From Champions League Final to Relegation Talk: Spurs’ Big Six Status Is Slipping Fast
Tottenham’s slow slide out of the Premier League elite is no longer up for debate. Sitting 14th on Christmas Day and coming off a 17th-place finish last season, Spurs are clinging to the “big six” label on reputation alone, not results. Once Champions League finalists, they are now looking over their shoulder, and that should scare everyone in N17.
The numbers are ugly. Spurs have finished in the top four just once in the whole of the 2020s. Last season they were one place above the drop. This year hasn’t been much better. For all the talk of history and stature, Tottenham are drifting into the same grey mid-table space they once mocked.
This wasn’t meant to happen. The club built one of the best stadiums in Europe, opened a world-class training base at Hotspur Way and for a while, had a team worth watching. Mauricio Pochettino’s side finished top four four years running, racked up a club-record 86 points in 2016-17 and somehow dragged themselves to the 2019 Champions League final. But even then, the tank was empty. Pochettino warned a painful rebuild was coming. The board ignored him and signed nobody.
That squad fell apart fast. Christian Eriksen wanted out. Dele Alli lost his spark. Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were left carrying the weight with less and less help. Kane eventually had enough and joined Bayern Munich, a move nobody could really argue with. Spurs’ response was scattergun recruitment and short-term thinking dressed up as a plan.
The managerial merry-go-round didn’t help. Jose Mourinho was meant to deliver trophies but instead left with Spurs seventh and sulking, days before a cup final. Nuno Espirito Santo barely got started. Antonio Conte dragged them into the top four, then detonated the place with one press conference. Each appointment felt reactive, not strategic, and the squad got worse with every change.
Ange Postecoglou briefly lifted the mood and even ended the club’s 17-year trophy wait by winning the Europa League, but league form collapsed and he paid the price. Thomas Frank was sold as the fresh start. So far, it hasn’t worked. Spurs are flat, predictable and fragile, especially at home, where wins have dried up to levels not seen since wartime. Fans are restless and the manager already looks under fire.
Off the pitch, the mess continues. Spurs pay lower wages than almost anyone around them, their big-money signings rarely deliver, and there’s upheaval at boardroom level despite promises of a “new era”. New faces, same problems. Stability is missing everywhere.
Tottenham used to punch up at the elite. Now they’re just trying to stay clear of trouble. In a Premier League tighter than ever, that’s a dangerous game. The big six badge still gets wheeled out, but it’s starting to look like a con. If Spurs don’t change direction quickly, the conversation won’t be about Europe anymore — it’ll be about survival.