Why Tottenham being relegated to the Championship would not be apocalyptic

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There was one bit of good news for Tottenham Hotspur last week … there will be a couple of extra play-off places up for grabs in the Championship next season. It is a tough league but surely even Spurs can finish eighth in the Championship.

They are not yet consigned to that level, of course, and the bookmakers still narrowly favour West Ham United to fill the third relegation spot. But having seen a lot of both teams recently, that seems to be rare mis-step from the bookies.

Even in a 5-2 thumping at Anfield, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side looked a better team than the one that has lost three out of three under the hapless Igor Tudor. It was a bizarre appointment in the first place and there are not many fans/pundits/neutrals who think what was already a temporary Tudor era should last a moment longer.

And that is completely understandable. When ex-players and supporters were advocating a move for Harry Redknapp after the sacking of Thomas Frank, I thought the idea was laughable. Love Harry but he turned 79 the other day.

But having just spent a bit of time with Harry at the training yard where his horse, The Jukebox Man, is being prepared for its tilt at the Cheltenham Gold Cup, I reckon he would have as good as chance as anyone of keeping Spurs in the Premier League. Because quite frankly, the team at any manager’s disposal - one, that it always has to be said, has been significantly weakened by rotten injury luck - does not look good enough to win Premier League games between now and the end of the season.

And this is a team that will certainly get found out in the last 16 of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid over the next week or so. But whoever takes charge of Spurs’ final nine games of the Premier League season - the first of those being at Anfield next Sunday - will have a heck of a job to do to keep them up.

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But if Spurs are relegated, what happens? The club does not go out of business.

There are many cliches about teams in relegation battles. There is the ‘too good to go down’ one. And then there is one about relegation being the best thing that could happen.

Well, the latter is not quite the case for Spurs but it would not be the catastrophe that is being depicted by doom-mongers. Looking at the broader picture, supporters would see football that, this season, has arguably been more entertaining than the fare offered by the Premier League.

They would see more wins, more goals. Over the past two seasons, Spurs fans have seen their team win only eight of their 33 Premier League home games.

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It would make a nice change to have a winning home season. There would be other spin-offs. You might get rid of a few of the plenty of players who fancy themselves a bit too much.

Oh, and no VAR. Imagine that pleasure. Half of this is, of course, flippancy. Relegation for a club of Tottenham’s stature cannot be a positive thing.

But it does not have to be apocalyptic either. And don’t forget, you only have to finish eighth next season to have a crack at getting back.

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