Throughout Enic’s near quarter-of-a-century custodianship of Tottenham Hotspur, there have been a few occasions when the club has looked to have hit rock-bottom.
There was the time they took two points from the first eight games of the 2008-09 season. The end of the Mauricio Pochettino era. The Super League debacle. Harry Kane’s dejection at the end of the miserable Covid campaign. Trailing 5-0 at St James’ Park after just 20 minutes.
The agony of cup final and semi-final defeats, missed opportunities and unsuccessful title tilts. Off the field, frequent ticket price rises and the slashing of concession rates.
Sunday’s defeat at Goodison Park felt like the lowest point Tottenham have sunk to in decades.
Everton had failed to score in nine of their previous 11 league fixtures before facing Spurs and yet managed three in the first-half against their calamitous visitors.
Dismal as the performance was, what happened post-match proved beyond doubt that everything is now broken.
As captain Son Heung-min trudged over towards the away fans, head bowed and palms faced inwards in apology, he was met with an avalanche of boos as people shouted “w****r”.
Without being in the midst of it, it is unclear whether the insults were being directed towards Ange Postecoglou, stood a few metres away, Son, or both, but it still made for a tragic scene.
One of the greatest players in Tottenham’s history, a loyal servant for almost 10 trophyless years, stood disconsolate against a wall of frustration and rage.
The numbers make for brutal reading. It was Spurs’ 12th Premier League defeat of the campaign, matching last season’s tally with 16 games still to play. It leaves them 15th in the table, behind “the worst Manchester United team in history” and a West Ham side that has a goal difference of -16.
Of the five clubs below them in the table, only Ipswich Town haven’t yet changed their manager. Everton are just four points behind with a game in hand. Spurs have only won one of their last 10 league matches and that was against a Southampton team so bad they are threatening Derby County’s all-time record low points tally.
One of the rarely discussed low points of the club’s modern history was when fans hurled their season tickets onto the pitch during a 4-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at the end of the 2002-03 campaign.
At least the digitised tickets will spare Daniel Levy such ignominy for Sunday’s relegaton six-pointer with Leicester, but he may want to invest in some noise-cancelling headphones in any case. Chants against Levy are becoming increasingly fervent.
The atmosphere for that game will almost certainly be uncomfortably toxic, befitting of the club’s worst crisis in two decades.
The move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was supposed to herald a glorious new age for a team and a club on the up. Nearly five years since moving in they are a million miles away from where they started.
A series of catastrophic missteps from Levy and the club’s hierarchy have led the club to this point. Failing to build upon a broadly encouraging first year under Postecoglou is a recent addition to the list.
The summer transfer window was a failure. Of the five players signed, only Dominic Solanke was categorically first-team ready. Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall have impressed in trying circumstances and will be the future of the club, but more quality and depth were required given 16 players departed.
January hasn’t been much better. Antonin Kinsky looks like an astute purchase, but the lack of outfield signings three weeks into the window, when the squad is decimated and Postecoglou has frequently called for reinforcements, has prompted fury among the fanbase.
While Spurs have invested in potential in recent windows, the squad for the here and now is still far too thin to compete on multiple fronts. There are currently 11 first-team players out injured, although Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma may return this weekend.
There are still fans backing Postecoglou to turn things around, although their number is rapidly dwindling.
There is some sympathy, albeit stretched to breaking point right now, that the Australian has not been sufficiently helped in the transfer market to oversee a post-Kane rebuild and deal with an unprecedented injury crisis.
There is merit to that, but equally Spurs still have more quality than they have shown lately.
Levy has afforded Postecoglou far more time than other managers have had. As Postecoglou himself admitted after last week’s defeat to Arsenal, results have been “unacceptable” regardless of the circumstances in which they have come.
If, or when, Levy decides to pull the trigger, Postecoglou won’t have much of a defence.
Spurs have won 19 and lost 24 of their last 50 Premier League games and rank 12th out of 17 ever-present teams for points – level with Crystal Palace – over that period. Only West Ham, Wolves and Brentford have conceded more goals.
They are averaging 1.09 points per game this season. That equates to 41 points over 38 games. For context, the club’s worst points total in a Premier League campaign is 44, set in 1997-98.
The level of patience being shown to Postecoglou from above was nowhere to be seen when things started to turn sour under Pochettino. The Argentine was fired just six months after leading Spurs to a Champions League final.
Postecoglou’s steadfast belief in his philosophy has also looked increasingly misplaced as the heavy defeats have mounted. Spurs have been routinely punished for being far too open and far too naive.
On the rare occasions he has mixed things up, like playing a back three at Everton, it has backfired even more.
Perhaps the reason that Postecoglou is still in a job is that Levy is well aware of how it reflect on him if he were to be dismissed. Spurs have burned through 11 permanent managers during Enic’s 24 years, at a rate of one every two seasons.
They have appointed every type of manager in that time. Promising up-and-comers (Pochettino and Andre Villas-Boas); historic winners (Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte); tactical idealogues (Postecoglou and Glenn Hoddle); a veteran man manager (Harry Redknapp); head coaches to work under sporting directors (Jacques Santini and Juande Ramos); a glorified interim (Nuno Espirito Santo, now working wonders at Nottingham Forest). They have even hired from within (Martin Jol and Tim Sherwood).
Nothing has worked. Ramos is the only one to have won anything and a League Cup triumph aside, his tenure was a disaster.
Levy is the best-paid director in the Premier League. He has run Spurs superbly as a business, transforming them into one of the world’s most lucrative clubs.
Only Manchester United generate more matchday income than Spurs. They are “market leaders” at establishing commercial revenue streams, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
However, he has also overseen historic failings on the pitch. One trophy this century is a dreadful return for a club of Spurs’ history and resources.
Postecoglou probably wasn’t the right appointment, judging by results over the past 12 months. But the trajectory of his Spurs career is no different to those who came before him. A succession of managers haven’t succeeded. Would Andoni Iraola or Marco Silva fare any better under this regime?
Sacking Postecoglou may help arrest the Spurs slide in the short run. There is plenty of talent to work with even accounting for an overstocked treatment room. But would it really fix anything long-term? Over two decades’ worth of evidence suggests a repeat of the boom and bust cycle is far likelier.