The New York Times

For a sign of what a difficult year it has been at Tottenham Hotspur, a year in which the vibes have shifted profoundly from good to bad, you can compare Daniel Levy’s ‘Chairman’s Statements’ from the end of the announcement of the club’s financial results.

The 2022-23 results were published on 3 April last year, when there was still hope throughout Spursworld about the Ange Postecoglou era. Levy’s statement was brimming with optimism and positivity about the new era. He hailed the “return of exciting, attacking football, even when faced with significant player injuries”. He looked forward to the return of European football to Tottenham. He concluded by revelling in the “excitement of matchdays” and wrote that “credit must be given to our Head Coaches, Ange and Robert (Vilahamn).”

This year’s message, released with the financial results on Monday afternoon, strikes a very different tone. The ‘Chairman’s Statement’ section is one-tenth as long as it was last year (2,469 words then, 249 words now). The only mentions of Postecoglou, contained above Levy’s own message, referred to Spurs finishing fifth last season and Postecoglou attending a Fans Forum in September 2023.

It is not hard to guess what has changed. Spurs have played 37 games (one short of a full season) since the last set of financial results were announced. From those games, they have taken just 43 points. In the season to date, they have lost 15 of their 29 league games. Levy, in Monday’s statement, is kind enough to euphemise this as “a highly challenging season on the pitch”. He points to the ongoing Europa League campaign, urges everyone to “do everything we can to support the team” over the last two months of the season, and finishes with a pledge to “finish the season as strongly as we can”.

Even though Levy’s comments are brief, it does not mean that they are devoid of content. The most eye-catching part comes when he issued a passionate defence of the club’s operating model, hitting back at the argument that Tottenham should simply start shovelling money at the transfer market if they are to make progress on the pitch. This has been a constant criticism of Levy, not least earlier this season when thousands of fans marched in protest against him before the 1-0 win against Manchester United on February 16. “Profit before glory” has become one of the most widespread criticisms of the way the club is run.

Tottenham are certainly attuned to this point: Levy makes clear in Monday’s message that in the six years since the new stadium opened, the club “have invested over £700m net in player acquisitions”. And it is certainly true that Tottenham have committed more big fees on players in the past few years than they ever used to: Tanguy Ndombele, Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro, James Maddison, Archie Gray, and Dominic Solanke all joined for fees of at least £40million ($51.8m). Some of those fees are still being paid.

But fees are one thing and salaries are another. When Deloitte published its latest Football Money League report in January this year, it revealed that Tottenham spent just 42 per cent of their revenue on wages last season. According to Deloitte, Tottenham’s wage bill came down from £251m for the 2022-23 season to £222m for 2023-24. (We will have to wait for the publication of the full accounts to see how this tallies with the club’s own numbers.)

This means there is no more ‘Big Six’ when it comes to wages in the Premier League. In fact, Tottenham ranked seventh last season, behind Aston Villa, close to Newcastle United. Arsenal, who used to be close to Spurs, spent over £100m more on wages last season. For many fans, this is where they want the club to be bolder, especially given the way teams like Aston Villa and Newcastle are overtaking Tottenham.

The key message from Levy here was to double down on the club’s strategy. It might have been politically easier for him to promise to push the boat out, to start relaxing the wage structure and aim higher in the market, but he did nothing of the sort. The promise here is just the same strategy, but executed better: “Smart purchases within our financial means”.

And if you wanted to be optimistic about Spurs’ recruitment, you could say that the signings of Gray, Antonin Kinsky, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert show that Johan Lange’s talent identification of young players is very good. Whether you think the policy of going for teenagers when the squad lacks depth and experience in key areas is another matter.

Most revealingly, Levy admits he is aware of the criticism of the club’s parsimony in the market. “I often read calls for us to spend more”, he says, “given that we are ranked as the ninth-richest club in the world. However, a closer examination of today’s financial figures reveals that such spending must be sustainable in the long term and within our operating revenues.”

That does not sound like a man about to rip up his spending plans for the summer. Of course, what the example of Tottenham demonstrates is that PSR headroom (of which Spurs have a lot) is not the same thing as cash to burn. Spurs’ revenues are strong but came down last season (from £549.6m to £528.2m) because of no European football. (Their operating profit climbed slightly from £138.7m to £144.9m, and their loss after player trading, in the season they sold Harry Kane, came down from £86.8m to £26.2m.) This season’s Europa League campaign is still ongoing, but it is more likely than not that they will be out of Europe again next season. If so, belts may have to be tightened accordingly.

This is why the non-football revenues are so important. The plan was always to reduce the risk that comes with over-reliance on what happens on the pitch. “Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power,” writes Levy. “We cannot spend what we do not have, and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club — indeed, our off-pitch revenues have significantly supplemented the lower football revenues this year, testament to our diversified income strategy.”

So fans frustrated by concerts or NFL or go-karting or whatever else is held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when there is no football on will just have to get used to it. The more inconsistent the men’s first team is, the more important these revenue streams will become.

All of this means Tottenham are not going to spend their way out of this year’s malaise. The current strategy — relying on the stadium to increase revenues, spending within their means, trying to be clever in the market — is here to stay. The only option if they want to avoid a repeat of this season is to find a way to do it better.

(Top photo: Daniel Levy ahead of an NFL match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2024; by Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has described the 2024-25 season as “highly challenging” in a statement accompanying their annual financial results.

Spurs released their accounts for 2023-24 on Monday, which showed their total revenue decreased by four per cent to £528.2million ($683.4m). That season was Ange Postecoglou’s first as head coach after Antonio Conte was sacked in March 2023. It covers a period when Spurs signed several players in the transfer market for large fees, including James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Brennan Johnson, but sold Harry Kane to Bayern Munich for €100m.

Tottenham did not participate in any European competition during that season after they finished eighth in the Premier League in 2022-23, which means the money they earned from UEFA dropped from £56.2m to £1.3m. Postecoglou then guided the team to fifth place and qualified for the Europa League, despite overseeing a large amount of squad turnover, while the women’s side reached the FA Cup final.

Postecoglou’s second year in north London has been far more difficult. Spurs have been disrupted by an injury crisis and have lost more than half of their games in the top-flight. They are 14th in the table and are closer to the relegation zone than the top four. They reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup but were thrashed in the second leg by Liverpool at Anfield. Their only hope of success now rests on winning the Europa League and they face Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals. Failure to win that competition would mean missing out on playing in Europe for the second time in three years.

The women’s side have also taken a step backwards. Robert Vilahamn guided them to a sixth-place finish in the 2023-24 campaign but they are on a seven-game winless run across all competitions and are ninth out of 12 teams in the Women’s Super League (WSL) with only four fixtures remaining.

Levy addressed criticism in his statement that Spurs do not spend enough money on signing new players.

“Since opening our new stadium in April 2019, we have invested over £700 million net in player acquisitions,” he said in a statement on Spurs’ website. “Recruitment remains a key focus, and we must ensure that we make smart purchases within our financial means.

“I often read calls for us to spend more, given that we are ranked as the ninth richest club in the world. However, a closer examination of today’s financial figures reveals that such spending must be sustainable in the long term and within our operating revenues.

“Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power. We cannot spend what we do not have, and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club — indeed, our off-pitch revenues have significantly supplemented the lower football revenues this year, testament to our diversified income strategy.”

Spurs’ next game is against Chelsea in the league on Thursday before they host Southampton on Sunday. The first leg of their Europa League quarter-final with Eintracht Frankfurt is on April 10. Vilahamn’s side’s next game is against Aston Villa on April 20.

(Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Djed Spence has become invaluable for Tottenham Hotspur this season. It is a scenario that seemed implausible a few months ago.

At the beginning of December, Spence had not started a game for Spurs. He joined from Middlesbrough in July 2022 following a successful loan spell with Nottingham Forest, with whom he helped win the Championship play-off final.

The full-back had a difficult couple of years with Spurs and was sent out on loan three times. The 24-year-old made his first tentative steps forward in December’s 5-0 victory over Southampton, shackled Mohamed Salah in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool, and won back-to-back Premier League player of the match awards in victories over Brentford and Manchester United. He is outperforming his positional rivals, Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie.

In an interview with former Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand and broadcaster Joel Beya, which was released on Monday, Spence reflected on how he turned his career around. He spoke about Antonio Conte, shut down the online rumour that he took part in a charity match last year organised by YouTube collective the Beta Squad, and touched on his ambition of representing England.

Here, The Athletic analyses the main talking points.

“I gave too much respect to the players and the surroundings at Spurs”

Tottenham finished fourth in the Premier League in the 2021-22 season, reached the semi-finals of the EFL Cup and were eliminated from the Europa League at the group stage. They spent over £100million on transfers that summer as they prepared for their first full campaign under then head coach Conte.

Spence was thrust into a squad that included the captains of England, France and South Korea under a manager who had won trophies in multiple countries. It was a huge step up for the defender, who had never played at a higher level than England’s second tier.

“I came from Forest, I’m going to the Premier League, a top six club, and I thought, ‘This is big’,” Spence said. “I was a bit too humble with everything.

“When I went there I’m seeing big names like Harry Kane, Son (Heung-min) and I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. That was probably my biggest mistake — not expressing myself how I should have.”

“That man wasn’t happy about anything”

Spence’s adaptation was not helped by comments made by Conte just a few weeks after his arrival from Middlesbrough. “Spence is an investment of the club,” the Italian said. “The club wanted to do it. I said, ‘OK, this player is young, but he showed he can become a good, important player for us’. The club decided to buy him.”

Spence made four substitute appearances in the league under Conte, for a grand total of five minutes, and came off the bench twice in cup competitions. He moved to French side Rennes on loan in January 2023 and when he returned six months later, Conte had been sacked.

“I felt like whatever I did, that man wasn’t happy about anything,” Spence said. “Even if you did the right things, (you would think) ‘Did I do the right things?’ He is not really a complimenting guy.”

Spence revealed he probably only had “one conversation” with Conte and that his comments had a negative impact on his mood. “It wasn’t a nice feeling, to be honest. I was coming into the club on a high, I was confident, I was buzzing, I had a great season. Just won promotion with my club. When I came in, I just ran into a brick wall really. It shattered my confidence a bit. I’m young as well, so it’s not nice to hear.”

“Football is not fair”

Spence struggled during his loan spell in France. He lived in a hotel for three months and then moved into an Airbnb due to a lack of available accommodation while his family remained in London.

“It’s a new manager, you think everyone is going to get a chance, but with me, I don’t think that was really the case,” he said. “It’s part of the game. Football is not fair. That’s when I went to Leeds.

“I have always known I was good enough. People say, ‘It was good to see him get a second chance and he is doing well’. I never really got the first chance. This is my first chance and I’m taking it. I’m happy for myself. I worked hard and stayed consistent and made sure I was ready.”

“We will never get in trouble for playing Postecoglou’s way”

Postecoglou decided to keep Spence in his squad for this campaign after he impressed on the pre-season tour to Japan and South Korea. He came off the bench and scored in a 2-1 victory over Coventry City in the Carabao Cup before he signed a new contract until 2028 in October.

“When he came into pre-season, he was determined to make a career for himself here at Tottenham rather than wait to be loaned out,” Postecoglou said after the deal was announced. “He did everything right in training, his attitude was great. He’s a good footballer, I think the way we play suits him and he’s knuckled down to that. And he’s earned himself a spot on the roster in our squad. The rest is up to him again because it’s an easy decision for me to make when I see that.”

Spence broke into the starting XI over December and January when Udogie was recovering from a hamstring injury. He is naturally right-footed but seamlessly adapted to left-back. He has started 11 of their last 14 top-flight games — missing one through suspension and another through injury.

Postecoglou encourages his full-backs to push forward and Spence has four direct goal contributions in all competitions. It is a system that he flourishes in, no matter what side he plays on, while training is more engaging than under Conte.

“The players enjoy it,” Spence said. “It’s a fun way of playing, it’s attacking. I get to go forward a lot and come inside into the middle of the pitch where all the commotion is.

“We have players who can, not come out of the system, but have that little bit of freedom like (James) Maddison. He plays the system but has his own quality to produce a bit of magic.

“That is the method. That is the way. To be fair to the manager, we will never get in trouble for playing his way even if we are under pressure. If we play his way, he takes it on himself.

“With Conte (training) was very repetitive. We would do the same session every day. With Ange, it’s a bit different. We do certain drills every day but there might be a different passing drill or different attacks that we do. He switches it up quite a bit.”

“James Maddison is there for me”

Spence has a great relationship with Udogie as they both share similar tastes in music and fashion. They attended a concert together by the Nigerian artist Asake at the O2 Arena last year while Spence forged a strong bond with Brennan Johnson when they previously played together at Forest.

Spence said that one of the other players he is closest to is Maddison. The England international is part of Tottenham’s leadership group along with Son, Cristian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario.

“(Maddison) is there for me and makes sure I’m ready before games,” Spence said. “He will text me, if he is not in the squad through injury, and say, ‘Djed you know what to do today’ or, ‘I want to see this from you’. Madders supports me a lot.”

Maddison has struggled for consistency this season, but it is encouraging to hear how he positively influences the dressing room.

“Doubters, haters, managers…”

Spence worked with Neil Warnock at Middlesbrough but it was a rocky relationship. Warnock sanctioned the defender’s loan move to Forest where he was named in the 2021-22 Championship team of the season for his efforts in helping them to earn promotion. Warnock famously said that Spence “needed to sort himself out” and that he could “go to the top or non-League” when asked to explain his decision on radio station talkSport. Spence had a lot of conversations with Warnock and admitted he did not immediately take that advice.

“You have to prove people wrong,” Spence said. “Doubters, haters, managers (but) I don’t think that’s what drives me. I don’t hold certain comments to a high regard. What fuels me is not just to prove people wrong but I want to improve every day and improve as a person. I want to be the best.”

(Top photo: Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)

Anderlecht captain and former Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen has confirmed he is retiring from professional football at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Vertonghen, 37, said it was becoming “more difficult” to physically prepare for matches and “show myself as the player I want to be”.

He retired from international football last year, having made a national record 157 senior appearances for Belgium across 17 years.

“In recent weeks it has become clear to me that these will be my last games,” Vertonghen told Anderlecht’s official club website. “This is by no means an easy decision, but it is the right one.

“I have noticed that it is becoming more and more difficult to prepare myself physically for training sessions and matches and to show myself as the player I want to be. That is why I will be stopping after this season.”

Vertonghen made 315 appearances for Spurs between 2012 and 2020, helping the club reach the Champions League final in 2019.

The defender has played for Anderlecht in his native Belgium since leaving Benfica in 2022, but has made just five first-team appearances this campaign due to injury.

“I’m going to give it my all for the last eleven games and hopefully experience a few more great moments with the fans and my team mates,” he continued.

“I am very proud of what I have been able to experience and of what I have achieved. I would also like to thank everyone who has supported me all these years from the bottom of my heart.”

Vertonghen won the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup twice with Ajax before joining Spurs, and after leaving the north London club — where he was twice named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year — the centre-back won the Portuguese league title with Benfica.

Anderlecht are fourth in the Belgian top division and eight points behind league leaders Genk.

(Isosport/MB Media/Getty Images)

When England’s new head coach, Thomas Tuchel, was assembling his backroom staff, he opted for familiarity.

Anthony Barry, Tuchel’s assistant, had previously followed him from Chelsea to Bayern Munich. Goalkeeping coach Henrique Hilario and analyst James Melbourne both became acquainted with the 51-year-old at Stamford Bridge. Performance coach Nicolas Mayer’s links to the German go even further back, first crossing paths at French side Paris Saint-Germain and then reuniting at Bayern.

During this international break, Tuchel’s first in charge since officially starting the role in January, a new face has been added into the mix — Justin Cochrane.

Cochrane has spent the past three seasons as Brentford’s assistant coach, closely working alongside Thomas Frank. The 43-year-old, who played for multiple clubs in the lower divisions of English football including Crewe Alexandra, Rotherham United and Yeovil Town, will combine his duties at Brentford with a spot on Tuchel’s staff.

This is what he will offer Tuchel and England as they aim their sights on winning the 2026 World Cup.

Cochrane’s coaching career started before he made his first-team debut. He was 17 and in Queens Park Rangers’ academy when he set up a grassroots team for local children under the age of 10.

“I had a passion for helping young people achieve their full potential,” he said in an interview on Brentford’s official website earlier this year. “Even while I was playing as a professional, I was always aware that if it didn’t work out or if I didn’t maintain a career until I was 35, I could fall back onto coaching because it’s the next best thing to playing.”

Cochrane did have a successful career, playing over 100 matches in the Football League and winning 14 international caps for the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Before he retired, he started volunteering with Tottenham’s youth teams. Cochrane worked with other talented coaches in Spurs’ academy, including Burnley’s head coach, Scott Parker, Matt Wells — who is now Ange Postecoglou’s senior assistant — John McDermott and Chris Ramsey.

McDermott spent 15 years at Tottenham and became their head of coaching and player development before he joined the Football Association in March 2020. Less than 12 months later, he replaced Les Reed as technical director. McDermott reached out to Cochrane to see if he was interested in working with Tuchel.

In an interview with The Athletic in July 2022, Ramsey praised Cochrane’s ability to “connect with anybody at any level of a club”.

“He had a massive passion for the game,” said Ramsey, who spent nine years as QPR’s technical director. “He ended up working with the young players and showed his skill and ability to teach. That is what he is — an absolutely fantastic teacher and coach. He wasn’t one of those people who came in and thought, ‘I’ve played the game, so I know everything’. He was respectful, but he picked it up very quickly. He went back to university (Cochrane graduated in 2017 from The Open University with a degree in business, leadership and management). He wanted to learn different things and he’s also an innovator.”

During his time with Spurs, Cochrane helped to oversee the development of future England internationals Noni Madueke and Kyle Walker-Peters, as well as Japhet Tanganga, Oliver Skipp and Josh Onomah. He spent nine years there before he became the England Under-15s head coach after seeing an advert online. He worked with then England first-team manager Gareth Southgate, his assistant, Steve Holland, and other age-group coaches including Steve Cooper and Kevin Betsy. Cochrane played for Crewe between 2003 and 2006 when Holland was a member of the backroom staff.

In 2019, he completed his UEFA Pro Licence — alongside Kevin O’Connor, a future colleague at Brentford — was promoted to under-16s head coach and helped England win the UEFA Under-16 Development Tournament. The following year, he was appointed as the under-17s head coach and youth development phase lead. He helped to nurture lots of different players, including Newcastle United full-back Lewis Hall and Manchester City’s Rico Lewis.

In June 2021, he left the FA to become Manchester United’s head of player development and coaching. It was his responsibility to help academy players break into the first team. He only spent 12 months with United, but they won the FA Youth Cup for the first time since 2011, beating Nottingham Forest 3-1 at Old Trafford. United’s side included future first-team stars Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.

Senior figures at Brentford had been monitoring Cochrane’s progress ever since his time with England’s youth teams and during the brief stint he had under Mark Robinson at AFC Wimbledon in 2021. Cochrane wanted the opportunity to step up into a first-team environment, while Frank and director of football Phil Giles wanted a fresh voice on the coaching staff who could bring new ideas after a successful first season in the Premier League.

Cochrane’s track record of working with and developing young talent, which is central to Brentford’s long-term vision, helped him stand out. Frank and Giles held multiple meetings with Cochrane before he was offered the newly created role of head of coaching — this title was later changed to assistant coach.

At the time, Brian Riemer — now Denmark’s head coach — was second in command to Frank. They have a close relationship that stretches back over two decades to when they were coaching rival youth teams in Denmark. Riemer’s main responsibility was to coach the defence alongside O’Connor and feed information to Frank on the touchline during a game. When he joined Belgian side Anderlecht in December 2022, he was replaced by Claus Norgaard, who also shares a long history with Frank.

Cochrane’s role on a matchday is different. He will often sit up in the stands with O’Connor and the analysts. They have a better, wider view of the pitch and will communicate with the bench if they spot the opposition team doing anything different to what they expected. At home games, he tends to sit one row behind the bench at a slightly elevated position.

In the build-up to a game, Cochrane’s main role is to work on the team’s attacking patterns with Frank. There is a clip on Brentford’s social media accounts from last year where he accurately predicts what is about to unfold in a training session when he urges winger Keane Lewis-Potter to attack the back post and score on the rebound.

He has taken on more responsibility in west London. Cochrane now plans a lot of the training sessions, which Frank will then lead. Cochrane tailors the drills around the tactical setup of their next opponent or based on what he thinks individuals within the squad need to improve on.

Every player at Brentford is assigned to a member of the coaching staff. The coach is responsible for creating and analysing video clips of that individual and discussing what they did well or where they could improve. They are encouraged to have conversations about their personal lives, too. Cochrane looks after a group that includes Lewis-Potter and Kevin Schade, although he will also offer advice to players who are not his direct responsibility. He is popular and well-respected. One source close to Cochrane, who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, described him as “calm and thoughtful, but he has a little bit of edge” when needed.

When Josh Dasilva came off the bench and scored a late winner against Nottingham Forest in April 2023, he praised Cochrane. Dasilva loves to drift out to the right wing and cut inside on to his stronger foot, his left. The attacking midfielder will often aim a curling effort towards the far post, but Cochrane encouraged him to add more variety to his strikes.

“I was just saying to Justin we worked on that (finish) yesterday (in training),” Dasilva told Brentford’s website. “I always go far post and yesterday the mannequin was set in a way where I couldn’t go far post and I had to go near post.”

Cochrane and O’Connor have worked diligently with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa to improve their finishing too. During his first season in the top flight, Mbeumo only scored three times from open play in 35 appearances. The Cameroon international has improved massively and he has 15 goals in 29 games in this campaign.

Wissa has always been an excellent finisher, but he has already beaten his previous best tally (12), with 14 in 26 matches. Mohamed Salah (27), Erling Haaland (21), Alexander Isak (19) and Chris Wood (18) are the only players to have scored more than Wissa and Mbeumo in the top flight this season. There are a few different factors for their improvement and Cochrane’s coaching is one of them.

Luke Amos, who now plays for Perth Glory in Australia, spent 14 years at Tottenham and worked under Cochrane in different age groups. The midfielder praised his former coach’s vibrant “energy” and enthusiasm.

“With Justin, it was all about fresh ideas,” Amos told The Athletic in 2022. “He would watch Barcelona or Real Madrid in the Champions League on a Tuesday and then in training on Wednesday he would say, ‘I saw this last night, let’s try it’. To have a coach who wants to try different things is refreshing.

“He reminded us that football is about fun, but you need to train properly. I’ve never seen him lose his head, but if training wasn’t right or someone was being sloppy, he would definitely tell them. He sets high demands. That’s what the best coaches do.

“He is so good to work with and you can always approach him. Everyone connected with him easily. He was my coach at different age groups. He is not going to be the same with me when I was 14 and when I’m 20 — he adapts. When I was going through a few things, Justin would help out — like my mentality and not getting too frustrated — because that is something I definitely struggled with when I was younger.”

Cochrane is not the first member of Brentford’s staff to be allowed to pursue opportunities with a national team. The head of athletic performance, Chris Haslam, and the lead performance nutritionist, Ted Munson, both worked with Denmark at last summer’s European Championship. Former analyst Jack Wilson spent his international breaks with Northern Ireland. Brentford considered the potential impact of losing Cochrane during pre-season next year — it will clash with the World Cup — before they gave their blessing to his new job.

Cochrane can offer Tuchel a deeper insight into a few players on the fringes of England’s squad. Former Brentford striker Ivan Toney, who has scored 16 goals in 22 appearances for Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli, missed out on a place in this camp to Dominic Solanke.

“It will, I think, be important to go to see Ivan in the coming weeks, to watch a game live, maybe watch training live, to get a better feeling for him — he is on the list,” Tuchel said. “It was a purely sporting decision for Dominic in the end. It was nothing to do with Saudi Arabia or if we don’t trust the league there. I had just much more evidence and observation live of the matches from Dominic, so straight away I made that choice.”

Cochrane worked with Toney closely for two years and that includes the 2022-23 campaign when he finished with 20 league goals. Lewis-Potter has been in excellent form for Brentford in the unfamiliar position of left-back and he was capped four times by England’s Under-21s. Rico Henry was one of Brentford’s most consistent performers until he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in September 2023 and it has been a difficult journey to return to full fitness. If Henry can rediscover the form he showed before his injury, then Tuchel should consider him as an option at left-back.

Cochrane has experience of coaching in the Premier League, on the international stage and of working with some of England’s brightest young talent. He should be the perfect addition to Tuchel’s staff.

(Top photo: Mike Egerton/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur suffered their 15th loss of the Premier League season away at Fulham after a performance that piles further pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou.

Spurs struggled to get going in west London and were punished in the second half as goals from Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon handed Fulham a 2-0 win.

The result leaves Tottenham in 13th, but ahead of Everton, Manchester United and West Ham United only on goal difference.

Here, our writers analyse the key talking points from the match.

Is Europa League the only reason Postecoglou is still in the job?

With the Europa League quarter-final taking precedence, this season is still yet to be defined from a Spurs perspective. Still, 15 league defeats with nine games remaining is not good enough. Tottenham last lost more games in a Premier League season than this in 2003-04 (19).

Spurs were clearly second-best in the first half and were perhaps fortunate to go in at the break on level terms. The introduction of Son Heung-min and Lucas Bergvall after the interval prompted an improvement, and there were opportunities to take the lead, particularly through Dominic Solanke, who should have done better with an effort from close range.

The match looked set to finish 0-0, which would’ve been Spurs’ first goalless draw in the league since April 2022, but Muniz put Fulham ahead in the 78th minute. Ten minutes later, former Tottenham man Sessegnon put the match beyond doubt with a curled effort into the top corner.

It means that Spurs have won one of their last five matches: the crucial midweek 3-1 result against AZ. Postecoglou has been reluctant to roll out his best XI at every opportunity, but at some point, an improvement in results can’t be overlooked.

If it was in question before, it is now beyond doubt: with just goal difference separating them from 16th, only Europa League success can save Tottenham’s season.

Elias Burke

Bissouma is running out of time

Archie Gray’s first start in defensive midfield became even more significant when Postecoglou took Yves Bissouma off at half-time for the second game in a row. Bissouma underperformed in the first half and at one point passed the ball straight out of play. The Mali international will only have one year left on his contract in the summer and it feels like his long-term future lies somewhere else.

Bissouma has made 22 appearances and 14 starts for Spurs in the league this season but his minutes have reduced dramatically recently. He did not come off the bench in last month’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City and only made brief cameos in the victories over Manchester United and Ipswich Town.

In the Europa League, he was an unused substitute in the first leg against AZ and his involvement was limited to around 15 minutes in the second leg.

It has become clear that he does not belong in Postecoglou’s strongest starting XI. There is even an argument to be made that Bissouma is now their sixth-choice central midfielder behind James Maddison, Pape Matar Sarr, Rodrigo Bentancur, Bergvall and Gray.

Include Dejan Kulusevski in that mix, and he drops even further down. The quality of Bergvall’s performances, especially when you remember that he only turned 19 in February, have probably accelerated the phasing out of Bissouma.

Away from the pitch, Bissouma has been described as a big brother by Sarr and he is close to Destiny Udogie and Wilson Odobert, too. However, his influence on it is waning.

Jay Harris

Gray a rare bright spot for Tottenham

The youngster has deputised excellently as a centre-back amid Spurs’ injury crisis, but after a long wait, fans finally saw him in his natural midfield position from the start.

Gray lined up at the base of a midfield trio, with Bissouma and Bentancur playing slightly ahead of him. Before injuries at Leeds prompted his manager Daniel Farke to shift him to right-back last season, it was the position he broke through in at Elland Road after impressing in that role at youth level for for club and country.

The 19-year-old started the game strongly, breaking up possession on several occasions and shifting the ball forward quickly for his team-mates in attacking positions. It wasn’t an easy first test for Gray in that position, with Fulham’s creative midfielders swarming his every touch, and there were moments in the first half where a loose control or weak tackle led to the ball breaking favourably for an opposition player. Still, he was quick to cover ground and win possession back.

His most important contribution of the first half was a vital block to prevent Alex Iwobi converting from close range. A few minutes into the second half, he demonstrated his technical quality, receiving the ball under pressure in the Spurs box and switching play to Son, who helped set Spurs away on the counter.

He shifted back into central defence in the 67th minute, replacing Cristian Romero, who was substituted for Maddison. Before that, however, he demonstrated more than enough to suggest he can be trusted to continue his development in holding midfield.

Elias Burke

Tel struggles to have an impact

Mathys Tel has lost a lot of momentum since he scored on his second appearance for Spurs at the beginning of February. Last week, he was substituted at half-time in the first leg of their Europa League tie against AZ and then did not play a single minute in the second leg or their 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.

He started on the left wing against Fulham but failed to grasp the opportunity. The 19-year-old was guilty of losing the ball on multiple occasions. You could sense his frustration because he would then charge around trying to immediately win possession back. In one scenario, he lunged into a tackle on Andreas Pereira by the touchline but missed him and then jumped back up before committing a foul on Iwobi.

But Tel did show a few brief flashes of his quality. The only chance Spurs generated in the first half came from his mazy run where he weaved in between Sander Berge, Pereira and Timothy Castagne before drilling a left-footed cross into the box that Solanke and Brennan Johnson just missed.

Tel’s curling shot in the second half was pushed away by Bernd Leno and Solanke should have buried the rebound.

Tel is still finding his feet at Tottenham and has probably not been helped by the rotating cast around him. He has played with different full-backs and midfield combinations, while he has been tried through the middle or out wide.

Nevertheless, Tel came from Bayern Munich with a huge reputation and still has a lot to prove.

Jay Harris

What did Postecoglou say?

“It’s unacceptable to see 15 league defeats. It’s nowhere near good enough, nowhere near the level we need to be, and I understand the supporters’ frustrations with that.

“Today wasn’t so much about performance — it was just another day when we let a game get away from us that we shouldn’t have. We weren’t played off the park and I felt that up until the point they scored, we were the team that was getting on top.

“We had a couple of good chances to go 1-0 up and that would have put the pressure on them, but it’s happened too many times this year. We’ve given the opposition a lift into the game by conceding soft goals.”

What next for Tottenham?

Thursday, April 3: Chelsea (Away), Premier League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET

Recommended reading

How can Tottenham create without the unique skills of Dejan Kulusevski?

Ange Postecoglou and Spurs finally feel the benefit of having some squad depth

Fake football shirts survey: 78% have bought one, 66% happy to stick with counterfeits

English football is besotted with second balls – but how important are they?

(Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League campaign is back in rude health after they clawed themselves past AZ and booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Wilson Odobert was the star of the show as he scored his first two goals in a Spurs shirt either side of a James Maddison strike to ultimately cancel out a 1-0 first-leg defeat in the Netherlands last week.

It was far from plain sailing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with AZ’s Peer Koopmeiners briefly making the tie 2-2 on aggregate and the visitors failing to make some late pressure count but Ange Postecoglou’s side booked their place in the last eight, where they will face Eintract Frankfurt in April.

Jack Pitt-Brooke and Elias Burke break down the main talking points from a pivotal Spurs victory.

A Europa League lifeline still burns brightly

Tottenham Hotspur kept their season alive.

Postecoglou’s men produced their best performance in months, energised by the return of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven at centre-back.

After a tentative first half, they clicked into gear after the break, creating enough chances to win the game easily and scoring twice more. Odobert scored his first two goals for Tottenham, producing his best ever display for the club. It was strikingly different from the flat performance in the first leg in the Netherlands last week.

This means that Spurs now have a European quarter-final to look forward to, their first since their legendary 2019 Champions League run. They will host Frankfurt on April 10 before travelling to Germany the following week.

This also means that Spurs are now just four games away from a potential Europa League final in Bilbao, which would be a remarkable finish to a season where they have struggled so badly in the league.

But with returning players developing some more sharpness, and the hope of Dejan Kulusevski coming back next month, a narrow but clear path still exists for this season to end with a historic triumph and vindication for Postecoglou, despite everything that has happened this year.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Odobert opens his account at the right time

Odobert has teased a breakout performance in a Spurs shirt since his electric second-half cameo in last month’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City. Fortunately for Postecoglou, it arrived when they needed it most.

The first sign that the 20-year-old was in the mood to torment AZ’s defence came in the 15th minute when he latched on a loose ball and embarked on a marauding dribbling run through their midfield. AZ quickly got bodies around him and Odobert eventually lost the ball on the edge of the box — but his desire to drive Spurs forward didn’t diminish.

The young Frenchman continued to attack AZ’s defence whenever he got the ball, and he earned his reward in the 26th minute. Son Heung-min blocked Wouter Goes’ pass down the line and won the loose ball, quickly squaring to an unmarked Dominic Solanke in the box.

Descending on goal, Solanke played a square pass to Odobert and the France Under-21 international fired into the top-right corner with his left foot. He was instrumental in their second, too, carrying the ball from his half into AZ’s, before laying a pass off to eventual goalscorer Maddison.

As it transpired, Odobert had a crucial hand in every goal on the night — even inadvertently playing a part in Koopmeiners’ finish that briefly brought the tie back on level terms as the ball bounced off him.

However, it would go down as Odobert’s night for all the right reasons, with the former Burnley man grabbing the winner from close range at the far post.

Elias Burke

Spurs rediscover their physical side

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this Spurs performance, especially in the second half, was the sight of them hitting a physical level we have not seen from them for months.

Ever since their injury crisis started in the autumn, Tottenham have had to try to survive from game to game, forced to use the same tiring core of players time after time.

But this was close to a full-strength side, with only Kulusevski injured and Rodrigo Bentanur suspended. And we saw a new physical intensity from Spurs, one not seen since December. The first goal came from Son pressing Goes, the bounce ending up with Odobert finishing well.

In the second half, Spurs cranked it up another level. Odobert drove through the middle of the pitch, leading to Maddison’s goal. Spurs were all over AZ, who could not live with their physicality.

Tottenham should have won the game early in the second half but they let AZ back into the tie. However, Postecoglou’s team kept going and the move for Odobert’s second was another sign of the level they can hit.

It felt like watching Spurs from earlier in the season, and suggested there may be some life in Angeball yet.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Van de Ven’s transformative return

It’s been a long wait to see Romero and Van de Ven line up together — and they hardly missed a beat.

AZ striker Troy Parrott was a menace for Archie Gray and Kevin Danso in the first leg, with the former Spurs man often getting the better of that inexperienced centre-back partnership. On this occasion, he cut an isolated figure at the point of AZ’s attack as Romero and Van de Ven dominated on the ground and in the air.

Crucially, the Dutchman’s electric pace allowed Spurs to push up the pitch and pen AZ into their own half without the threat of their speed in transition. On one occasion in the second half, AZ winger Ernest Poku, who is no slouch, ran beyond the Spurs defence and looked to be bearing down on Guglielmo Vicario’s goal before Van de Ven sprinted back and eased him to the ground.

His partner Romero also contributed with several well-timed tackles to prevent AZ counters and passed the ball forwards intelligently, offering an incisive directness Spurs lacked from the backline in the first leg.

Almost immediately after Van de Ven was substituted on the hour, AZ pulled level on aggregate, with the Eredivisie side hitting Spurs quickly on the break. While Gray has deputised excellently in his absence, there’s no-one quite like Van de Ven in the Spurs squad.

Elias Burke

What did Ange Postecoglou say?

“(I) really liked the way the boys addressed the challenge tonight. It’s not easy when you’re 1-0 down before the game starts.

“I thought we started the game really well. Really composed and controlled. We didn’t create a lot but at the same time, we just had them camped in their half and they didn’t really venture anywhere near our goal.

“And second half started brilliantly; exactly what we wanted to do, got our goal — and then we gave them a goal. That puts the tie again on edge a little bit.

“But I thought our response to that was really good; scored another good goal, probably should have got another one or two to finish the game off.

“We probably didn’t handle the last 10 minutes very well but at the same time, when I’m having to change the back line so much, at such a critical time, it’s going to disrupt us. Again, I thought at the big moments, the boys stood up well.”

What next for Spurs?

Sunday, March 16: Fulham (away), Premier League, 1.30pm UK, 10.30am ET

Recommended reading

How can Spurs create without the unique skills of Dejan Kulusevski?

Tottenham confirm freeze of season and match ticket prices for 2025-26 season

Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham finally feel the benefit of having some squad depth

Premier League fans are revolting – but for very different reasons

(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur defender Kevin Danso is out until after the international break due to a hamstring injury.

The Austria international, who joined the club for a €25million (£20.9m; $25.9m) fee from French club Lens in January, sustained the issue during Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.

Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou confirmed Danso’s absence before his side’s Europa League round of 16 second leg against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday. Tottenham head into the game 1-0 down on aggregate after their defeat in the Netherlands last week.

“Kevin got a hamstring injury in the last game and he is out,” Postecoglou said in a news conference. “Ben (Davies) is back in. That’s the only change from the weekend, everyone else got through the game no problems.”

Tottenham have suffered an extended injury crisis this season, with their defence most heavily affected.

Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies have all had extended spells on the sidelines, with Danso starting every game for the north London side since signing a five-and-a-half-year deal.

Postecoglou confirmed that both Romero and Van de Ven made it through the Bournemouth game unscathed, although the amount of time that Danso is expected to be sidelined remains unclear.

“Hard to say at the moment,” he said. “He felt it right at the end of the game. We will see. Kevin looks after himself, he is a pretty good athlete. We have to let it settle down before we get clarity on it.”

Danso, 26, has made seven appearances, completing 90 minutes in all but one of those games, playing for 78 minutes during the 1-0 Premier League victory over Manchester United on February 16.

The injury will mean that the centre-back will miss Austria’s Nations League fixtures against Serbia on March 20 and March 23.

‘Postecoglou faces a huge call’

Analysis by Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Jay Harris

Danso was thrown straight into Tottenham’s starting XI after he joined them at the beginning of February and made his debut in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool because first-choice centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero were injured.

The Austria international quickly became the leader of a patchwork defence and has had three different centre-back partners across his seven appearances.

He aggressively follows strikers when they drop deep and is a powerful dribbler capable of progressing the ball with surging runs. Danso will be a huge miss for Spurs in their vital Europa League second leg tie against AZ Alkmaar.

Romero made his first appearance since December in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth and made a mistake in possession in the first minute which nearly led to Andoni Iraola’s side scoring.

Postecoglou faces a huge call about whether he should risk starting van de Ven and Romero in such a crucial game when they are not operating at 100 per cent. Losing Danso only complicates the situation and increases the prospect of Ben Davies or 19-year-old Archie Gray starting.

Tottenham face Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday and then do not play again until after the March international break. Hopefully, Danso will recover in time for their clash against bitter rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 3.

(ANP via Getty Images)

The Premier League’s most-followed club on TikTok may not be who you expect.

Manchester United would be a safe bet to be at the top of the charts, but they only occupy third place on the TikTok table. It’s not Liverpool or Manchester City, either. Never mind Chelsea and Arsenal, who do not even break the top four.

On top of the pile is Tottenham Hotspur, who have 38.5million followers. That’s more than eight million ahead of second-placed City — and 30m more than their north London rivals over at the Emirates Stadium.

TikTok, launched in 2016 by Chinese technology company ByteDance, has rapidly grown in popularity this decade, becoming one of the world’s biggest social media platforms. It’s particularly popular with the Gen Z demographic, people currently aged between 15 and 24, who spend almost 30 hours on the app per month in the UK. That’s nearly double the average across all age demographics (14), according to Statista.

Appealing to a younger target audience requires a different social media strategy from what clubs may adopt on other platforms. Spurs identified this early and used it to grow beyond their ‘big six’ competitors, who have much larger followings on other social platforms.

“They’ve got such a good eclectic mix of content,” says Chris Reeve, managing director of Reeve Social Media, a social media agency. “It would be easy for a Premier League club, especially an elite one like Spurs, to do purely polished content, but one of their content strands is something called #WeeklyWithSpurs, which is a round-up of pictures from behind the scenes taken from an iPhone by the players.

“For example, one of their players is in the gym taking a selfie in the mirror. One of their players is on the coach with the man of the match award. There’s another walking through the doors of the training ground.

“They’re able to strip it right back, as well as doing the polished stuff. I think many big brands are afraid of doing that, but showing authentic, raw content is highly effective on TikTok. It gives people a reason to follow because it differs from what they see on Instagram or Facebook. It means that more Spurs fans across the world will follow their TikTok because they know they get something unique rather than just the same generic content from other channels.”

While Spurs were not the Premier League’s first club to post on TikTok, they joined the platform before the initial Covid-19 lockdown supercharged its popularity. When the Premier League paused in March 2020, and people worldwide began working and studying from home, Spurs’ social media team catered their content accordingly.

For example, in check with the government’s handwashing guidelines, Spurs released a series of videos of iconic moments and goals counting down from 20 with #washyourhands and #staysafe in the caption. When the players returned to training ahead of the league’s resumption, there was a steady flow of behind-the-scenes footage. As people began using the platform to stay updated with current news and policies, the trending hashtags drew users to Spurs’ account.

Efficient use of hashtags and concise captions have been an important factor in Spurs’ growth, but it is hardly unique within the Premier League. Arguably, Spurs’ primary asset on TikTok has been plastered all over their page from the start: Son Heung-min.

“They have the No 1 influencer in Asia, in my opinion, which is, of course, Sonny,” says Reeve. “Now you would think, ‘Oh, well, that’s just it — they just plaster Son everywhere, right?’ But they mix Sonny strategically with all the other stuff whilst making the most of him, too.

“I think some clubs are almost afraid of doubling down on their most marketable players because they don’t want to be all about that, whereas Spurs are like, ‘Look, we know that Sonny is our best, most valuable and most marketable player’, particularly in the Asian market, where TikTok originated from. It’s an absolutely phenomenal influence to be able to have.

“If you look at any mention of Son in the videos, or even in the thumbnails they’ve used for their short-form videos on TikTok, they always do better than not having Sonny. They’ve even got a video where it’s just Son’s two assists (vs Ipswich Town). Not many other clubs would celebrate a player making two assists as a TikTok video, but Spurs know it works phenomenally well for the Asian market. It’s very clever.”

@spursofficialSonny reacts to some of your favourite moments 🤩 … and tells us his own 🤍♬ Cooking, bossa nova, adults, light(950693) – Kids Sound

Son does not have a public TikTok account, allowing Spurs to cash in as the primary beneficiaries of his fame in Asia. To illustrate his stardom, the 32-year-old has several fan pages with hundreds of thousands of followers, but the most popular, ‘sonheungmiin’, has 1.4m followers at the time of writing. That’s more than several Premier League clubs.

The platform has experienced a recent rapid surge in South Korea owing to the introduction of TikTok Lite, a streamlined version of the platform launched in January 2024. According to statistics gathered by Mobile Index and reported by South Korean outlet ChosunBiz, TikTok’s monthly active users reached a combined total of 9.32m — around 18 per cent of their population — in December 2024, more than Facebook (8.64m) for the first time in the company’s history.

There is more to the idea that ‘South Korean star equals TikTok views’, as TikTok initially struggled to gain a foothold in the country’s social media landscape and plenty of successful videos do not involve him. Still, Son represents a near-incomparable level of fame in that region. Spurs continue to make the most of that fame through geo-targeted localised content to cater to different areas’ tastes.

Another face frequently pops up on their best-performing videos: Celine Dept, a 25-year-old Belgian social media creator. Dept has 16m followers on TikTok as well as more than 40m subscribers on YouTube and has made videos with Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. A video where she attempts to create the ‘perfect dap’ (a variation on a handshake) with various first-team players has 37m views, by far Spurs’ most popular video of the past 12 months.

Other Premier League clubs, including Manchester City, have collaborated with her in the past year, indicating her value in bringing new faces and more viewers to their profiles.

“It’s extremely smart for football clubs to have a celebrity and/or influencer interview because it’s guaranteed engagement,” says Reeve. “She’s young, she’s modern, she’s in line with their new branding— that’s going to be hugely impactful. West Ham have used JaackMaate (Jack Dean) really effectively. He’s got millions of followers across all his platforms, so it’s a very similar and highly effective tactic.

”These off-the-cuff, on-the-street style interviews work well, especially if they’re asking the questions that fans want to hear, which they would be more likely to ask. Instead of asking Sonny how his injury is going, she might be asking what he eats for breakfast. Stuff like that builds a closer connection with the players.“

They’re also unafraid to cash in on interactions with celebrity fans. Last month, Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter film franchise, visited Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the 2-1 defeat by Leicester City. Spurs’ TikTok team filmed his interaction with James Maddison, who showed Grint his Harry Potter-inspired tattoos. Their most viewed video on the platform is Son interacting with film star couple Zendaya and Tom Holland, the latter a lifelong Spurs fan.

“They’ve clearly got, what I would call a ‘content culture’ within the grounds of their football club,” says Reeve. “Other clubs don’t do that. With Spurs, it’s very evident that players are told that there are cameras everywhere following them around all the time, and they just need to say yes and get on with it.

“The other video they lucked out on big time, which has had a million views, is when King Charles came to visit. This is something that obviously doesn’t come around all the time.

@spursofficialThe moment Sonny and Bethany met His Majesty.♬ original sound – spursofficial

“It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime situation, perhaps. So Spurs did incredibly well with that and made the most of it.”

It may not be the trophy fans were after, but increasing global profile and popularity with the Gen Z audience is certainly worth something in the year 2025.

(Top images: Tottenham Hotspur; TikTok)

Ange Postecoglou called it “a night made in Tottenham”.

Last month, Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-0 win at home against Elfsborg sealed a top-eight Europa League finish and confirmed their spot in the round of 16. They needed 70 minutes to score but it ended up being a routine victory, registering 80 per cent possession against a Swedish side technically in their pre-season. More significantly, Tottenham finished with four academy graduates on the pitch, including three of the goalscorers.

Goalkeeper Brandon Austin filled in with Guglielmo Vicario injured and Antonin Kinsky not registered for the European squad. Dane Scarlett scored four minutes after coming on, then Damola Ajayi doubled the lead on 81 minutes, three minutes after his arrival. Mikey Moore put the icing on the Tottenham cake in stoppage time.

“We were enjoying it. You should enjoy it,” said Postecoglou. “People can say, ‘Look at the opposition’, but it’s a European night, you’ve (got) young Tottenham boys out there. It’s a special night for the club.”

A special night in a difficult season. Tottenham are 12th in the Premier League — they have not finished in the bottom half since 2008. They recently won consecutive league games (1-0 vs Manchester United and 2-0 vs Brentford) for only the second time this term, and it was their first instance of back-to-back clean sheets since October 2023.

They followed up those wins by beating Ipswich Town 4-1 on Saturday but recent form is papering cracks. Postecoglou, a man of his playing principles, has repeatedly defended his team’s performances in an injury-hit season. “We’ve been doing this since the middle of November,” he said this month.

“I don’t know how else to explain it. This team is trying its hardest to play under the most extreme two and a half months, asking 18-year-olds, 17-year-olds and senior players, with no rest, to play Thursday-Sunday.

“If you think that is not a factor in how this team is performing then there’s nothing else I can say. There’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing.”

It begs the question: why is the squad “very small”? These are the moments when having an academy-to-first-team pathway is essential, to provide depth and rotation options. To help satisfy profit and sustainability regulations (PSR), it is increasingly important for clubs to generate a profit from academy-trained players. Developing talent is a means to acquire the funds (or balance the books) to fuel recruitment strategies.

Five of the Premier League’s conventional ‘Big Six’ sides are the top teams for minutes given to ‘club-trained’ players this campaign. Club-trained is defined as being at the club for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21. Tottenham, who have only given 1.2 per cent of minutes to academy graduates, are the exception.

Playing academy graduates does not guarantee success. Manchester United are having a worse season than Tottenham. Manchester City have more defeats than wins since the start of November and the FA Cup is their last realistic chance of a trophy this season. However, look at any of the ‘Big Six’ clubs' success stories — from Chelsea’s Champions League, Manchester United’s FA Cup, City’s Premier League titles, Arsenal’s evolution and this season's runaway Liverpool team — and they owe to their academy in some form.

Tottenham and Postecoglou are not opposed to playing youngsters. The average age of their starting XI in this season's Premier League is the joint-third youngest (25.9, with Bournemouth). They have actively recruited youth: Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert and Yang Min-hyeok were teenagers bought under Postecoglou, who has also developed Brennan Johnson (23 years old), Destiny Odogie, Pape Matar Sarr (both 22) and other young players.

GO DEEPER

How English football academies went from peripheral to essential in the space of a decade

It is a shift and overcorrection from the older teams used by Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in an (ultimately fruitless) effort to earn silverware. Tottenham were losing Champions League finalists in 2019 and sensed they could win something.

Academy-to-first team pathways tend to be closed loops. Young players are more likely to join clubs with a clear route to the first team — and players stay there after breaking in.

Only six players born in 1990 or later have come through the Tottenham academy and made 100-plus Premier League appearances (at Tottenham or elsewhere): Harry Kane, Adam Smith, Harry Winks, Kyle Walker-Peters, Steven Caulker and Andros Townsend. Oliver Skipp, on 93 Premier League games and now at Leicester City, is close to making that six. Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal have 14, 15 and 13 graduates born since 1990 with over a century of Premier League appearances.

When Ryan Mason was Spurs' caretaker head coach in the spring of 2023, after Mourinho departed, he said, “Of course I see the value in the academy and having homegrown players — but at the same time, players have to be good enough. They have to earn that opportunity. It’s not an easy route to the top, especially at a club of this size.”

He was speaking from experience, having broken through under Pochettino in 2014 after loan spells at five clubs. Mason is archetypal of the players who have made the jump from academy to first team at Tottenham: a diminutive, technically proficient central midfielder. It is the type of player coaches tend to love and help control games, but is rarely a matchwinner. Skipp, Winks, Tom Carroll, Alex Pritchard and Jamie O’Hara are further examples.

Of course, the glittering graduate is Kane. The north London boy joined aged 11 after being released by Arsenal. Like Mason, he needed multiple loans in English football's lower divisions before breaking into Spurs' senior side. He scored more than 200 Premier League goals for Tottenham, then fetched €100million (£86.4m; $110m at the time) when he joined Bayern Munich in August 2023. The mural by the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium proudly describes him as “one of our own”.

Academies, though, are not to solely be judged on their singular generational talent — Phil Foden (Manchester City), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) — but rather the consistency with which young players break into the first team and become established starters or fulfil squad roles.

There have been too many examples of players leaving Tottenham’s older academy age groups and forging careers elsewhere: Noni Madueke once captained Tottenham’s under-16s, left at 18 for PSV, then earned the Dutch side £28.5million when he joined Chelsea four years later.

Likewise, Walker-Peters. He is a versatile full-back who was man of the match on his Premier League debut (a 2-0 win at Newcastle United) in 2017, and became the second-youngest player to assist three goals in a Premier League game in December 2018. Walker-Peters only made 12 league appearances for Tottenham, then joined Southampton permanently (for £12m) after a loan spell for the second half of 2019-20, and is closing in on 200 club appearances.

Marcus Edwards is another. Pochettino once said he had stylistic resemblances to Lionel Messi. Tottenham earned nearly €8m when he joined Vitoria Guimaraes in 2019, having made one first-team appearance. He has since played Europa League and Champions League football with Sporting CP, winning the Portuguese title last year. He joined Championship club Burnley on loan in January.

There is an argument that the talent has just not been there. London is one of football’s hotbeds. Arsenal and Chelsea have enjoyed age-group success and maintained a pathway to the first team in recent years. West Ham United’s academy has a formidable reputation, while even former Premier League teams Watford (Jadon Sancho) and Charlton (Ademola Lookman, Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa, all from their 1997-born generation) have recent academy success stories.

Queens Park Rangers (2022-23), Arsenal (2018-19), Chelsea (three times) and Watford (2024-25) have all knocked Tottenham out of the FA Youth Cup since 2017. They have not reached the semi-finals of the competition — the under-18 equivalent of the FA Cup — since Chelsea beat them 9-2 over two legs in 2017.

Their 4-2 FA Youth Cup defeat at Vicarage Road last week was symptomatic of first-team problems. Tottenham conceded twice in eight first-half minutes to go 2-0 down and shot themselves in the foot with red cards either side of half-time. They still tried to play with a high line and the left-back rolled inside during build-up. A video of Watford under-18 assistant Lloyd Doyley played before kick-off, and he made the point that these games are a test for youngsters as they bring “family, cameras and expectation”, which are not always there in their league games.

Importantly, Tottenham’s youth teams have been successful in recent seasons. The under-21s finished top of the Premier League 2 last term. In the 2022-23 season, the under-17s and under-18s won the Premier League Cup — they beat Aston Villa (3-1) and Nottingham Forest (5-1) in their respective finals, at their opponents’ stadiums.

That group of Tottenham under-21s is scattered (and that age group this season is 22nd out of 26 teams). Jude Soonsup-Bell and Yago Santiago left permanently for Spain’s second tier, joining Cordoba and Elche. Brooklyn Lyons-Foster went to HJK in Finland and Nile John is with Feirense in Portugal’s second division. Again, that can be viewed as players not seeing a pathway and not being prepared to wait, or the talent not being of sufficient quality.

Meanwhile, defender Alfie Dorrington (Aberdeen) and forwards Jamie Donley (Leyton Orient) and Will Lankshear (West Bromwich Albion) are on loan spells. Donley is playing well in League One, scoring six goals and five assists in 25 appearances and forcing an own goal with a halfway-line strike against Manchester City in the FA Cup. Lankshear was the top scorer (18) and player of the year in the Premier League 2 last term. A powerful runner in behind, he started the campaign with the first team, notably scoring the opener before being sent off away to Galatasaray in a Europa League match.

As Mason and Kane’s routes to the first teams show, development is rarely linear. It requires patience. Success at the academy level is not a guaranteed predictor of first-team performance. Successful youth teams do not necessarily produce outstanding individual players, but it is a marker of improvement.

The biggest challenge is for Tottenham’s academy players to perform at — and maintain — the physical levels that Postecoglou’s system demands. According to the Footovision graphic below, Tottenham are sprinting in and out of possession more than any other Premier League team.

Research shows physical output is significantly greater at first-team versus academy level, but that gap is even greater at Tottenham. Postecoglou said recently that academy players have been required to make up numbers in first-team training sessions. Adaptation to increased loading does not happen all at once — it takes time and careful management.

Moore, who can play out wide or as a No 10, jumped straight from the under-18s to the first team this summer. The 17-year-old missed two months at the end of 2024 (due to a virus, not a muscular injury), which prompted Postecoglou to say, “We’re going to take our time” with his development. “We will protect him, and we’ll be guided by how he feels,” the head coach added. Speaking to The Athletic in May 2024, one coach who worked with Moore said, “He’s the first (academy) player for a long time who has a good chance of breaking into the first team.”

GO DEEPER

'A special talent' - what could come next for Spurs and England's Mikey Moore

The benefit for Tottenham is that Wayne Burnett and Stuart Lewis — their under-21 and under-18 head coaches — have been in place since the summers of 2017 and 2021. Simon Davies, part of Manchester United’s famous 1992 academy generation, joined the club in 2022 (as head of coaching methodology) and has been academy director since June 2023. That stability is essential to support players progressing through age groups.

Part of the reason Tottenham spent £45million to build the Hotspur Way training ground in 2012 was to boost the academy. Their vision was “to be one of the world’s leading football clubs renowned for a long tradition of developing young talent that plays football the ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ way”. The training ground was to be the “elite environment that attracts, retains and develops top quality players, providing an ongoing supply of academy graduates to the first-team squad”.

Over a decade later, their return on investment is underwhelming — but this generation looks more promising than the ones that preceded it. Postecoglou needs more nights “made in Tottenham” and he might have them soon.

(Top photo: Andrew Milligan/Getty Images)