a half years. They are getting worse.
Losing to Palace was damning in so many ways. The FA Cup winners could have proved ideal opponents: with Oliver Glasner headed for the exit soon, with Eberechi Eze gone last summer, Marc Guehi in January, Jean-Philippe Mateta injured, Maxence Lacroix suspended and Daniel Munoz departing within a quarter of an hour. Injuries are a cause of Tottenham’s slide, but they lacked the mettle to take advantage of others’ absences.
Their decline lends itself to contradictory conclusions: they should have sacked Thomas Frank sooner, and yet they have gotten worse without him. The obvious reservation about Tudor, a seasoned firefighter, was that none of his experience occurred in England. He had made an immediate impact in each of his last two rescue jobs. Lazio conceded only two goals in his first three games in charge. So, a year on, did Juventus. Now Spurs, Tudor’s leaky vessel, have let in nine in the Croatian’s first three fixtures. They have lost all three.
The short-term appointment was asked on Thursday if he would be seen again at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – as their next two games are away, they do not return there until 18 March – which raised the possibility that Spurs will have the shortest relationship with a Tudor since Anne of Cleves married Henry VIII. Do Spurs stick or twist, replace one interim with another? Daniel Levy did it three years ago when jettisoning Cristian Stellini for Ryan Mason. Levy is gone now, and Tudor has rather more pedigree than either Stellini or Mason, but a grounding in the Premier League could be pivotal, given the peril Spurs are in.
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Because this would be the most shocking Premier League relegation of all. There have been contenders: Forest under Brian Clough, in the division’s inaugural campaign; Blackburn, four years after winning the title; Leeds, three after they were Champions League semi-finalists; Newcastle and Aston Villa; and Leicester City, seven years after winning the Premier League.
But the elite were supposed to have ever more insurance against such a fate. Levy’s policy of seeking to keep salaries low may have cost Spurs the services of some transfer targets, and led to many lazily parroting the figure that it was 42 per cent of turnover, but Tottenham probably still have the seventh-largest wage bill in England, above Newcastle.
They – players, managers, executives – have underachieved on a spectacular scale. Now the safety net has been removed. Even when Tottenham finished 17th and Manchester United 15th last year, a gulf separated them from the bottom three. Now a lone point does.
Their next league match is at Anfield. They will be without the suspended Micky van der Ven, losing the stand-in skipper as his centre-back sidekick is finally eligible again for domestic duty. In Cristian Romero’s absence – given that he was sent off at 0-0, in the first half hour at Old Trafford – Spurs have, in effect, suffered five defeats. Whether a calamitous captain’s return is anything to be welcomed remains to be seen. So far, Tudor’s brand of leadership has not worked either, though saying they were lacking in attack, midfield and defence at Fulham was at least honest.
He tried criticism then, encouragement after losing to Palace. The fact, though, is that Tottenham have gone 11 league games without a win for the first time in half a century. Then they still finished ninth. They won’t now, as concern mounts that Tudor’s boat is turning into a shipwreck of a season.
