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No 18-year-old has played as many minutes in the Premier League as Archie Gray this season, and the vast majority of them have been out of position. So when asked where he sees himself playing long term, he raises a smile.

“To be honest,” he tells The i Paper, “I don’t really know myself.”

“I always trust the manager. He knows best and wherever he thinks to put me on the pitch or bring me on in the game, I’ll back that 100 per cent. I’m an 18-year-old – he knows the game a lot better than I do.”

The age bears repeating because that is one of the curious things about Gray, a simultaneous mix of maturity and consciousness of just how young he is.

His first season at Tottenham Hotspur has been a turbulent one, but he is perhaps the epitome of an Ange Postecoglou player: youthful and at the same time fearless.

Angeball has had its critics with Spurs losing 14 of their 27 league games in 2024-25, amidst an injury crisis that has seen Gray deployed at centre-back, left-back, occasionally in midfield and rarely in his more regular role at right-back. Yet he believes the process is working.

“It’s amazing the football that we play,” he says. “It suits the players that we’ve got and it’s such enjoyable football to play. It brings us the results, obviously we’ve had difficult times in the season but that’s football, for every team that [bad runs of results] comes as well. I’m enjoying it and it’s such an amazing style of football to be playing.

“To me it doesn’t matter what position it is, I’m on the pitch and I’m playing football. Ultimately it’s just a game of football and you’re against 11 players and I’m grateful that the manager’s trusted me.”

Unlike most of his teammates, Gray does have an advantage when it comes to Postecoglou’s physical demands.

In his year in the Championship with Leeds, he played every league match, including the play-off final – starting 43 times. That is an almost unprecedented workload for a player of his age, but it has helped him adapt to the notorious intensity of training at Hotspur Way.

“I always enjoy stuff like that. I always do a lot of fitness work in pre-season, so I was preparing myself well for those sessions, I was always looking forward to them. Working hard every day and doing the extras will always pay off.

“The amount of games in the Championship, especially with the cup competitions we had and going to the play-offs last year, it was a lot of games. And for a 17, 18-year-old you can only wish to play that amount of games and I was lucky that I did.

“To have Daniel Farke last year trust me in those different positions, it was a great experience for me.”

It was not supposed to end the way it did, Farke nursing Gray’s head as he cried into his shoulder at full-time of the play-off final. Defeat to Southampton would prove his last game for the club he joined as an under-9. But there is no disputing that the move has paid off, and on Thursday, he was named Men’s Young Player of the Year at the London Football Awards.

Gray was still barely old enough to buy a drink when he left home to move to the capital on his own; while he is a first-generation Spur, he left behind three generations of Leeds stars – father Andy, grandfather Frank, and great-uncle Eddie, all of whom played for the club before him.

“It was difficult at the start,” he admits. “Moving away from the family is always tough, and all my friends. But after a month or two it was easy to settle in, especially with the bunch of lads we’ve got and the coaches, they all helped me. I definitely feel really settled with the group and with the fans at the club – and I’ve always got people visiting me.”

There has been advice too, most of it typical of the wisdom given to young footballers – “keeping my head down, working hard and being patient, and when my opportunity comes, take it. When you’re not playing, just working hard every day in training and doing the extras”.

The Grays are not the only ones to have taken him under their wing. Given the age gap, he acknowledges that Spurs’ senior players do not have to go out of their way to socialise with him.

“Ben Davies has helped me out a lot, Madders [James Maddison], Sonny, Brennan [Johnson] as well. They’ve all helped me out so much. At the start, they’d all have breakfast with me and speak to me and make me feel comfortable.”

Former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is among those who has tipped Gray to join that leadership group one day – he has, Redknapp suggested, all the makings of a Tottenham captain.

“It’s way too early to think about it,” the teenager insists. “Sonny being the captain, he’s such a great leader. All of them are, Madders was captain the other day, they’re all role models in different ways and we’re lucky to have them.”

Nor is he entertaining rumours he is in the running for Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad, which is set to be announced in the coming weeks. Gray was at the centre of a tug-of-war between Scotland, for whom his footballing relatives played, and England, but has recently indicated he will declare for the latter.

Tuchel’s appointment has coincided with his Spurs breakthrough but he is not prepared to be distracted by it as Spurs head into the Europa League knockouts. “I’m just completely focused on the next game,” Gray says.

“We’ve got so many tough games ahead of us. I’m not even thinking about it [England] at all.”

If his form continues, he may well be alone in that.

Manchester United will take on Real Sociedad in the Europa League round of 16 with Tottenham Hotspur facing AZ Alkmaar.

Rangers meanwhile have been drawn against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the last 16.

Spurs beat Alkmaar 1-0 at home back in October, while United last played Sociedad in the 2022-23 Europa League group stage, losing 1-0 at home then winning 1-0 away.

Despite their respective struggles in the Premier League, United and Spurs are viewed as joint-favourites for Europa League glory.

United won this tournament under Mourinho in 2017, and finished third in the league phase of this year’s competition – behind Lazio and Athletic Bilbao.

Spurs were fourth overall, and the Europa League is Ange Postecoglou’s final shot of winning a trophy in his second season. “I always win things in my second year,” he said bullishly back in September.

United are 15th in the Premier League table, and Spurs 12th.

Europe therefore offers both Ruben Amorim and Postecoglou a shot at salvaging forgetful campaigns.

United remain in the FA Cup as well, and host Fulham in the fifth round on 2 March, but Spurs exited that tournament when losing to Aston Villa in the previous round – days after losing in the Carabao Cup semi-finals to Liverpool.

The two clubs could also meet in the Europa League final, given they are on opposite sides of the draw.

United could face FCSB or Lyon in the quarters, with a potential Mourinho reunion in the offing come the semi-finals against Fenerbahce. Should United get there, the semis look difficult no matter the opponent: the other options being Rangers, Roma and Athletic Bilbao.

Spurs meanwhile could face a rematch of their 2019 Champions League semi-final in the quarters, with Ajax possible opponents. The alternative is Eintracht Frankfurt.

Bodo/Glimt, Olympiacos, Viktoria Plzen and Lazio are possible semi-final opponents.

Europa League last-16 draw in full

Bodo/Glimt vs Olympiacos

Fenerbahce vs Rangers

Ajax vs Eintracht Frankfurt

FCSB vs Lyon

AZ Alkmaar vs Tottenham

Real Sociedad vs Manchester United

Viktoria Plzen vs Lazio

Roma vs Athletic Bilbao

Europa League knockout key dates

Last-16: 6 and 13 March

Quarter-finals: 10 and 17 April

Semi-finals: 1 and 8 May

When is the Europa League final?

The Europa League final takes place at the Estadio de San Mames in Bilbao on 21 May.

When City Football Group (CFG) – the giant conglomerate under which Manchester City’s owners run their football teams – bought Melbourne Heart in 2014, Scott Munn feared for his job.

He had been the club’s first hire as chief executive after it formed in 2009 and an integral part of its progress. But the takeover changed everything. Everyone presumed they would be dismissed and replaced by new CFG staff.

When Munn and colleagues key to the club were summoned to a meeting at the Crown Casino, on the south bank of the Yarra River, with CFG executives Simon Pearce, Ferran Soriano and Brian Marwood, they had half-expected the axe to fall then.

They were each asked what kept them up at night, and Munn watched as his colleagues shared various problems – diminishing funds, the sale of too many key players, sponsors leaving. Pearce, Soriano and Marwood offered solutions to all of them.

When it was Munn’s turn he said, simply, that if they solved all those problems then he didn’t have any, he later recounted in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. That joke was the start of a mutually beneficial relationship from which both parties gained over almost a decade together, and has escalated Munn’s standing in world football.

To the point where he has become one of the most influential figures at Tottenham Hotspur, yet one about whom little is known. He is a key ally of fellow Aussie Ange Postecoglou, the club’s struggling manager, and tasked with finding the extra 0.5 per cent that nobody else can see.

It sounds, according to those who know him, as though Munn is a Dave Brailsford marginal gains-type executive. Make of that what you will.

Some believe he was intended to act as a wedge between Daniel Levy, the chairman currently the target of anger and protest from fans, and the football side of things. Whether that is a wedge or actually a shield from an increasingly frustrated fanbase isn’t always easy to tell.

CFG liked Munn enough to keep him in charge to oversee their ambitious plans Down Under. They signed high-profile players, such as Tim Cahill and Aaron Mooy, won a first trophy in 2016 with the men’s team and three with the women. But it was not without difficulties: underwhelming attendances, fast turnover of players, an inability to escape the sense that a fledgling club had sold its soul to become another cog in the City machine.

After five years as newly-named Melbourne City chief executive under CFG, Munn was promoted within the CFG network to chief executive for China.

CFG China was established in 2016 and opened offices in Shanghai and Chengdu. As well as overseeing it all, one of Munn’s key jobs was becoming chairman of Sishuan Jiuniu FC, a side set up in 2017 that started competing in the China Amateur Football League. It was bought by CFG two years later and represented another fascinating project, full of tensions and challenges.

At the behest of his bosses, Munn had tried to facilitate a relocation to Changsha, Hunan. But after initially agreeing, the Chinese FA reneged, and relations strained to the point CFG threatened to withdraw its investment in Chinese football altogether.

Sparring with the Chinese government will, at least, have provided some preparation for working under Levy.

They did eventually move to Shenzhen Peng, which went through a complete rebrand that included renaming the club to Shenzhen Peng City.

A month after Munn left for Spurs in 2023, the club won promotion to the Chinese Super League for the first time, as winners of China League One.

Since his first day at work in north London, in September 2023, Munn has seen close-up the bipolar nature of Tottenham. Supporting Spurs is like riding a rollercoaster that plunges you down and up and, invariably, down again, circling loop-the-loops for eternity until only the sweet release of death permits you to get off.

He was recruited following a six-month review, conducted by external consultants and commissioned by Levy, of the club’s overall health and longevity. The feeling was that Spurs should operate more like City, and Munn was perfectly positioned, having soaked up CFG for years, regularly flying to England for meetings with key figures.

Levy wanted Spurs to recruit more innovatively, finding better younger players with resale potential while arming the academy to produce quality, profitable footballers. And Munn had, Levy believed, the requisite experience and skills for an evolving job.

Though Munn did not officially start work until five months after the club announced his appointment, and after Postecoglou joined as manager, he is thought to have had a say in the deal. Not only was he well aware of Postecoglou’s achievements in their homeland, they had crossed paths in the CFG network when the latter was in charge at Yokohama F Marinos.

But tides turn dramatically in the Premier League, and if you aren’t careful they can sweep you away. What began as breathless, table-topping football that had many convinced Postecoglou had reinvented the wheel has taken a sharp downturn. And in forums and subreddits, Spurs fans have started to question why Munn hasn’t come under more scrutiny.

It was believed that part of the reason Munn was brought in was so that Levy could take more a backseat. Indeed, that is how it has been perceived externally. The Sydney Morning Herald described Munn’s role as “a buffer between Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy and the club’s football department”.

But more recently it was Levy taking a private jet to Prague on New Year’s Day for two days of negotiations, alongside technical director Johan Lange, to see through the £12.5m signing of young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.

That does not sound like the actions of someone stepping away from control.

Less is known about Munn in European circles because he had spent his entire career on the other side of the world, and in other sports, including rugby league and the Olympics.

But he has seen it all – from having no offices and players standing in wheelie bins full of ice for recovery in Melbourne to the vast riches and infrastructure of City’s Abu Dhabi owners.

Before he arrived at Spurs, Munn won trophies everywhere. And many who have worked with Munn speak effusively about him, as a person and a professional – how much time he has for others, how he impacted their career, the guidance he offers. In China he was known as a smart, patient, careful diplomat.

His roles have been vast, encompassing every department, and every nook and cranny within them, at football clubs, governing bodies and major sporting event organising groups. He loves cycling so much he frequently takes his bike with him on trips abroad.

But reaction of others reveal a sharper edge that belies the friendly eyes, sparkling behind wide-rimmed spectacles, and cheery smile. One football figure declined to discuss Munn with The i Paper because they had nothing positive to say about him.

On Thursday mornings he can often be found watching A-League football with Postecoglou at Tottenham’s training ground. And, possessing a similar sense of humour, they enjoy sharing a joke together.

Munn sees it as his role to cultivate and maintain an environment where the players have no excuses if they don’t perform – to let the manager get on with his job but give him the best tools possible to achieve it.

He is one of the most powerful figures in the Premier League who must oversee the successful spending of revenues that hit €615m (£510m) in 2024.

He is said to feel privileged to work for Levy, to learn from one of the game’s toughest negotiators and dealmakers, and has appreciated the backing the chairman has given him. But in some ways, it is as unenviable a job as it is an enviable one.

His role demands constantly looking at the present and the future in parallel, ensuring everything is ticking along in the current campaign while planning for the next. Making sure global tours are arranged, the academy is fully stocked, the women’s team are competitive, the stadium is optimal. The list goes on.

It can probably seem an overwhelming job: responsible for everything, yet never fully controlling anything, relying on the word and trust of so many others in a notoriously ruthless industry. Almost perfectly positioned to take a fall when someone else needs to take the blame.

At numerous points this season, it has felt as though Tottenham Hotspur’s injury crisis would never end. Any glimmer of good news has generally been quickly quashed by another pinging hamstring.

For the best part of three months, Ange Postecoglou has been unable to select four of his first-choice back five.

The frontline has also been decimated with the club’s three top Premier League goalscorers this season – James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson – all missing the last five matches. Spurs have had at least eight players sidelined each game since the end of December.

The various absences have resulted in the few fit and available players playing more minutes than they would have anticipated. Pedro Porro, Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min have been largely immune to aches and strains and twists and pulls; all three look spent.

Kulusevski has already clocked up 2,850 minutes of game time this campaign, just 114 fewer than his total from last season.

Following last weekend’s FA Cup exit to Aston Villa, Postecoglou launched an impassioned defence of his squad, and by extension himself, for the tough spot that Spurs find themselves in: 14th in the league, out of both domestic cups and clinging onto the Europa League as their last hope of salvation from a brutal campaign.

“What I’m saying is you can’t be critical of players or players’ performances at this time,” he said.

“Because if you do, then do that with everyone else. Be as critical of other clubs when they’ve got 9 or 10 or 11 players out. And none of them have.”

As Spurs’ injury crisis has dragged on through winter, so the sympathetic voices have diminished.

Other clubs have encountered similarly debilitating injury issues. Bournemouth have had nine players out for the last few weeks, including both centre-forwards lost to serious injuries. Arsenal are currently down to their last three attackers as the others have succumbed one by one to hamstring tears.

Nevertheless, Tottenham have certainly been hit hard. Ben Dinnery, founder of Premier Injuries, a website that tracks player absences across the division, has logged 27 “time-loss injuries” for Spurs this season, which are defined as those that cause a player to miss at least one match.

That will be up to 28 by the time they play Manchester United on Sunday after Richarlison suffered a calf strain during last week’s Carabao Cup defeat to Liverpool. They had 37 across the entirety of Postecoglou’s debut campaign and only Brighton (with 30) have had more in the top-flight this term.

Hamstring injuries on the rise

A big problem that Spurs have had, as other teams have experienced, is that a number of those setbacks have been muscle-related which can be harder and in some cases longer, to recover from than a bone fracture.

Judging when a player can return to action after a muscle strain or tear is very difficult, a highwire act of risk mitigation. A player is only cleared to play when they, the club’s medical department and the club’s management team, have all signed it off.

Of Tottenham’s 28 time-loss injuries, 18 have been muscular. More eye-catching still is that 10 of those have been hamstring-related, just one fewer than they had in the whole of last season.

The rise in hamstring injuries, and in particular severe ones that cause a Grade Two or Grade Three tear which often require surgery to mend, is not Spurs-specific and is fairly common across the Premier League.

The relentlessness of the schedule is an obvious root cause. With more summer tournaments and pre-season tours around the globe, elite players basically have an 11-month season to get through. As Postecoglou mentioned, his depleted squad have had games on Thursdays and Sundays for months.

A seven-day rest between fixtures against Villa and United is the longest Spurs have had since the last international break in November when most of their players were in action for the countries anyway.

A ubiquitous “high press” playing style across the league is another factor. When Mauricio Pochettino implemented a relentless pressing game at Southampton and then Spurs, it was still something of a novelty in the English game and more associated with teams from the Bundesliga.

Now it is everywhere, in no small part due to Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp’s influence.

In Tottenham’s case, the immense physical demands of Postecoglou’s playing style have also been suggested as a major factor.

Is Postecoglou’s playing style to blame?

Data from Opta shows that Spurs rank top in the Premier League this season for total sprints with 4,200 (175 per match), and pressures in the final third (1,505) and second to Ipswich for distance covered.

That last stat is especially interesting given Tottenham have had the fourth-highest possession share (Ipswich have had the 18th). A general assumption would be that teams with more of the ball do less running but that is evidently not the case with Spurs where every action, on and off the ball, is done at high intensity.

The obvious conclusion to draw from the data is that the more sprints a team does, the more likely they are to succumb to muscle injuries.

Postecoglou’s high-line approach is particularly demanding of the defenders as they are required to sprint up the pitch to engage with their opponents and race back towards their own goal if a team gets in behind them. Centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero and left-back Destiny Udogie have all been out at the same time due to hamstring injuries.

“The reality is this: if you insist on only driving in the fast lane, your tyres are going to wear quicker,” quipped Jamie Carragher in his latest Daily Telegraph column.

Spurs have also suffered from players enduring re-injuries, a situation described by one source as “every medic’s worst nightmare”. Van de Ven missed eight games due to a hamstring injury between October and December, suffered a recurrence on his comeback game against Chelsea and then missed another 14.

The Dutchman returned to play 45 minutes of Tottenham’s Europa League clash with Elfsborg at the end of January but has subsequently sat out their next three games, including two crunch ones against Liverpool and Aston Villa in the cups and will be absent again this weekend.

Summer signing Wilson Odobert has been similarly unfortunate. He injured a hamstring in September, came on for the final few minutes of a game against AZ Alkmaar on his return at the end of October, and hasn’t been seen again since.

While at Celtic, Postecoglou acknowledged that injuries were an inevitability due to his tactics but that they would settle down once players became more accustomed to his methods. That proved to be the case in Glasgow but hasn’t been replicated in London.

Modifying training to ease players back in is difficult. As one source said to The i Paper, training at a lower intensity to then play a match at a higher intensity puts the risk of injury “through the roof”. There is a delicate balance when it comes to reintegrating a player and it’s one that Tottenham have struggled to find.

In Postecoglou’s defence, he has tweaked his style slightly of late. Spurs have played noticeably deeper in recent matches, to good effect against Brentford in their last league game when they won 2-0 and much less successfully at Anfield when they were trounced 4-0.

However, given Postecoglou’s unswerving faith in the methods that have served him well over a 29-year management career across continents, it is surely a temporary reprieve.

He even bristled at the suggestion that Spurs played a “low block” after the win at Brentford by insisting the pressing intensity was less because the players were fatigued.

It seems reasonable to conclude that the extent of Tottenham’s injury woes has bought their manager time.

Crisis starting to ease

Defeats to Ipswich Town, Everton and Leicester City all had an end-game feeling, but he clung on. His position remains in a precarious state after exits from both cups this month.

If Postecoglou’s future is going to be judged once he has a deeper squad to work with, the coming weeks are going to be crucial. The injury list is slowly starting to clear up.

Guglielmo Vicario, Maddison, Udogie, Odobert and Johnson are all in contention to face United and according to Postecoglou, Van de Ven, Romero and Solanke are all two to three weeks away.

Postecoglou has been adamant that Spurs will be an “outstanding team” as more key players return. As the season enters its pivotal final third, he will hope that the switch can be flicked quickly.

At the end of the week when Beyonce tickets went on sale at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, followed by the visit of King Charles to throw an American football across the pitch, there will be a football match.

Shortly after Manchester United make their way down the High Road, it is anticipated that hundreds, if not thousands, of Spurs fans will follow. At the corner of Lordship Lane supporters will gather for a “peaceful march” to voice their displeasure at owners Enic and its face in the boardroom, chairman Daniel Levy.

It is not the first time Levy has been the subject of such demonstrations. The proposed move to Stratford – and the ground eventually inhabited by West Ham – prompted vociferous protests outside the old White Hart Lane. Later, so did the dalliance with the European Super League.

But the “Levy Out” chants have grown by degrees – and decibels – as Tottenham have plummeted out of contention for major trophies and this season, perilously close to the relegation zone.

“To dare is too dear”. “Profit before glory”. “Our game is about glory, Levy’s game is about greed.” Amid the burger vans and scarf stalls, the banners against the board have become part of the Spurs matchday experience.

“My view is that whilst I respect his financial acumen, Tottenham Hotspur is a football club,” says Alan Fisher, writer of Tottenham on my mind.

“Tottenham from 2000 onwards, I think people will see the Levy era as as big a football disaster as the Premier League has seen. That’s not quite true of course because some clubs have gone completely bust. But utterly wasted – an entire generation of fans that’s been treated to a sea of waste opportunities.

“This isn’t just about the fact our squad isn’t deep enough because of injuries. It’s because he’s been in charge for 24 years and we’re still seeing the same problems, the same issues are coming up that we had with [Jacques] Santini [manager for five months in 2004].

“Santini couldn’t communicate with the players, [director of football Frank] Arnesen was tasked with recruiting lots of young players on the cheap we could sell on, and the team wasn’t of sufficient quality. They’re repeating the same things over and over and over again.”

While the relationship with supporters declined further with the sacking of Martin Jol – news of which leaked at half-time of a Uefa Cup match – it was not irrecoverable. There are elements of the fanbase who remain behind the chairman due to the club’s commercial success, but they are less vocal and risk dwindling in number as Spurs’ problems deepen.

“Levy Out” has perhaps become a byword for the frustration felt at years of decline. It is less than a decade since back-to-back title challenges and not six years since the Champions League final in Madrid. Neither Jose Mourinho nor Antonio Conte, two of the modern game’s most successful managers, were able to arrest the slide in the period since.

The trophy drought now stands at 17 years, the 2008 League Cup the only silverware since Levy took over from another tumultuous period under Alan Sugar in 2001.

“I have mixed views of Enic and Levy’s ownership,” Spurs fan Aaron Hanlon tells The i Paper.

“One the one hand, I think it’s fair to say that success on the pitch is not their top priority. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they don’t care at all about footballing success, but my sense is Enic understand their main duty to the club as financial, rather than as putting out a competitive football team.

“I don’t agree with the protests. This is a low point to be sure, and it’s maybe the hardest time for fans get behind the players and the manager and help them through this, but also the time they need it most.

“The protest seems like a distraction. It’s also not likely to budge Levy, a substantial shareholder in the club who’s no stranger to this kind of thing and probably would’ve removed himself from the picture by now if he were susceptible to protests and chants.

“Up the Spurs, I say. Sing about the players and the club. If you don’t care about Levy, why are you singing about him in the middle of a football match while the players are giving everything on the pitch?”

Rumours of a potential Qatari takeover have persisted but have typically been thin on detail and have not come to fruition. The new stadium, Levy’s most concrete and valuable legacy, has helped Spurs’ value rocket above the £1bn mark.

On the pitch, however, the near misses of the Mauricio Pochettino years look increasingly like the exception, not the rule.

“They didn’t recognise the generational opportunity of the Pochettino era,” says Tottenham fan and writer Martin Cloake, who believes the Argentine was seen as being too “successful, too quickly”.

“We’ve had lots of different sorts of managers, and they haven’t succeeded. What is it about the culture of the club that’s not working?”

Ange Postecoglou has repeatedly pointed to injuries as the source of Spurs’ woes – at various points they have been without a first-choice goalkeeper, three centre-backs, a left-back and three forwards, and have faced pivotal Premier League games with 10 senior members of the squad out.

“I have a lot of sympathy and a lot of time for Ange, and for the players as well, because I just don’t think there’s any tactical magic that can account for such a depleted and tired squad,” Hanlon adds.

Trophies have become a stick with which to beat Levy but are far from the only friction – the Super League, the 15 sacked managers, the wages to turnover ratio at just 42 per cent at the ninth richest club in the world. That is down three per cent from the previous year, making it harder to compete for players.

At the same time, Tottenham fans pay the second highest season-ticket prices in Europe, behind neighbours Arsenal.

Cloake and Fisher, co-authors of A People’s History of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, have both been involved in the “Save Our Seniors” campaign against the decision to reduce concession tickets for over-65s.

“That isn’t just about old people,” Fisher points out. “That’s about everybody, because it reveals what the club think about the most loyal supporters. I’ve been going since 1967. They don’t care who sits in those seats, they would prefer somebody who pays full price.”

For supporters with long memories – and that is almost an entry-level requirement at Tottenham – the Sugar era had its own problems. So the crux of the problem, even if Enic eventually sell, is what comes next.

“Some people are Levy-out at any cost,” Cloake says. “There needs to be an alternative. The suspicion is you have to be owned by a Gulf state or a hedge fund… if the Saudis took over, that would be the severing of ties [for me].

“It hasn’t been the football club I grew up supporting for a long time. What Tottenham Hotspur stands for has changed, possibly forever.”

“I suppose I am sort of ‘Levy Out, provided I know what the alternative is,’” Fisher surmises.

“Or, Levy if you want to change the way you manage the club, that’s fine by me. Which isn’t a catchy slogan, but there’s a lot of people with a similar view that are absolutely pig sick of what’s going on. This has been going on for so long that any residual sympathy I had for Levy and the board has disappeared.”

The cultures of football clubs are formed over decades – the one at Spurs, Cloake insists, is “terrible”. The exception to that is on the terraces, for which there remains a waiting list of tens of thousands.

They are waiting for the light at the end of a transitional period that sometimes feels eternal. Sunday’s protest is another collective cry into that void.

Aston Villa 2-1 Tottenham (Ramsey 1′, Rogers 64′ | Tel 90+1′)

VILLA PARK — Assuming the Premier League is beyond them, Tottenham Hotspur have one opportunity to fulfil the Ange Postecoglou pledge of a second season pot. And pigs might, well, you know.

Given Postecoglou has overseen two cup exits in the space of three days, the idea he might triumph in the Europa League appears fanciful on the evidence of Anfield and Villa Park, where his team were all-too easily exposed.

With a minute on the clock, the game’s first meaningful action left Spurs picking the ball out of the net.

On the touchline, the troubled features of Postecoglou took on a grey pallor indistinguishable from his hair and padded coat. Though he looked in need of a blood transfusion, there is another in the firing line before him. The problem is, Daniel Levy, roundly booed here, is unlikely to fire himself.

After the miserable shellacking at Liverpool to exit the Carabao Cup, this was the last thing Postecoglou needed. Nobly he resists the excuse offered by the many injuries piling up, just the nine first-team players unavailable at Villa Park. Yet that does not stop pressure’s heavy hands taking a grip of tender body parts.

January additions Kevin Danso in the heart of defence and winger Mathys Tel were handed impossible tasks, the former under immediate barrage, the latter starved of any meaningful involvement. The opening period passed like a training ground drill of attack versus defence, with Villa advancing at will.

There was some mumbling about the colour of the ball clashing with the orange shirt of Antonin Kinsky in the Tottenham goal, but that does not absolve him of the horrible bungling of Jacob Ramsey’s shot off his weaker left side. Kinsky’s hands were warmed thereafter by repeated Villa attacks, all of which he repelled, including a carbon copy of Ramsey’s earlier strike.

The lad clearly has promise, but this game is intolerant of keeper error. When the ball ripped through his hands inside a minute, it conjured memories of Leandro Trossard’s shot slithering beneath him to gift Arsenal victory in the north London derby a month ago.

On a night chilled by a bitterly cold easterly, Spurs’ fans at least turned up, singing their encouragement for the players high up in the Witton Lane stand, alongside their disapproval of Levy. They might have had something to cheer were Emiliano Martinez as susceptible as Kinsky. No chance, Son Heung-min’s drilled effort comfortably smothered at short range.

Though Tottenham were a different proposition after the break, defending higher up the pitch and smashing into the tackle in the middle of the park, they could never quite escape the sense of desperation gathering about them, which of course deepened when the excellent Morgan Rogers doubled Villa’s lead.

This was the signal for ole football. On came Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, scions of Manchester United and Real Madrid respectively. Whatever the sins of their past, their presence layered the night in luxury brand vibes.

Man of the match: Morgan Rogers

Another dynamic performance, embroidered by a goal, underlined his candidacy to run the England midfield when Thomas Tuchel names his first squad next month.

Rashford was bright and eager in his 30-minute cameo, hinting at what might be should he ever rediscover the necessary focus and commitment to match his talent. Two years older at 29, Asensio is a little further along the career curve but keen to make the most of his opportunity having stalled at Paris Saint-Germain.

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Deadline day is officially over as football clubs rushed to complete their business before the transfer market closed.

In the biggest story of the window, Marcus Rashford joined Aston Villa on loan from Manchester United, who were linked with Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel.

However, the 19-year-old changed his mind about signing for Tottenham Hotspur – despite having rejected a £60m bid last week.

Chelsea focused more on outgoings rather than incomings, with Axel Disasi, Ben Chilwell and Joao Felix all on the move.

Elsewhere, Brighton’s Evan Ferguson was reunited with West Ham manager Graham Potter, while Nurnberg striker Stefanos Tzimas will join in the summer as his replacement.

Newcastle United defender Lloyd Kelly also completed a loan move to Juventus with an option to buy.

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That’s it for another four months. The transfer window is closed so we’re off to bed. Here are some of the key deadline day headlines:

Marcus Rashford believes he can help Aston Villa enjoy a deep run in the Champions League after joining on loan from Manchester United for the rest of the season.

The England forward was the most notable transfer at the end of the window, though Villa also signed Spain midfielder Marco Asensio on loan from Paris Saint-Germain and reached an agreement with Chelsea for defender Axel Disasi.

Tottenham Hotspur finalised a loan deal for Mathys Tel – Manchester United were put off by Bayern Munich’s demands for a £5m loan fee – while ­Manchester City, the window’s biggest spenders by far, paid £50m for Porto’s Spanish midfielder Nico Gonzalez.

Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell has been offered a lifeline to get his career back on track at Crystal Palace.

West Ham United completed the loan signing of Brighton striker Evan Ferguson until the end of the season.

Newcastle United have confirmed Lloyd Kelly’s move to Juventus – and that the move has an obligation to make the deal permanent in the summer.

Palace sign Chilwell on loan

Crystal Palace have signed Ben Chilwell on loan from Chelsea.

The 28-year-old makes the switch to Selhurst Park until the end of the season.

Spurs confirm Tel capture

Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel has joined Tottenham on loan.

The 19-year-old is yet to score after making 14 appearances for the Bundesliga giants this term.

Man City sign Gonzalez from Porto for £50m

Manchester City have announced the signing of midfielder Nico Gonzalez from Porto on a four-and-a-half-year contract.

The 23-year-old becomes Pep Guardiola’s fourth transfer of the window.

Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis moved to the Etihad earlier this month.

Potter ‘happy’ with transfer business

Graham Potter says he is “happy” with the transfer business done at West Ham.

The Hammers boss spoke to reporters after Monday’s 2-1 defeat to his former club Chelsea.

“I’m happy. The players that we’ve got out [injured] at the moment are significant for us,” he said.

“So, if we get those back, which we will hopefully soon, that makes a difference to us.

“And then to get the two characters that we did, Evan [Ferguson] and James [Ward-Prowse], I think they’ll help the team, help the group, improve training every day. I’m positive.”

Tel passes Spurs medical

Mathys Tel has passed his Tottenham medical after arriving in London this afternoon.

He will join on loan from Bayern Munich with an option to buy him for £45m in the summer.

Spurs are set to pay the 19-year-old’s full salary as part of the deal.

Holding completes loan move to Sheffield United

Rob Holding has officially joined Sheffield United on loan from Crystal Palace.

“It’s been a long day but it is well worth it, I’m happy to be here,” Holding said.

“I had a quick word with the gaffer and I’m excited with the project he’s got going on here, it is a good environment to be in.

“It is a fresh start, I’m looking for a bit of consistency with games and see what happens in the second half of the season.”

Felix touches down in Italy

Joao Felix has landed in Italy ahead of his loan move from Chelsea to AC Milan.

Young leaves Villa on loan

Aston Villa youngster Kadan Young has joined Royal Antwerp on loan as he looks to gain more first-team experience.

Ipswich sign Palmer

Ipswich Town have confirmed the signing of goalkeeper Alex Palmer from West Bromwich Albion.

It’s a deal worth an initial £2m which could double if certain conditions are met.

Fulham in talks to re-sign Willian

Fulham are in talks to re-sign Brazilian winger Willian on a free transfer.

The 36-year-old is available after leaving Greek side Olympiacos.

Tel poised for Spurs switch on loan with option

Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel is poised to move to Tottenham Hotspur on loan, with the north London club having an option to buy the 19-year-old.

No more incomings at Man Utd

As reported earlier, Manchester United are not expecting to make any further signings despite head coach Ruben Amorim saying the club was “trying everything” in their power.

Sunday’s 2-0 home loss to Crystal Palace left the Red Devils languishing 13th in the Premier League standings and only underlined the issues at hand.

However, United have indicated that they are not expecting to bring anyone else in before tonight’s deadline.

Head coach Amorim said after the defeat to Palace: “We are trying everything to improve the team without doing mistakes of the past, and trying to balance the urgency of the moment.

“So, we know all of the aspects of our club in the moment, but we are trying everything.”

Villa beat Spurs to sign Disasi on loan

Aston Villa have reached an agreement with Chelsea to sign Axel Disasi.

According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Disasi’s £5m transfer to Villa will be a straight loan, with no buy option included in the deal.

Tottenham had agreed a similar fee but Disasi is expected to move to Villa Park.

More injury problems for Postecoglou

Tottenham defender Radu Dragusin will miss the rest of the season after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament.

The 23-year-old went down injured after coming on at half-time during Thursday’s 2-0 win over Elfsborg in the Europa League.

At the time boss Ange Postecoglou admitted the injury looked serious.

“Unfortunately Radu’s hurt his knee now,” Postecoglou said.

“I don’t have any further information but it didn’t look good as he was coming off so we’ll just have wait and see but it’s disappointing.”

Kelly joins Juventus on loan from Newcastle

Newcastle have confirmed Lloyd Kelly’s move to Juventus – and that the move has an obligation to make the deal permanent in the summer.

The fee is reported as undisclosed – they usually are – but it’s widely expected to be around the £20m mark and for Newcastle the kicker is it’ll be just about pure profit from a PSR perspective.

Newcastle’s press release thanks Kelly and wishes him well in Turin and from their view it’s a summer move that has worked out fine given that they’ve turned a substantial profit.

The hope was that Kelly would be Eddie Howe’s flexible friend – filling in at centre-back and left-back – but it’s been stop-start at Newcastle and when chances have come his way he’s not really taken them.

Still, Howe wanted to keep him but “business logic” has trumped football logic this time.

No incomings for Newcastle, who will look to the summer for a potential rebuild. A risk, no doubt, but for Paul Mitchell it’s all about the long-term.

Rak-Sakyi expected to stay at Chelsea

Meanwhile, Chelsea midfielder Samuel Rak-Sakyi is set to remain at Stamford Bridge until at least the end of the season.

The i Paper understands Coventry City had enquired about the possibility of a loan deal for the 19-year-old.

However, he is now expected to stay put despite Frank Lampard’s efforts to sign him.

Chukwuemeka completes loan move to Dortmund

Carney Chukwuemeka has completed his loan move from Chelsea to Borussia Dortmund in what could mark the end of his time at Stamford Bridge.

Man Utd put off by Bayern’s demands for Tel

Bayern Munich demanding a £5m loan fee for Mathys Tel put Manchester United off, giving Tottenham a clear path in their pursuit of the teenage striker.

Tel was very much of interest to United, but being in a position where loans were all they could afford, the club did not want to “aid the development of someone else’s player and pay such a large loan fee”, sources said.

The 19-year-old was keen on a move to Old Trafford, which is why he and his agent waited until the final day to make a move.

Tottenham had agreed a permanent move for Tel last week, only for the player to say no. It is understood that he wants to properly assess his options in the summer, after getting some more first-team football under his belt.

Tottenham Hotspur are on the verge of completing their first outfield January signing after launching a late £21m bid for Lens centre-back Kevin Danso.

The i Paper understands Wolves had agreed a deal with the Ligue 1 side, with a medical scheduled for later this weekend, before Spurs swooped in at the 11th hour with an offer.

The Austria international attracted interest from numerous clubs from across Europe’s top leagues, with Juventus initially thought to be leading the race. The Italian giants have instead turned their attentions to Newcastle’s versatile defender Lloyd Kelly.

The i Paper was told Danso – who was previously on the brink of joining Roma – was not interested in a move to Italy this time and was determined to return to the Premier League, having made six appearances for Southampton in the 2019-20 season.

Lens also had reservations because Juventus were keener on a loan deal.

Spurs have been trying to strengthen at centre-back due to long-standing injuries to Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Ben Davies. Davies and Van de Ven are now fit but Radu Dragusin also suffered a knee injury in the 3-0 win over Elfsborg on Thursday.

Danso will become the second player to arrive in north London this month, following the arrival of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky on 5 January.

There was also interest in Fikayo Tomori but the former Chelsea defender decided to stay at AC Milan. Spurs also made a bid for Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel, but the player did not agree personal terms due to concerns about first-team opportunities.

Danso will sign a strucutured deal at Tottenham, with the contract set to run until June 2030. His medical will take place on Sunday, The i Paper has been told.

Mathys Tel is not keen on a permanent move to Tottenham Hotspur and intends to assess a loan deal, with Manchester United and Aston Villa credible options.

The i Paper has been told that this stance is no slight on Tottenham as a club, more that Tel wants first-team opportunities he believes he may not get there.

The Bayern Munich forward had been the subject of a £60m bid, with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy travelling to Germany on Friday to move the transfer along.

However, the north London club have been unable to sway his decision.

As reported on Thursday, Tel is especially interested in seeing whether United make their move.

Ruben Amorim has been pursuing Tel along with Lecce left-back Patrick Dorgu as he looks to make his first signings since taking from Erik ten Hag as manager at Old Trafford.

So many Premier League clubs have expressed an interest in Tel that the 19-year-old and his representatives are biding their time and assessing his preferences before the transfer window closes on Monday.

Villa are hopeful they can make a late play for his services as they also toy with a loan move for Marcus Rashford.

The England international’s strained relationship with Amorim hit a new low when the United boss suggested he would rather pick 63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital than Rashford.

As for Tottenham, they are yet to sign any outfield players this January after bringing in goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in the first week of the window.

Tel’s signing would have bolstered a depleted attack that is without the injured Dominic Solanke, Timo Werner, Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson, but Ange Postecoglou’s side will be forced to look elsewhere or make do with the young forwards who excelled against Elfsborg in midweek.

Bayern are willing to sanction Tel’s exit, with the Frenchman having been used sparingly in the Bundesliga, making just two league starts and six substitute appearances, registering one assist.

In the Champions League he has made three appearances and two more in the DFB-Pokal.

It is now simply a question of which move he decides to make as he prepares a switch to the Premier League.

Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Elfsborg (Scarlett 70’, Ajayi 84’, Moore 90+4)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – After a week of Tottenham toxicity, remarkably Ange Postecoglou has not lost any of his sense of humour.

Having watched Radu Dragusin twist his knee just 20 minutes after coming on as a substitute for Micky van de Ven, Postecoglou kicked a stray ball heading for his dugout, before feeling his hamstring with a chuckle towards the bench.

The injury list has indeed felt laughable at times, and yet here was a glimmer of hope as another setback gave way to a flurry of goals from three of Spurs’ brightest academy prospects.

Off went Dragusin and on came Dane Scarlett, only recalled from his loan at Oxford United when Dominic Solanke was ruled out for up to six weeks.

A breakthrough for the striker has sometimes felt off limits; now 20, Scarlett has made senior appearances in four of the last five seasons under three different managers, following closely behind Troy Parrott who is now starring in the Netherlands. This time, might it be different?

It took one Scarlett header, a brilliant finish from debutant Damola Ajayi, and a mazy run from Mikey Moore to offer a blueprint for how the Europa League ought to be used. They will hope Postecoglou’s job is not in too much jeopardy so that he can afford to keep giving them opportunities.

There is now every reason to as all three shared in their own slices of history. Jimmy Greaves’ record as the youngest Englishman to score in a major European competition (17 years, 245 days at Chelsea) had stood since 1957 until Moore (17 years, 172 days) struck in injury time.

Ajayi, who turned 19 just after Christmas, brushed off a Harry Kane milestone, becoming the youngest substitute to score for Spurs in Europe in over 13 years.

In fact it is the first time any English club have had three goalscorers under 21 in Europe since 2007, when Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner were on the scoresheet for Arsenal in a 7-0 win over Slavia Prague.

On these nights under the lights in the all-white kit, with Postecoglou purring about a victory “made in Tottenham”, there endures a special heritage from the old White Hart Lane. And still, they come at a heavy price.

Dragusin’s withdrawal felt a cruel irony in a match where some bookmakers were offering odds at how long Van de Ven would last on his latest return from injury.

The Dutchman got his 45 minutes, as expected, but it was a gamble to throw him in, just as it remains a risk to continue to pick such strong XIs in Europe.

Aside from Dejan Kulusevski and Yves Bissouma, who started on the bench, this was about the best hand Postecoglou could have played. While Van de Ven is back unscathed, the feel-good factor will take a little while to follow, so deep have been the cuts of the last seven weeks in his absence.

With Spurs through to the knockouts, there is now a serious call to be made. This is a squad close to breaking point, regardless of whether any late business – such as a £60m deal for Bayern Munich target Mathys Tel – can be done.

The youngsters have done all they can do. If they are not ready to take Spurs all the way in this competition, is a half-exhausted depleted crop of their walking-wounded senior players?

How they could have done with a winter break like Elfsborg, who have not played a league match since Christmas. A February play-off would have been the worst possible outcome, so it is a great mercy that Spurs clinched a top-eight finish.

Essentially, Postecoglou has been juggling a double-edged sword. This cup has added to the workload of his beleaguered players. At the same time, there has not been all that much choice.

He can take heart from the trio who excelled from the bench, and from his other 18-year-olds Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall. The latter eventually settled after a hyperactive first half in which he was a little too desperate to impress the Yellow Wall of away supporters from back home.

Rio Kyerematen, Will Lankshear, Malachi Hardy, Dante Cassanova and Callum Olusesi – a close friend of Moore’s – were also named on the bench.

That will only strengthen Postecoglou’s argument that the crisis engulfing Spurs has only ever been about injuries. Van de Ven, for example, transformed the defence on his comeback, thwarting every counter and muscling Jalal Abdullai off the ball, to rapturous applause from around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The “We want Levy out” chants have not gone away, though – it even sounded for a moment as if the Elfsborg supporters were joining in, their goalkeeper Isak Petterson’s chant bobbing along to the same tune.

The heat is off Postecoglou for a few days but eyes will remain on the chairman as the transfer window winds down. This is still not a squad that can afford to find out exactly how far it can be stretched. Should Postecoglou opt to rest his key men going forward, at least Scarlett, Ajayi and Moore have given him three reasons to feel optimistic.