Tony Cascarino explains why relegation may not the worst outcome for Tottenham
Tony Cascarino has made an incredible claim about Tottenham Hotspur as they hover extremely close to the relegation zone.
Relegation from the Premier League for the first time in 48 years is now a distinct possibility for Tottenham, as they remain the only side in the division still winless this calendar year.
The club threw the dice by sacking Thomas Frank and bringing Igor Tudor through the door, but that change has not worked so far.
According to reports, Tudor is now in danger of being sacked as Tottenham evaluate their best chance of staying in the top-flight.
Relegation could be an opportunity to rebuild at Tottenham
Tony Cascarino believes that there is so much wrong currently at Tottenham that relegation may help the club clear the slate and start afresh.
The pundit suggested that there may be a leadership vacuum at Spurs and that the club can come back stronger if they go down, as has happened with other big clubs across various European leagues.
The former Chelsea man told talkSPORT: “What Spurs fans have seen this year, there’ll be a number of them. I feel like we need something massive to happen to this club that changes everything about it, because, and I thought about it, it kept reminding me of Marseille when they got relegated, but they were relegated through financial issues. It was a complete reset for the football club.
“So when we went down, we had to get promoted twice. The first season was just to stay in the division we were in. So we got relegated, and during the course of that season, we got relegated again. So we had to get promoted, if this makes sense, to stay up, which we did.
“So we got relegated twice in two seasons… sorry, we got promoted twice in two seasons, eventually getting back to Ligue 1, and I remember the type of things that happened in that time.
“Now in the papers today there’s loads and loads of stuff — absolutely everything but the kitchen sink — about the players, right? In the Daily Mail they’ve got all the “who’s going to stay, who’s going to go if they go down. In The Times you’ve got Tom Allnutt talking about their fixtures and who they’ve got, you know, over the next eight days.
“They’ve got Atlético Madrid, home and away, they’ve got Liverpool away, then they play Forest at home. These are the next four games and all that’s going to go on. So there’s loads and loads of stuff, but 90% of it is being thrown at the players.
“Now I was at Fulham when they [Spurs} lost, and I did a piece on Micky van de Ven. I talked about him being a captain and didn’t think that he was captain material. Also, a player that had his head turned and quite clearly, it feels like there needs to be a lot of things that need to happen at Spurs. So it reminded me of Marseille — of how do you get back and come back stronger? and Spurs need this to happen, because there’s so much that feels, from the outside, is wrong at this football club.”
Spurs players are ready to abandon a sinking ship
The pundit believes that instead of fighting every inch for the club’s survival, some of Tottenham’s players are already thinking about leaving N17 in the summer.
Cascarino suggested that while relegation will affect Spurs’ finances, it may not be the disaster that some fear it would be.
He added: “There’s players at this football club who, to me and I said to you a few weeks ago on air, I said they’re my least favourite group of players. I just don’t see unity in there. I see players all about themselves, and the sinking ship is, you know, it feels like it’s going down. And it’s going to be: who’s going to get the exit route out of this football club, or get the lifeboat? and I just don’t like what I’m seeing.
“When they lost on Thursday night. I didn’t see the game, but caught up with it yesterday and you can see the empty stadium towards… well, say there was people leaving at half-time. You know, so much has gone wrong at Tottenham.
“Do you know one of the most important things that happened at Marseille? They brought in players that wanted to play for the football club. We were senior players. I came in, and then there were still some players that won the Champions League the previous season. They would have been successful, but were desperate to get this club back on the footing of top-flight football in France and Tottenham somehow need this.
“They need to start signing players where the priority has to be: how much do they want to play for Spurs? Not only are they good players because obviously they’re buying players at a certain level, but have they got the mentality to play for Spurs and want to play for Spurs? Not: ‘I’ll do you a favour and I’ll come and join you for two years, and then I might disappear or go be sold off,’ or ‘the grass is greener in pastures new.’
“It feels like this club has got itself in a real pickle, and it needs to have some sort of reset. Now, of course, it’s not a good thing, but it’s not doomsday for Spurs if they go down. It will hurt the club financially. They still get parachute payments, but it’s a time for the club to start having a reset about exactly what they’re about.”
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