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- [00:00]
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- [01:01]
Pablo Torre
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- [01:58]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
I sold my car in Carvana last night.
- [01:59]
James Horncastle
Well, that's cool.
- [02:00]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
No, you don't understand. It went perfectly. Real offer down to the penny. They're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong.
- [02:06]
Carvana Advertiser
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- [02:08]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes as smoothly. I'm waiting for the catch.
- [02:11]
Carvana Advertiser
Maybe there's no catch.
- [02:13]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
That's exactly what a catch would want me to think.
- [02:15]
Carvana Advertiser
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- [02:17]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
I need a knock on wood. Do we have wood? Is this table wood?
- [02:19]
Carvana Advertiser
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- [02:20]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
Oh, okay. Yeah, that's good.
- [02:21]
James Horncastle
That's close enough.
- [02:22]
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- [02:31]
Ayo Akimwaleere
The Athletic fc Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ayo Akimwaleere. Igor Tudor has left Tottenham Hotspur after just one win from seven games in charge. They're now pursuing Roberto de Zerbi to replace him. So can he save them from relegation? In for this one, we've got James Horncastle. We've also got Dan Kilpatrick as well. All right, before we talk about desert to be later, let's check in with Jack Pitt Brook, who has the details on Tudor's exit.
- [03:04]
Jack Pitt Brook
Tottenham announced on Sunday afternoon that Eagle Tudor would be leaving as their manager after a very brief spell in charge of the club. Remember that Tudor only took charge of spurs in the middle of February, replacing Thomas Frank.
- [03:17]
Carvana Advertiser
He.
- [03:18]
Jack Pitt Brook
He only had 44 days in charge and just seven games, five of them in the Premier League. And from those five league games, spurs only took one point. They currently stand just one point ahead of the relegation zone with only seven Premier League games left, meaning that spurs are now scrambling around trying to find their third manager of the season. A bizarre situation for them to be in with the hope that the next man in will be able to turn around their form and keep them up in the Premier League. Clearly, the Tudor appointment has been a disaster, really for Tottenham, but he did come in and inherit a squad who had not won a league game since December, whose confidence was on the floor. He tried to rebuild that confidence to get the movie back up the table away from the relegation zone. But sadly for Tudor, it didn't work
- [04:00]
James Horncastle
out like that and he's now being
- [04:02]
Jack Pitt Brook
dismissed and spurs are looking for a
- [04:04]
James Horncastle
third manager of the season.
- [04:05]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Yeah, Dan. Despite some encouraging results against Liverpool and also you think about the Champions League second leg against Atletico Madrid, it sort of felt like the writing was on the wall for Tudor, especially after their defeat to Nottingham Forest at home.
- [04:20]
Dan Kilpatrick
Yeah, I mean, I think his position was untenable after the Forest game, really. Spurs didn't just lose to one of their closest relegation rivals. They got thrashed at home by one of their closest relegation rivals. So that was a disastrous result and I think it made it very, very, very difficult for Tudor to continue. If you add in the fact that Tudor returned to Croatia immediately after that game because of the death of his father Mario, I think obviously our sympathy should be with him. My heart goes out to him, but clearly I think he had bigger worries or he has Bigger worries than spurs right now. And so a kind of mutual parting of the ways, which is how spurs framed it in their statement yesterday, I think made sense for everyone. Yeah, I mean, look, Tudor was brought in to make an immediate impact. I'm going to throw James under the bus immediately and say that. I think James compared him to Winston Wolfe, someone who comes in and cleans up mess. Messes quickly and efficiently. I'm sort of trying to think of another Tarantino character to compare him to now. But obviously he didn't clean up the mess. You know, he. He came in and kind of accelerated spurs decline and I think made a number of mistakes. And look, the situation is far bigger than him. He certainly didn't start the rot, but I think he probably made it worse.
- [05:28]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Yeah, there was a moment, I don't know if you saw it on socials just before the Forest match, that the fans were really in full voice and the team boss was coming in. You saw the flares, you saw the celebration. So, you know, you know, the fans played their part in many respects as well. And I think that probably leads to a lot of the disappointment we're seeing now in many respects as well. Dan?
- [05:45]
Dan Kilpatrick
Oh, yeah. I mean, the fans have been lambasted from all angles this season, you know, including by the former manager, Thomas Frank, who kind of implicitly had a pop at them, and by some senior players who have kind of had a. Had digs at them as well. But I think the spurs fans are the only people connected to the club that have actually done their part in the last few weeks. You know, they put on a great show before the Forest game. I think if spurs take nothing away from this horrible, disastrous season, they should take that away. That these shows of unity can be positive and can be beneficial if they're channeled in the right way. And, yeah, the team kind of ultimately let them down on the day. So I think the fans have done their part. Many of them would have had reservations about Tudor, I think, mainly given his lack of Premier League experience and kind of connections to the club. But they got behind him when he came in. There was a lot of kind of willingness to see this succeed, for obvious reasons, and, you know, it just didn't work.
- [06:40]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Yeah. James, let's talk about Tudor and what you thought about the appointment firstly, but also what you thought about the impact or lack of impact he made at spurs as well.
- [06:50]
James Horncastle
Well, look, I mean, as we've reported, his name was already floated within Tottenham back at the end of November, and there wasn't consensus at that time on A taking action to remove Thomas Frank from his position and B, to go with Tudor, it seemed that they were skeptical in the kind of decision making about giving him the job. And yet three or four months later he did get the job. And so I always think if you're a coach, you absolutely need to have the people above you totally convinced in who you are and what you can bring. And, and I'm not sure Tudor had that. You also had the fact that he started his first game. I mean, if spurs decided to pull the plug earlier, perhaps he gets a little bit more of a favorable run of games than the first one he had, which was North London Derby. I think if you look four of his seven games he plays against Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and also plays against Liverpool. And yeah, the best performances that they put in were second half against Liverpool and that second leg against Athletico, admittedly when the tie was kind of already gone. But you know, I do agree with, with Dan that he, he made the situation worse. He was kind of flailing around, changing systems, playing players out of position, mistaking kind of player liaison, Tottenham officer for Arnie Slot.
- [08:22]
Dan Kilpatrick
That was a great moment. That was one of the, one of
- [08:26]
James Horncastle
the best two door moments. I know a lot was made about the fact that he had so many jobs and he couldn't seem to make one stick. But that was precisely because he got jobs like this. And once he kept teams up or he got them into Europe, it was kind of like, thank you Igor, farewell. And this is the first one that he's taken in which he hasn't delivered on the objective that was given to him by the club. So I think as much as he has clearly his faults, yeah, Dan made the point that the only people who've turned up and participated and done their part in all of this are the fans. And I think the failure of the Tudor appointment also once again leads to fingers pointed at the key decision makers above Igor Tudor.
- [09:15]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Yeah, that's a fair point, Dan. I want to talk about players in a second, but should we be looking upstairs as well of the key decision makers here in many respects the ownership of the club? Because, you know, it's not as if spurs haven't been in this kind of position before. Look where they finished in the league last season, but they just don't seem to have built on it.
- [09:33]
Dan Kilpatrick
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, ultimately the failure of this season and the responsibility lies with Johan Lange, Vinhar Venkatesham and Enik. I'm refusing to call them the Lewis family Now because I think it's a clever bit of rebranding. They've always been Enik. They still are Enik. And these are the people that have been making decisions at the club this season. They might say, oh, we inherited a mess from Daniel Levy and his inner circle, but I think, you know, they've clearly made big mistakes this season and Tudor is one of them. I think to James's point, you know, had they listened to Fabio Pratici before the turn of the year, whenever it was back in November, and perhaps have brought in Tudor then, then the situation might be very different. And I think the biggest mistake the current decision makers at spurs have made was sitting on their hands for so long when it was so obvious to everyone that Thomas Frank wasn't working. It was obvious to me as a Spurs watcher and supporter around about the start of November, probably when they lost meekly to Chelsea, that Frank wasn't going to work. Certainly it was obvious by December, it was certainly obvious by January and February 11th was just too late to sack him. And that's really why spurs are in the situation they're in. Obviously, as I said, Tudor I think accelerated that decline, but he certainly didn't start it. He wasn't responsible for it. So yeah, I think the failure of the season rests firmly at the door of the decision makers. It's a little bit unclear who they exactly are because as we've reported at the Athletic, the Lewis's haven't passed the Premier League only as an director's test. So they're not allowed to make decisions. And of course they're not making decisions. They're leaving it to Lange and Venkateshen. They're just rubber stamping them. Even if Langer and Venkateshem gets say, de Zerbi or another appointment over the line and spurs down the Premier League, I think, you know, they are facing uncertain futures because they sat on their hands when it came to Frank and they ultimately made the decision to put Tudor in charge. And you know, a combination of those things has left spurs in this precarious situation.
- [11:31]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Yeah, James, I don't know how much spurs you've watched this season, but the only people we haven't also spoken about are the players on the field. After the Forest game, Spurs assistant coach Bruno Salter insisted the club's players do care about their relegation predicament, but yet we've seen disciplinary issues on the field as well. And we've also seen some rather half cut performances from this team all season. Champions League perhaps a Caveat. But just in general, spurs have been really lackluster on the field.
- [11:58]
James Horncastle
Yeah, I think Micky van De Ven bristled, didn't. He was at the press conference before the Atletico game when it was sort of put to him that the players weren't pulling their weight. But certainly that's a sensation that fans and media have picked up on. I think when Igor Tudor was appointed, there was a hope that he would bring better discipline to the team because, you know, we've all seen you, the captain, Kuti Romero, sort of get sent off, let himself and the team down. Mickey Van De Ven got sent off in that defeat to palace, what, when they were 1 nil up and they just capitulated and lost that game, 4 1. So the players that have been able to stay fit, you know, do need to take their share of responsibility. Spurs have been missing some of their most creative players, some of their best players for pretty much the entire season. I mean, you know, one of the things that we've tried to keep track of over the last year has been, you know, is Diane Kulusevsky going to come back and play? Has he had another surgery? Is James Madison going to be back? All these kind of things which again, I think raise another question. You know, we've talked about sort of decision making at the top of the club. I think we need to think about are players rehabbing, are they getting the best attention, you know, who is taking these decisions in the kind of medical department, or, you know, how much is this kind of left to the players to decide what they want to do in terms of their own rehabilitation. So all of this is combined to put spurs in the situation they are in now, which, to be fair, as much as they won the Europa League and it was their first trophy in a long time last year, their league form has been like this for a year. It's been trending this way. And they've had effectively two transfer windows to try and effect a change here last summer and the winter, and they haven't been able to arrest this decline. And, you know, I think they've now gone from Ange Frank Tudor and they are, as we get, to pursuing Roberto de Zerbi. The managers are changing, but the results are not changing. And I think that tells you that there is something far deeper going on at Tottenham, which is, you know, why they are improbably, inexplicably at risk of relegation.
- [14:25]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Dan, do you want to follow on? So I saw you nodding.
- [14:26]
Dan Kilpatrick
I mean, I was just nodding in agreement at James's sage wisdom on on spurs there. I mean yes, the problems run deeper. I mean you mentioned Kulasevsky James. I mean it's extraordinary isn't it that the next time he plays for spurs because he's not going to play again this season, he's just had another operation. There could have been you know quite feasibly could have been three managers that he didn't play under. You know if if someone another interim comes in or if deserve he comes in and then leaves in some it is which was just kind of sort of is a microcosm of just the mess they've been in with injuries and managerial churn
- [15:02]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
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- [16:27]
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- [16:50]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
Howdy, howdy ho and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.
- [16:58]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball. But you can call me the Smash Daddy.
- [17:02]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.
- [17:10]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
That's right.
- [17:11]
Dan Kilpatrick
Hey.
- [17:11]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
Hey. So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chapter.
- [17:15]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.
- [17:23]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
News flash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can find fantasy fanfellas wherever you get your podcasts.
- [17:36]
Ayo Akimwaleere
So, after sacking Thomas Frank in February, Tudor has left in March. Spurs are now looking at their third head coach of the season. They're now pushing for the appointment of Roberto de Zerbi. Dan, how do spurs fans feel about this?
- [17:49]
Dan Kilpatrick
Well, I'm always wary of kind of ascribing a feeling to an entire fan base. There will be a range of views about de Zerbi across the fan base. Of course there will. But what we do know is that three spurs supporters groups, including their LGBTQ supporters group and their official Women's supporters association, have come out in opposition to a Zerbi and urged the club not to pursue this appointment. Please consider the values of the club. And that is over de Zerbi's historic backing of Mason Greenwood, who obviously he worked with at Marseille as a player and a person. So I think that is a. That is a big problem for the club. You know, I really do. I mean, James will remember very well because I believe he had a column that never saw the light of day, if I'm not wrong. James, A similar thing happened over Gattuso before Spurs appointed Nuno. I think spurs fans launched a campaign on social media, said no to Gattuso over historic comments. So there is a precedent for this, and I think it's a problem for spurs because I think one of the biggest issues spurs have and have had this season, and it predates the season as well, is a growing and alarming disconnect between supporters and the club. I would say in my adult lifetime, I cannot remember a time when the fan base has been so disconnected from the club, and that's a huge problem for any club. And I don't see spurs being successful in moving forward while that disconnect exists. You need everyone kind of on the same page and pulling in the same direction for an organization to be successful, and no manager, except perhaps Mauricio Pochettino, by the way, is going to unite everyone and be universally popular and acceptable. But if it was, say, Oliver Glassner, you know, there would be some fans who would say, I don't like his tactics and I don't like his personality. He's a bit volatile, you know, he's a bit combustible in press conferences, but I'm going to get behind him. And that's kind of what happened with Tudor. But with De Zerbi, there are going to be fans who will say, and we don't know how many, it might be a small minority, but there are still going to be fans who are going to say, I will never get behind this guy because he is fundamentally opposed to my values of the way he's behaved is fundamentally opposed to my values. And that's a huge problem. From day one, he will not have the whole fan base behind him. And I think it's an issue. So, you know, on the flip side, there will be many supporters who are really enthusiastic about this and think, oh, he's got Premier League experience, he's a, you know, he's at the cutting edge of tactics at the moment. He's a great appointment. He's going to keep us up and we can build with him, but there are going to be others who are violently against us, and I think that's a concern.
- [20:20]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Yeah. We must also point out that Mason Greenwood has denied all allegations against him. James, if De Zerbi does actually come in, could the leadership once again be at fault for not reading the room?
- [20:32]
James Horncastle
Perhaps. But, I mean, we've seen Tottenham push through with these appointments before. Okay. In the Gattuzzo case that Dan referenced, ultimately the club bolt and decided to go a different way. Dan alluded to the fact that up in the ether somewhere there is a James Horncastle Gattuso at Spurs profile piece, as there was a Fonseca at Tottenham profile piece which never got to see the light of day, which, again, I think underlines there's this through line at Tottenham between sort of hesitation, indecision, when it has come to making the appointment that, yeah, fans hope and believe will take the club in the right direction. And again, this feels actually quite similar to, you know, what happened when they appointed Antonio Conte, where they made overtures and overtures to get Conte in. And Conte was initially very reluctant and then they kept coming back. They fired Nuno in the meantime, and they came back to him and he agreed to take over in season. And yeah, it seems from the reporting that we've done that spurs have tried with De Zerbi. De Zerbi has initially been very much of the opinion, like, no, I want to wait until the summer. He might be, for example, re evaluating his coaching staff. That takes time. But spurs keep going back to him. And leaving aside what we were talking about in terms of whether Deserbi, like Gattuzzo, reflects the values the club's fans want to see reflected in a manager. By insisting on your contest and your deserbies to come in when they've previously kind of expressed that. Well, actually, yeah, I don't really do taking over teams in season. I like to have a preseason. I like to have full planning, insisting they actually put those managers in a difficult position. So let's see. I think, again, it's just expressive of the desperation that there is at this football club. And Dan's better place than me to talk about this, but you can see the fans smell it. They can see it and they don't like it.
- [22:57]
Ayo Akimwaleere
I'm just interested in this sort of conversation around spurs getting relegated. Dan, let's say someone like Deserbi does come in. I mean, tactically very different to Tudor in many respects, but is he the kind of guy that has got enough of Augusto to. To keep this team up in many respects, or is it a little too late?
- [23:18]
Dan Kilpatrick
Well, I mean, that is. That's. That's another huge question. I think one of my colleagues on the Athletic news desk told me, literally just before I came in here, that he took two points from his first five games at Brighton. I haven't checked that, but I'm going to trust the great Colin Miller that that's true. So, you know, plainly it does take a bit of time to get up to speed with De Zerbi's approach. And it's, you know, it's a pretty specific kind of highly technical way of playing. I think there is a compelling argument, I think that spurs kind of need a firefighter right now. The issue is that beyond sort of Sean Dyche, who for different reasons might not be a good fit, you know, the sort of age of the great Premier League firefighter, you know, your allardyces, your pardues, your Pulises, your Hodgsons, although Hodgson is back in work this week, you know, that kind of, you know, these guys aren't really around anymore. So there is a kind of dearth of obvious candidates who can kind of come in and just sort of save spurs, you know, Ryan Mason's had the interim job twice before. I think I can understand why he might be reluctant to do that again, given the situation they're in. So there's a dearth of obvious candidates, but there is a compelling argument to James's earlier point, that they'd be better off trying to find someone to keep them up and then think about if they really are set on De Zerbi, then think about him in the summer, which is clearly what he would prefer to do given the choice. Now, I also have concerns that his methods or his approach on a man management level isn't really what this extremely fragile squad needs right now. I would kind of distill my thoughts on De Zerbi. As you know, he's not the only coach who can save spurs, and given the extra baggage he brings, he's probably not worth the hassle and the enormous amount of money it would take to persuade him to take the job.
- [25:05]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Now, what he does have, James, though, is Premier League experience, something that Tudor, I guess, lacked in many respects. So there is some sort of logic to that, if you think about it in that respect.
- [25:15]
James Horncastle
Yeah. Although none of these guys have Premier League experience until they come to the Premier League. I mean, you know, Roberto didn't have Premier League experience when he came to Brighton. And, you know, I'll trust the numbers that Dan raised from Colin or we can throw Colin under the bus later. But I seem to remember that first performance Brighton put in, I think away at Anfield against Klopp's Liverpool, everyone straight away kind of stood up and took notice and were like, oh, wow, okay, this is bold, this is intrepid, this is new. It's exciting. The thing is, that appointment happened so much earlier in the season than this one, where you could afford, for example, to have five games in which you're figuring it out. You can't afford that in Tottenham's case right now. You need somebody who's going to come in, hit the ground running, not only in terms of style of play, but results. It's just got to be results right now. And yeah, I know Roberto really pushes back against this idea that he is this philosopher who's only interested in the aesthetics of football and style of play. He's like, look, you know, if we're in the final 10 minutes of the game, we're only 1 nil up and we have to see out the result. You know, if I could, I would play two goalkeepers, you know, because I know how important it is to get results in this game. So, you know, there is some disconnect between his image and who he really is. But I do think this is. This is a really difficult moment to take over a team with a squad that is kind of broken because of the injuries that we've talked about, the ill discipline. And as I said before, spurs have this habit of coming to coaches earlier than they would like in season. So look, I mean, does he have the character and the personality to step into the building and immediately kind of seize the moment? Yes, he absolutely does. I think one of the things that is great about Roberto is his ability to inspire and motivate players love playing for De Zerbi. Players want to join clubs coached by De Zerbi. But this is. You have to maybe look at this. Is this a case of right man, wrong time?
- [27:48]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
I sold my car in Carvana last night. Well, that's cool. No, you don't understand. It went perfectly. Real offer down to the penny. They're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong.
- [27:57]
Carvana Advertiser
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- [27:58]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes to smart smoothing. I'm waiting for the catch.
- [28:02]
Carvana Advertiser
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- [28:03]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
That's exactly what a catch would want me to think.
- [28:06]
Carvana Advertiser
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- [28:07]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
I need to knock on wood. Do we have. What is this table wood?
- [28:10]
Carvana Advertiser
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- [28:11]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
Okay. Yeah, that's good. That's close enough.
- [28:12]
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- [28:18]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
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- [28:49]
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- [29:38]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
You're listening to the Athletic FC podcast
- [29:40]
Dan Kilpatrick
with IowaKamolere Williams A1E off the bench to make absolutely sure this is Nottingham Forest day.
- [29:52]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Well, spurs are still the only Premier League side yet to win a Premier league game in 2026, but their poor form goes back even further. They've only won twice in 22 games, a run which started on the 1st of November in their 1 nil home defeat to Chelsea. Dan, we've spoken about leadership, but I also want to touch on this current squad. You know, Burs has spent decent money on some might say decent players from the recent crop of players that have come in. In your opinion, how many of those players provide value for the amount of money they've been brought in for?
- [30:29]
Dan Kilpatrick
Well, at the moment, none of them. But I do think spurs have good players in the squad. I think that's undeniable really. There are good footballers down there. You look at the back five when everyone's fit. You know, Vicario, there are question marks about his consistency and quality, but I think on his day can be a fabulous keeper. And then you've got Poro or Spence, both internationals for top countries. Romero, Van de Ven, Destiny, Udogie. So they've got quality in the squad. They've got a wildly imbalanced squad which is a result of chopping and changing between managers directions in the transfer market and kind of strategies. They are desperately short of technical quality. While Kulasevski and Madison are injured and Kudis has been injured as well, he's their other technical player. And Xavi Simmons has not really been adapting well, has struggled to adapt quickly to the Premier League, shall we say. I'm someone who kind of tends to defend players, you know, I think most players that have got to Premier League level aren't the kind of feckless, lazy wasters, you know, they tend to be incredibly motivated and competitive individuals that just need to be put in the right environment under the right coach and the right structure and they will then most most cases, and obviously there are levels within that most cases will then tend to flourish. So I tend to give the players, you know, a pass in some respects. But. But clearly what has happened at spurs this season is there's been far too much finger pointing, there's been far too much hiding behind excuses for the players on the pitch. And you know, you watch spurs recently and you know, you can literally see that kind of Archie Gray and Mattis tell the two of the younger members of the squad are kind of putting in more effort than some of the more established players. And I think it's undeniable that guys like Romero, who's a World cup winner, Mickey Van de Ven, who's a, you know, extremely celebrated defender, in some cases Pedro Porro and others have let the side down. I think at times, and I don't share this kind of fatalist view, that there's nothing any manager can do now for spurs. But you know, clearly if spurs are to get themselves out of this hole they're in and beat relegation is primarily down to the players, whoever's coaching them, you know, from the next game at Sunderland on April 12, you know, it's really down to the players to, to kind of step up and, and start showing their quality because they are better, I think, than. Than what they've shown this season.
- [32:51]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Yeah, James, regardless of which manager or head coach comes in, maybe it might be deserter, for instance, I suppose in this really kind of precarious kind of position as a team because you, you look at some of the players they've also lost out on. We talk about Ebericiese going elsewhere. I think Semenya was another one on the list that potentially could have taken them to another level. Is it quite tricky for recruitment then? Because obviously they also don't pay the highest wages comparatively to the Manchester United of this world or perhaps the Arsenal or the Chelsea's of this world as well.
- [33:21]
James Horncastle
I don't know. I think Dan will be better placed to say this than me, but like, I think when Levy was removed as chief executive and Enoch, the Lewis family, however we want to call them, I think they put out a statement, didn't they? Which I think they wanted to reflect their own ambition. I think there was almost reading between the lines of willingness to spend more money on wages, maybe not much more, but more. But as Dan said about the players and the fact is that a lot of these players do clearly have talent, but in order to express that talent you need the right environment. I'm not sure there was a silver bullet last summer in January in terms of sign Semenyo and everything's all right. I think you can put really good players in different situations and they'll thrive in one and struggle in another. And clearly there's some talented players at Tottenham struggling. Certainly the pressure and yeah, the unexpected nature of the predicament they find themselves in doesn't help either. It makes the environment even more tense and pressurized. So, you know, look, I think spurs have got so Many things to sort out, be it. They are currently looking again, from our reporting for a sporting director to replace Fabio. Paratici, who obviously left in January when he decided to go to Fiorentina, decided that one relegation battle was better than another one because Fiorentina are battling relegation in Serie A. So there are so many things that need addressing sometimes. Look, the manager is the most important appointment you can make. It's the hardest one to get right. But I think you have to put that manager in a position to succeed. And I just think with Roberto, if they do persuade him, his style of play is quite different from Conte, but his way of approaching media is not. I would even say that Conte is mellower than De Zerbi at this moment. And I think some people thought that Conte was not a great fit in that regard for Tottenham, even though
- [35:47]
Dan Kilpatrick
everything
- [35:47]
James Horncastle
Conte said in that Southampton press conference has kind of been shown to be right.
- [35:53]
Ayo Akimwaleere
They don't want to play under pressure, they don't want to play under stress. Yeah, it's easy in this way. And Tottenham. Tottenham's story is this because it's time to change the situation. If Tottenham wants to change, if they want to continue in this way, they can change manager, a lot of manager, but the situation cannot change, believe me. Thank you very much.
- [36:15]
James Horncastle
So, you know, again, I think if people thought Tudor was abrasive and sometimes combative in his press conferences, I mean, like Roberto in this situation, yeah, he will be fighting not only. Not only for his job, but because, you know, he'll be very quick into it, but he'll be fighting for Tottenham's life. And when you're in. You're in a difficult situation like that, it is. It is a very emotional state to be in at all times.
- [36:43]
Ayo Akimwaleere
All right, let's finish on this. Because spurs don't actually play for two weeks and could find themselves in the relegation zone before they play Sunderland if West Ham beat Wolves on the Friday night. So here's the big question, Dan. Are spurs going to get relegated this season? Like, even Wolves away right now? I mean, everyone is struggling at Wolves away and they're the bottom team.
- [37:06]
James Horncastle
Oh, yeah.
- [37:07]
Dan Kilpatrick
Spurs always lose. The Wolves. Spurs aren't winning that game. Look, I have feared relegation, I think, a lot longer than most, because as James alluded to earlier, this run of form in the league has not been exclusive to this season. You know, spurs were in free fall in the second half of last season. You know, it was masked by the Europa League win, and it was masked by the fact that last year, as the year before, that the three promoter clubs simply could not cope in the Premier League. That's not the case this year. We see Sunderland and Leeds, particularly Sunderland, being very competitive. And that is really what has left spurs in this situation. There aren't necessarily three worst teams this time to kind of get spurs out of jail. I think if you actually objectively forget about the size of the club, forget about the so called big six. If you actually look at the form and momentum and situation of the clubs down there, that is Leeds, Spurs, West Ham and Forest, you know, spurs look like the likeliest candidates to go down by a long shot. They haven't won since late December. Their form is absolutely disastrous. Confidence is on the floor. If you look at what West Ham have done since they beat spurs, incidentally, a kind of classic case of Dr. Tottenham, if you will, they're probably averaging somewhere around 1.5 to 1.8, I would guess, points per game. They've been very, very competitive and produce some real kind of shows of unity where you know, the fans are going and standing in front of the, you know, the away end, as they did at Fulham. You know, everyone's getting behind them chanting we will stay up. You know, West Ham do not look to me like a side going down. Then there's Forest, who've just beaten Spurs 3 nil and presumably will get a big shot in the arm from that. And then there's Leeds, who, if I were Spurs, I'd be looking at trying to drag them into it, given that Leeds come to spurs on the 9th of May and that could be a big game. But Leeds are competitive, you know, they grind out results under Daniel Farker. So forget the, the kind of stature of the club, as I said, and just look at what the teams have been doing not just since the turn of the year, but over the course of, let's say 18 months. And spurs bear all the hallmarks of a side who are going to be relegated.
- [39:17]
Ayo Akimwaleere
Yeah, James, facetious as that question might have been to Dan from the outside looking in, you look at that lineup of matches they've got, it's not going to be easy, is it?
- [39:28]
James Horncastle
No, I think this is going to be the thing that everybody follows from now until the end of the season in the Premier League. And I say that with all due respect to Arsenal potentially winning their first Premier League in decades. For that double whammy to happen, for Arsenal to win the Premier League and Spurs to go down, I think again just adds another layer to it. Which the Premier League often talks about unscripted drama things. Things people wouldn't, you know, screenwriters would be too afraid to write. And yet here we are. So I don't know. I think a lot will rest on the next decision that they make, even though it feels like the direction of travel is just in arrestable. And you know, I think Pep Guardiola would honestly find this difficult to turn around. So. So yeah, let's see.
- [40:31]
Ayo Akimwaleere
IO okay, Leave us hanging like any good drama on the cliff edge. Brilliant. All right, James, Dan, appreciate your time and also thank you guys for joining us as well. We'll catch you soon.
- [40:44]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
You've been listening to these Athletic FC Podcast. The producers were Guy Clark, Mike Stavro, and Jay Beal. The executive producer was Aimee Morehead. To listen to other great athletic podcasts for free, search for the athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. The Athletic FC podcast is an athletic media company, Production.
- [41:10]
Dan Kilpatrick
Foreign.
- [41:15]
Pablo Torre
Hi, this is Pablo Torre from Pablo Torre finds Out and today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile because we spend a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies in sports, overvalued contracts, money tied up in the wrong places, and so on. But those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes they're in your own monthly expenses. Boost Mobile says switching to their $25 Unlimited Forever plan can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's $25 a month for unlimited data, talk and text when you bring your own phone. If that money is trapped in a pricey phone bill, it might be worth a second look. Visit boostmobile.com to learn more. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan savings claim. Based on a January 2026 Boost Mobile survey of 1,000Americans with single line unlimited plans, comparing average annual payments of major carriers to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com AI
- [42:12]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
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- [42:34]
James Horncastle
The result?
- [42:35]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
AI agents that turn customer conversations into lasting loyalty. Learn more@parloa.com Howdy, howdy ho and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.
- [42:49]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball. But you can call me the Smash Daddy.
- [42:53]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.
- [43:02]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
That's right.
- [43:02]
Dan Kilpatrick
Hey.
- [43:02]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
Hey. So, each week, you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions every single chapter.
- [43:07]
Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas)
And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.
- [43:14]
Stephen (Smash Daddy)
Newsflash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can find fantasy fanfellas wherever you get your podcasts.