Almost half a century ago, Matthew Engel had a line in this newspaper about Sheffield United going top of the Fourth Division being like hearing a friend had been made head of the prison library: you wanted to congratulate them but really you were wondering what on earth they were doing there in the first place. It was a similar story at Spurs today: for all the understandable glee and relief, even to be in danger of relegation is evidence of things having gone badly wrong.
It may be that the future has this as the first day in the new history of Tottenham. Roberto De Zerbi is clearly a manager of great promise – 11 points in seven games may not be earth-shattering, but it is a lot, lot better than what came before – and the injury crisis surely can’t be this bad for a third straight season. Perhaps coming so close to the brink will startle them into decisive action in a way that last season’s fourth-bottom finish, mitigated as it was by the Europa League success, did not. Perhaps there really will come a bracing clarity of vision and they will rise again. The world can change very quickly. It’s only four years ago that Spurs were, for the sixth season in succession, finishing above Arsenal. A season out of Europe, while it will have a negative impact on revenues, can have a remarkable rejuvenating effect.
As nervous as Tottenham fans became with news of West Ham’s goals flashing up on phone screens, for a long time it simply didn’t seem plausible that this Everton might score at all, never mind twice. The chaos of injury time, the headers over the bar, Antonin Kinsky’s fine save from Tyrique George, seemed out of keeping with the previous 90 minutes, more a manifestation of Spurs’s anxiety than anything Everton were doing.
It was very hard to square this tentative side with the team that had such an impact in the Premier League title race by drawing 3-3 with Manchester City. Spurs, as in the defeat by Nottingham Forest and the draw against Leeds, began well and got gradually scratchier but, on this occasion, it didn’t matter: only belatedly did the sponge mallet of Everton’s attack transform into something that might do damage.
Some Spurs fans had been doubtful about attending, or even following the game on television or the radio. There was a lot of talk of long walks or gardening, avoiding the anxiety until it was all done, but football is about emotion whether positive or negative; about moments of crisis such as this. The duty of a fan is to bear witness, the beauty of fandom is the common experience of emotion. Imagine if you were a regular who had not been there and they had gone down; to be absent for the lowest low would be just as bad as missing the highest high. Collective memory is the lifeblood of community.
As it was, it turned out to be a day that showcased what Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could be. From the scenes when the bus arrived – undissuaded despite how badly that went when they tried it against Forest – this was as good an atmosphere as anybody could realistically expect. The roar at the final whistle was deafening, and whether it was relief or euphoria doesn’t really matter: it will be remembered. And so Spurs won a first home league game since 6 December. They got their lap of honour. They got to stand before the South Stand and soak up the acclaim.
It didn’t feel hugely different from the final day a year ago, when the reception was similar despite a 4-1 defeat to Brighton. Then too they had finished 17th, with three fewer points than they managed this season, although relegation had never been a threat in the way it was in 2025-26. But the Europa League they had won the previous Wednesday softened the mood and offered hope that this season might be better. It turned out to be just as bad in the league without the mitigation of Europe.
Is this different? Perhaps, in the sense that De Zerbi is in situ. He has completed the first and most important objective. Next season, the tasks will be less well-defined and thus perhaps harder to achieve. But he has not looked overwhelmed by the job in the way that Thomas Frank did within a few weeks. He has a big achievement to his name already, rather than, like Frank, replacing the manager who had won the club their first trophy in 17 years.
The squad will take some reshaping but this time the positive vibes at Spurs may be well-founded. What that means is less clearcut, not least because nobody quite knows how the switch from profitability and sustainability regulations to squad cost ratio will play out. But at the very least, the relative lack of games should make finishing in a European qualifying position next season a viable goal. Relegation, certainly, shouldn’t be a threat.
But then it shouldn’t have been this season. Spurs really have no business in the prison library.
