Spurs On The Brink: What Will Happen if They Drop Out Of The Premier League? | OneFootball

For months, the rhetoric has been that Tottenham Hotspur are just “too good” to go down, despite their position in the Premier League.

The Lilywhites have toyed with relegation for the past 18 months under three various managers, and now under Igor Tudor, the likelihood is greater than ever.

Following a 3-0 loss to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest, and West Ham picking up the odd result, Spurs are the top flight’s worst team – winless in 2026.

Relegation has been joked about, but it’s starting to become a harsh reality. No other punishment in English football is able to hand a football club a greater financial hit.

Spurs are the favourites to go down. So if they do, what would actually happen?

the favourite to go down

Relegation became a genuine fear for Tottenham Hotspur fans when the club announced it was extending its season ticket renewal window, with the place of the club in the 2026/27 season uncertain.

The financial implications of relegation from the Premier League are severe enough for most clubs, but with a reported wage bill of £134,000,000, Spurs will be forced into a desperate fire sale.

Only five clubs in the Premier League currently spend more on player wages than the Lilywhites, yet they sit just one point off the drop zone above teams in better form.

While some may believe that Spurs are a big enough club to keep hold of certain assets upon Premier League relegation, especially their British players, this will be practically impossible if they wish to keep their finances in the green.

And their books really will be in hot water: experts have forecast that Spurs could lose as much as £261m if relegated from the Premier League.

Currently, the North London club charges an average of £76 per fan for each home match, with only five clubs in Europe charging their supporters more.

They also rely on selling hospitality tickets in their seven year old £1bn stadium, but for a second tier game against Lincoln, or Watford, will not be able to do so as much.

Given Spurs lost £129m last year alone, despite being a club in the Premier League and European competitions, a relegation down from football’s most lucrative league would take their financial issues one step closer to turmoil.

Source: Kieran Maguire, football finance expert

A relegation would mean many cuts in departments. From redundancies to many of their near-one thousand employees to ticket prices, everywhere must be trimmed – in even greater fashion than Sir Jim Ratcliffe is doing at Manchester United.

And parachute payments that would come Spurs’ way will help, but nowhere near solve their issues. So the easiest and safest thing to do, is balance the books by selling their best assets.

Which Players Would Stay?

The likelihood of many of Spurs current squad wanting to stick around through a 50% wage decrease and at least one season in the Championship is extremely unlikely.

Many Tottenham fans will be thinking, why can’t we just keep much of our squad together, and guarantee ourselves promotion? But this is a risk that, if backfired, could result in financial rules being broken and Spurs plunging themselves into extreme debt.

It’s a time where, for all Daniel Levy’s faults, the former Spurs Chairman would be extremely useful to have around to navigate such a perilous period.

According to Transfermarkt, Tottenham currently have a squad worth a whopping £695m. Players like Micky van de Ven, Mohammed Kudus, Cristian Romero, Xavi Simons and Lucas Bergvall will be brilliant assets to flog upon relegation, all worth over £40m according to the website.

With ready-made talents like Will Lankshear, who has scored 8 goals out on loan at Championship strugglers Oxford United this season, Spurs have some available quality, who may not have had the chance to step up to their first team otherwise.

But 22 of the club’s 28 squad members are not British. In the Championship, around 40-50% of squad makeup is homegrown, which will be a big curve for the data.

Current Spurs players like Archie Gray, Dominic Solanke, Djed Spence, Conor Gallagher, James Maddison and Wilson Odobert became the footballers that they are, or should be, from learning their trade in the Championship. You could say that the position that Tottenham have found themselves in has been leading up to these players finding their way back to this level.

It’s most likely, that if Spurs do go down, they lose 90% of their squad. Players like Lankshear, Mikey Moore and Ben Davies would win starting spots in the second tier, and are capable of performing at that level.

Of course, a club the size of Spurs will have a great deal of pull despite being a Championship side. Some ambitious professionals will happily drop down to the level with the hopes of establishing a long-term status at the club, but the current crop of players are extremely likely to depart.

For now, the task remains: stay in the Premier League over the seven remaining games. Whether that means sacking Igor Tudor or not, the Spurs hierarchy must make that decision.

But the financial implication of sacking another manager will be far less considerable than a relegation from the top flight for the first time since 1977.