Tottenham Hotspur

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

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Tottenham Hotspur chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange faced heavy criticism from fans for prolonging Thomas Frank's tenure for as long as they did.

"There's been plenty of coverage that the club was passive during this period. And that's absolutely not true," Venkatesham told BBC Sport.

In weighing up Thomas Frank's future, Venkatesham says the club considered results, the probability of the Dane turning their failing season around, concerns changing managers may create in the January transfer window, the fixture calendar and concerns over entering the interim head coach market.

Venkatesham confirmed to BBC Sport that Tottenham tried to entice Roberto de Zerbi, who was leaving Marseille, to become the club's full-time head coach after Frank was dismissed.

"Obviously, we were very disappointed when it became clear that we wouldn't be appointing Roberto on a permanent basis [in February]," said Venkatesham.

The Italian, however, was originally unwilling to take the job mid-season, which led Spurs towards making the left-field appointment of Igor Tudor – who left Spurs by mutual consent after just seven games.

Venkatesham added: "We were then, in the interim market, which is generally not the broadest. There were a number of reasons why Igor was selected: he had managed in very high-profile and high-pressure environments - we didn't want somebody that was going to wilt under that pressure.

"He has a history of making an immediate impact. He has managed in big clubs. He has quite a different personality to Thomas and we felt like something different was needed.

"But of course we were really aware he had no Premier League experience. Was it a risk in appointing him? Absolutely."

Asked if he would accept the Tudor appointment was a mistake, Venkatesham responded: "It didn't work out. I think it's very clear it didn't work out. And I don't think that is in question. I don't think anybody would argue anything else."

Ali Speechly
Fan writer

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Season score out of 10 and overriding emotion?

1/10. The single point is for surviving relegation. A huge sense of relief we are still in the Premier League, but it's mostly anger we were ever in the position in the first place.

Best moment and why?

The best moment from an atrocious season was the sense of community among the fanbase. We kept turning up in our thousands, even when it felt like the players didn't. We cheered, waved flags, lit flares and sang our hearts out, all in the face of abject failure on the pitch. Yes, we also booed but someone has to hold this club to account, so we did.

Player of season and why?

Honourable mentions must go to Archie Gray and Antonin Kinsky, but my player of the season is Joao Palhinha. It isn't always easy for a loan player to make a positive impression, but the Portugal international demonstrated quiet leadership to enormous effect. We have a lot to thank him for and I hope we sign him permanently.

Unsung hero and why?

I'm not sure he technically counts as an unsung hero, because we sing about him all the time, but Kevin Danso is certainly an underrated player. While our captain was sidelined for various reasons, Danso stepped up and was the understudy who outshone the lead.

Biggest disappointment?

Randal Kolo Muani by far. He was brought in to score goals and he failed to deliver anywhere near enough, while offering little else to compensate for his lack of firepower. A wasted opportunity for all concerned.

What needs to change this summer?

Everything. We can't keep finishing 17th. A full-scale review of the whole club is needed, including the board being held to account for its woeful decision-making and a particular focus on the medical department. I want to see certain players sold or returned to their clubs - Cristian Romero, Kolo Muani, Richarlison, Yves Bissouma to name just a few. At the very least, we need to buy a prolific goalscorer and get Luka Vuskovic back. James Maddison should also be made captain.

Major hope for next season?

That the players stay fit and we start to build something positive for the future.

Find more from Ali Speechly at Women Of The Lane, external and on Instagram, external

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Tottenham manager Roberto de Zerbi is targeting three players from his former club Brighton - Cameroon midfielder Carlos Baleba, 22, Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke, 25, and Netherlands goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, 23. (Independent), external

Meanwhile, Spurs are also considering a move for England defender John Stones, 31. (Independent), external

Tottenham, Newcastle, Fulham and Sunderland are interested in West Ham full-back Wan-Bissaka. (Team Talk), external

Rangers' chances of re-signing Mikey Moore on loan this summer have received a boost as Spurs line up a new left-wing addition in Savinho from Manchester City. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Watch the panel on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club discuss what power Roberto de Zerbi should now hold at Tottenham after guiding them to Premier League survival.

"If Spurs were going to take De Zerbi on, they really had to take him on," said former Tottenham goalkeeper Joe Hart.

"I don't know what he wants and if he is the best manager when he's got that responsibility.

"Modern day coaches haven't necessarily been brought up in that world. I'd imagine he came in swinging saying he wants to do it his way and he'll have that control, but you still have to have a relationship with the board and sporting director."

The Observer's Rory Smith said: "In terms of the control of De Zerbi, Johan Lange is there as a sporting director. As recently as the start of March Tottenham wanted to appoint another one in addition.

"They may have changed their mind completely but my guess is Spurs are more likely to start next season with two sporting directors than an all-powerful manager."

Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer and listen on BBC Sounds

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"Who doesn't want to play for Tottenham and stay here?" Joao Palhinha replied when asked whether he would like to make his stay at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium permanent, after helping the club to Premier League safety this season.

The defensive midfielder has made 45 appearances during his loan spell from Bundesliga club Bayern Munich, scoring seven goals and contributing three assists, including one goal in Tottenham's final-day relegation decider against Everton.

"I have always shared my thoughts," Palhinha said. "Since the first day I arrived here, I have felt at home. It is a top club.

"Who doesn't want to play for Tottenham and stay here? I have everything here, but this is a like a marriage.

"What I can say is that I would really like to be here. I have enjoyed being with this club a lot this season, even with it being a tough season."

However, Palhinha's loan spell hasn't been all sunshine and roses. After scoring a goal in a 2-0 win at Manchester City, Thomas Frank's decision to continue to play him out of position contributed to the club's poor run of results.

The Portugal international then lost his place in the starting XI over the winter months, before Igor Tudor came in and played him in a back three.

But Roberto de Zerbi's arrival turned things around for Palhinha in the back end of the season, with standout performances coming against Wolves, Aston Villa and Everton.

After securing Premier League survival on the final day of the season De Zerbi said he would "100 percent" like to keep Palhinha at the club.

"I think next season will be really different, I truly believe it will be," Palhinha continued. "I think this season will help Tottenham in the future."

Watch former Tottenham goalkeeper Joe Hart analyse Cristian Romero's future, with the Spurs captain heavily linked with a move away this summer despite their final day survival.

"I think he'll move himself on," Hart told BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.

"I think it's been really difficult and the hardest thing for me to watch is in big moments he's not been able to control his emotions.

"I was at Old Trafford and I remember Tottenham starting well and then he lost the ball in a moment where he feels he shouldn't and because of that a switch went in his head and he nailed someone over the ball. Red card in such an important game.

"I couldn't imagine that guy leading me. There's no doubt he's a brilliant player and you can't take that emotion out of him. But to put that at the forefront of it and let him do his thing, I think is a really difficult one for Spurs."

Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer and listen on BBC Sounds

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Tottenham forward Mohamed Kudus will miss next month's World Cup because of injury after being left out of Ghana's preliminary 28-man squad named by Carlos Queiroz.

Kudus was expected to return in March from a quad injury suffered in January but suffered a setback and has not featured since.

The 25-year-old, who joined from West Ham last summer, made 19 Premier League appearances for Spurs this season, scoring twice.

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Now the curtain has come down on the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, here is my end-of-season review - with a look back to what I predicted in August.

Prediction: 8th

As big a shambles as it is possible to imagine - on and off the field. Reduced to celebrating Premier League survival on the season's final day with victory over Everton.

The job proved too much for Thomas Frank, who found the expectations and dysfunction of Tottenham a sharp contrast to the stability of Brentford.

Just when you thought it could not get worse, matters hit a new low with the bizarre appointment of Igor Tudor, an arrival that posed serious questions of CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange.

Tudor lost five of his seven games before he left after 44 days, to be replaced by Roberto de Zerbi.

Spurs escaped at the 11th hour, but it was a reprieve borne of luck more than judgement.

What I said in August: "It could not get worse than last season - or Spurs would find themselves in the Championship."

Check out the rest of my review here

Tottenham are rekindling interest in a £60m move for Manchester City and Brazil winger Savinho, 22. (Mail - subscription required), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

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Tottenham midfielder James Maddison says he is "really happy" for "passionate" head coach Roberto de Zerbi, without whom the season could have ended in "doom and gloom".

De Zerbi took charge at the end of March with Tottenham winless in the Premier League in 2026 and in the relegation zone before his first match.

However, despite injuries to key players, including Cristian Romero and Xavi Simons, he bought a renewed positivity to win three out of Spurs' final five games and stay up on the final day.

"He's so passionate," said Maddison, who has only recently returned from a long-term knee injury.

"He's been living at the training ground with the guys, with his team.

"He's there at 9pm with all his staff. They've got the tactics board up, there's six of them, they're just talking. It's 9pm and we've already had four or five meetings on each game. He's just obsessed with football.

"You feel the authenticity of someone who's passionate for Tottenham - because I am, I love this club and I want this club to be successful so badly.

"Without that appointment, disaster could have maybe struck, but it didn't and he takes a lot of credit for that because of the work he's done behind the scenes and on the training pitch.

"I'm excited under this manager."

Another player invigorated by De Zerbi's arrival was Conor Gallagher, who looked lost in his first few games after his January move from Atletico Madrid but has been a key performer in getting Spurs over the line in the final stretch.

"He completely turned around the start of my Spurs career," Gallagher reflected.

"From the first day or two, he had everyone under his wing. Everyone trusted him instantly.

"I can't speak highly enough of him."

John Acres
Final Score reporter

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Travelling across a sweltering London to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by Tube on the final day of the season, the emotional divide among football fans in the city was striking. Sitting opposite me in the carriage, a man in his 50s wearing a 90s original "Holsten" home shirt was wedged between two Arsenal supporters.

"I think you'll be all right today, mate," they offered.

Now I know you don't speak to strangers on the Tube if you're a Londoner, but this Spurs fan just stared straight ahead, entirely consumed by the dread and anxiety that they could be relegated on the same day that Arsenal were crowned champions. He didn't even acknowledge them.

There was a hush around the ground on arrival - very few smiles, very little noise. That was until the team bus turned up and the players were greeted as if it was them that had won the Premier League title and not their north London rivals.

Inside the ground, the wall of noise before kick-off was deafening. The relief at Joao Palhinha's goal palpable. The West Ham goals against Leeds filtered through to add some jeopardy, but Everton never really offered enough until late on to make it truly nerve-wracking inside the stadium.

Spurs' players collapsed with a mixture of exhaustion and relief at the final whistle, and the South Stand became a wall of noise once again.

The concourses, now doubling as bustling bars, were now buzzing - smiles, laughter, singing, drinking and general merriment.

The journey home saw the Victoria Line trains mixed with red and white shirts as triumphant Arsenal fans returned from south London to launch an impromptu street party around Emirates Stadium. Fans chanted at each other as they passed on the escalators, but what I saw was good humoured.

By the time I hit King's Cross, the first dejected West Ham fans began sharing the carriages with their celebrating north London rivals, some being consoled and some being taunted - all part of the cruelty of having to take public transport on a day like Sunday.

It was one city and three entirely different sets of emotions for the supporters of the teams involved on an afternoon in the capital not to be forgotten.

Bardi
Fan writer

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This was not a great escape. There is no motorbike or blond-haired lead actor to cheer on as they race towards safety. This is not a story of David versus Goliath, or an underdog overcoming the Premier League elite.

It is the sad story of a club that fell asleep at the wheel and reacted just in time to avoid disaster. There will be no film, book or song about this wretched season. Most Spurs fans will never want to mention it again. They will file it away in a box labelled "Do Not Open".

However, if you dig a little deeper, and happen to be a chief executive at another Premier League club, then you should pay attention to what happened in N17. Falling out of the top division is easier than ever. There is no longer any divine right to Premier League football. You have to work relentlessly, every single day and every single transfer window. You are only one bad managerial appointment away from "doing a West Ham".

As the final game of the season came to its gut-wrenching conclusion, one question entered every Spurs fan's mind: do we even celebrate this?

The sense of relief sweeping across the fanbase is enormous, but it means very little if we do not learn from it. We can celebrate winning an important match. We can even celebrate the demise of a noisy neighbour. But surviving relegation with 90 minutes to spare is not a moment for joy. It is a moment for reflection and for figuring out what went wrong.

The message from inside the club is that there will be no wholesale changes at executive level. Instead, Spurs are putting new systems, structures and jargon-heavy procedures in place to make sure this never happens again. But trust is at an all-time low.

As fans, we trust Roberto de Zerbi and little else.

The short-term future of the club has been secured thanks to our new manager, but what awaits us long term is still unclear. I am not sure Spurs fans could cope with another horror show of a season.

Please Tottenham, be sensible. Make good decisions and give us something more Disney and a little less Saw next season.

Find more from Bardi at The Extra Inch - a Spurs podcast, external

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Former Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney, speaking about Roberto de Zerbi keeping Tottenham up on Match of the Day: "I think the Igor Tudor appointment was a strange one and everyone felt that but De Zerbi has come in and it feels right. It feels right for Tottenham. There seems to be a really good connection with the players and supporters as well.

"He's done his job, he's kept them in the Premier League, and I think going into next season with a few additions to that squad - he could get them back to where you'd expect Tottenham to be.

"I think Tottenham are an interesting club and if they get the recruitment right, they have some good players in there there's no denying that. If they get the recruitment right with this manager I think they can be driving up the table."

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer

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Strains of the old 'Glory, Glory' anthem echoed inside the giant stadium as Tottenham stepped back from the precipice of the most humiliating relegation in Premier League history.

The players and supporters were in unison at last, as they could finally look forward to next season as a top-flight club.

Slowly, a note of dissent was introduced as a giant banner was unfurled by supporters, reading: 'Promised Success. Delivering Failure. ENIC out.'

The fans who have suffered so much mediocrity were entitled to their outpouring. After all, this was only the third home league win they have witnessed this season, albeit in arguably the club's biggest game in recent history.

The instant exuberance from the players was understandable, but embarrassment should have quickly descended on them as they listened to their supporters chanting: 'We are staying up'.

The very sound of those words - the preserve of strugglers - should reverberate through the whole club.

Once Tottenham High Road empties of its revellers, the inquest from top to bottom must begin.

The club's top brass were in attendance for the conclusion, with chief executive Vinai Venkatesham front of house and sporting director Johan Lange sitting just behind.

Their part in all of this will come under scrutiny, not least for their remarkable decision to trust ill-suited Igor Tudor as successor to Thomas Frank.

The season finale was also watched by Vivienne Lewis, representing the family who own Spurs, along with her son-in-law Nick Beucher, a key contact with the London-based management.

Non-executive chairman Peter Charrington and chief operating and finance officer Matthew Collecott were also in attendance, presumably poised to work out how and why the club found themselves in such reduced circumstances and how it can be avoided next season.

For now, thanks to Roberto de Zerbi's inspiration and the failings of other clubs, Spurs are spared a day of reckoning.

Not for long, however, because the temporary elation of fans will soon turn to anger.

How can a club that plays in such a magnificent stadium, has such passionate support, and has received around £74m by qualifying for the Champions League via that Europa League triumph, end up on the brink of the Championship?

Answer: bad decisions on and off the pitch, poor appointments and players playing poorly.

Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspur? Not this season, no glory here.

Read the full article here

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We asked for your thoughts and feelings as Tottenham avoided relegation to the Championship on the final day of the season.

Here are some of your comments:

Ricky: There's a time for post-mortems, analysis and frustration with the board, but it's not today. The boys did us proud. COYS!

Robert: A mixture of exhilaration and relief. We were by far the better team in the first half, and fully deserved the one-goal lead. Second half, we got deeper and deeper and the nerves were plain for all to see. But we got over the line, and that's all that matters. Now, the real work starts to make sure this situation never happens again.

Jeff: A diabolical season. Being 17th for the second year running is just unacceptable and speaks to years of utter incompetence in leadership, ownership, management and recruitment. To borrow a phrase, it's time to "drain the swamp". There needs to be a cull of senior management and we need to get rid of all the dross and malcontents in the playing squad. Simple as that.

Michele: They truly do not deserve to have been saved. Lifelong Spurs fan, but this season has pushed me to the edge. An embarrassment and can now only hope someone somewhere has learned a massive lesson. Have a clearout. Do what is necessary and spend, spend, spend or we will surely be in the same position next year.

Chris: Now is the time to look at the coaching and medical staff. The injuries the team has suffered both this season and last can't be all down to bad luck. Something is seriously wrong on the fitness side of the team.

Brian: Relief that we will have a chance to reset and we already have a top coach in place to oversee it. A pair of outsiders deserve maximum credit for our survival. Joao Palhinha scored the two most important goals of the season. Antonin Kinsky's rebirth continued with another fine save. Some changes needed, but who cares right now?

Carol: Absolutely delighted that we escaped relegation, but this must not happen again. We now have a manager who we can all get behind and he must be given the means to bring new players in and get rid of dead wood or whoever doesn't want to be here. A lucky escape indeed.

Tottenham have moved their attention away from 32-year-old Roma striker Paulo Dybala, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022. (Football Insider), external

Fenerbahceare monitoring the situation of France international Randal Kolo Muani, 27, with the forward on loan this season at Tottenham from Paris St-Germain. (Fanatik), external

Tottenham club captain Cristian Romero, 28, would be interested in linking up with fellow Argentinian Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid. (Teamtalk), external

Tottenham are considering a move for Benfica's Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, 24, in the summer. (A Bola - in Portuguese), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

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Pundits Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney join host Kelly Cates to bring you the action and talking points from all 10 fixtures on the final day of the Premier League season.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Tottenham 1-0 Everton

• West Ham United 3-0 Leeds United

• Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal

• Brighton 0-3 Manchester United