After Tottenham’s managing director of football was banned from football, Tottenham produced a performance to suggest it would be a merciful release to their supporters if the same punishment should be extended to the entire club. Having resigned on Friday, Fabio Paratici can argue a 6-1 thrashing at Newcastle did not happen on his watch, just as Antonio Conte can, though each is a reason the hapless Cristian Stellini was at the rudder of a ship that looked rudderless. The interim manager pronounced the first 25 minutes “the worst I have ever seen”. His side were 5-0 down after 21 and he was dismissed on Monday afternoon. After a historically bad match, and an embarrassing week as Paratici had to quit, the only thing that could make things worse for Tottenham would be if Mauricio Pochettino is announced as Chelsea manager.
Fourth when April began, Tottenham nevertheless have the air of a broken team and a broken club. There were four minutes on the clock and five Newcastle goals still to come when fans first chorused for Daniel Levy to go. If a deluxe stadium and training ground can be traced back to the chairman, so can Tottenham’s current malaise. Years of questionable choices culminated in a horror show at St James’ Park. It was the day to confirm – not mathematically, but realistically – that Spurs will not be in the Champions League next season.
And, with more desperation than inspiration, Tottenham have spent the last three-and-a-half years chasing a status among the elite. This felt the culmination of an almost institutionalised short-termism that has taken them from Jose Mourinho to Nuno Espirito Santo to Conte in search of a quick fix, and to Stellini in the vain hope of an even quicker one, on the off-chance he might bring the best of Conte without the acrimony. A month after Conte engineered his own sacking, Stellini had to insist he still wants to manage Spurs for the rest of the season. Four games into his temporary reign, he was asked if he feared for his position. “It is not a question for me,” he responded.
The question may not have been but he has his answer now; Levy has re-appointed Ryan Mason to the role instead.
Spurs’ progressiveness of the Pochettino era, the futuristic element, the fine football, the sense of youth and promise, has given way to a nothingness. They used to achieve more in the short term while also thinking about the long term.
The broader footballing landscape may offer some justification for Levy’s impatience, his focus on the immediate. Newcastle represent a threat to Spurs; the clubs owned or funded by nation states do. Yet that is no explanation or excuse for either a 6-1 humiliation or a six-point gap in the standings. Over the last year, Newcastle have done the footballing fundamentals better: they have recruited better, improved more players, forged a team spirit, played with greater energy and intensity, kept more clean sheets and shown evidence of a proper strategy.
Spurs cannot plead relative poverty. Not yet. Over the last two transfer windows, they have spent more than Newcastle. Their January outgoings were similar, for Pedro Porro and Anthony Gordon respectively. Tottenham outspent Newcastle last summer. United, meanwhile, were starting from a lower base, from a group who were in the relegation zone when Howe took over and finished in the bottom half last season. Go back to the start of the campaign and there was almost universal agreement that Tottenham had the better squad; the majority tipped them for a top-four finish and hardly anyone set Newcastle’s sights so high.
Between them, Levy and Conte did not deliver a single success in last summer’s transfer market; they had no version of Sven Botman, no equivalent of Nick Pope. Around £100m went on Richarlison, Yves Bissouma and Djed Spence, three particular failures, one out on loan, two out of Spurs’ first-choice team this season. In 2022, in the same positions and for slightly more money, Newcastle bought Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Kieran Trippier; three high-class players, three catalysts.
Yet it is also notable that, in Newcastle’s two wins over Spurs this season, they have scored eight goals and six were by players who were at the club before the takeover, just as all five assists came from the survivors of Steve Bruce’s reign.
Players have got dramatically better under Eddie Howe: Joe Willock, Joelinton and Jacob Murphy were the prime examples on Sunday but at other points this season, Miguel Almiron, Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar have been. Presumably, Conte would have complained were he tasked with managing them, but arguably no Spurs player progressed under him and Stellini this season and several have regressed.
They hit rock bottom in a display Hugo Lloris described as “very embarrassing” and “a bit of a mess on the field”. With no manager, with Paratici suspended and disgraced, it is a bit of a mess off the field, too. On and off the pitch, Spurs’ decision-making has been dreadful.
Maybe it was inevitable Newcastle would overhaul Tottenham sooner or later. But to do so this season, when the cards should still have been stacked in Spurs’ favour, is an indictment of Levy and Conte.
