Cartilage Free Captain

One of the (many) major criticisms of Tottenham Hotspur over this season’s under-performance is the executive structure — how it’s structured, who reports to who, and their effectiveness in the job. Yes, this is another backhanded criticism of Johan Lange, but there’s new reporting from our good friend Matt Law in the Telegraph that says Spurs might — just might — be doing something smart.

According to Law, Spurs are actively in the process of searching for a new Sporting Director to replace the outgoing Fabio Paratici, and have made inquiries about Chelsea’s Paul Winstanley and former Palace director Dougie Freedman.

Winstanley has been one of the people responsible for implementing Chelsea’s wacko transfer churn methodology since the new ownership took over a number of years back. Say what you want about Chelsea’s transfer blitz — it’s kind of worked out for them! It’s not clear whether Winstanley was in charge of that operation or just worked to implement it, but it’s rather impressive regardless. Law says that he was recently given a contract extension at Chelsea until 2031 which makes him perhaps unlikely to make the switch, though I’ll point out that contractual obligations can easily be fixed by offering lots of money.

Dougie Freedman, meanwhile, was Sporting Director at Palace from 2017 until this year, when he left to take up a similar position in Saudi Arabia with second division club Al-Diriyah. The answer to why he’d leave a good job at Palace for a second division club in the Kingdom can probably be answered by a Brinks truck filled with money, but it should also be noted that players, managers, and executives in KSA tend not to stay long after they’ve earned a couple years of bank. Law doesn’t think Freedman would necessarily want to leave so soon after joining Al-Diriyah, but who knows. Freedman has also been a Premier League manager, in charge of Crystal Palace, Bolton Wanderers, and Nottingham Forest, before rejoining Palace as Sporting Director.

The Telegraph also notes that Spurs are looking at other, unnamed candidates. It is expected that whoever takes the position would have a great amount of input as to who would be offered the permanent head coaching position when the 2026-27 season starts.

I would say this — whether or not Winstanley or Freedman are convinced to take the job is almost immaterial at this point. It does, however, provide some evidence that Spurs are actively making smart decisions and looking at smart people to fill Paratici’s vacant position. It’s also not known what this means for Lange — he’s come under a lot of criticism, and not just from me, for how he’s built the playing squad over the past number of years, so it’s unclear whether the new Sporting Director would be a co-SD model like Lange and Paratici had earlier this year, ahead of Lange, or even replacing him entirely. I know which one I’d favor, but we don’t actually know.

This is actually encouraging. Regardless of what happens with relegation, it would be catastrophic for Spurs to not have their executive and recruitment structure in place when the summer transfer window opens, especially when the club needs a permanent manager as well. Whoever takes the job will have a HUGE task list, not only helping to appoint a manager, but also potentially doing a major squad refresh. Hopefully it’s someone good, but this report at least points to a good process. I’ll take it, for now.

“The club has been informed of sanctions handed down to us by UEFA following the utterly abhorrent conduct of a small number of individuals at our recent Champions League away match in Frankfurt.

“The club has cooperated fully with UEFA’s investigation, as well as with German police on the night and, subsequently, the Met Police.

“We can confirm that all three individuals found to be making Nazi salutes towards Eintracht Frankfurt fans have been identified and have received indefinite bans under the club’s Sanctions and Banning Policy.

“The club stands firmly against all forms of discrimination and has therefore taken the strongest possible action. The disgusting behaviour of a minority of so-called fans on the night is in no way reflective of the values of our club and its supporters.”

I know we don’t want to talk (more) about the possibility of Tottenham Hotspur being relegated from the Premier League. And if you ask me honestly, I still don’t think it’s especially likely that Spurs end up going down, even after everything that’s happened. Remember the “outrun the bear” anecdote — Spurs don’t have to outrun the bear, they just have to outrun one of West Ham, Nottingham Forest, and Leeds. Maybe throw Crystal Palace on there too?

The financial hit to Tottenham should they go down would be pretty catastrophic, especially if Spurs don’t immediately bounce back up to the Premier League next season. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or vastly overestimating how easy it would be to get promoted again. But if you were curious, there’s some good news — according to David Ornstein, all Spurs players DO have relegation clauses in their contracts that would reduce their wages by as much as 50% should Spurs drop down.

The Athletic can reveal that most members of the first team squad are on deals which include mandatory salary reductions and the vast majority would see their earning slashed by around 50 per cent.

It was a provision factored into all existing agreements struck before Daniel Levy’s departure as executive chairman in September, granting Spurs an element of protection against the doomsday scenario of demotion.

— David Ornstein, The Athletic

This isn’t particularly revelatory. Relegation clauses in player contracts are practically boilerplate additions, and the vast, vast majority of contracts in the Premier League have those clauses in place. The clubs that don’t have those contracts are often completely screwed if/when they do go down, and the one thing we know about Daniel Levy is that he is not stupid and he negotiated the majority of Spurs’ player contracts. So this doesn’t make Spurs special at all, it’s just evidence that that Levy did due diligence for the unthinkable happening at Tottenham. Which might be actually now “thinkable,” and I hate it.

Notably, Ornstein says “most” members have relegation contracts, but not all. If we’re being generous to Johan Lange and the now-departed Fabio Paratici, you’d think that the most recent signings would have those clauses too; I can see scenarios where younger players on professional contracts or who are the fringes of the first team squad might not have those in, probably because their salaries are such that reducing them wouldn’t provide much of a net financial benefit. I’d like to think that the Lange/Tici signings would also have clauses, but, well, you know I’m not particularly enamored with how Lange has run things since arriving and so I’m not going to assume anything.

None of this is GOOD, but at least we know Levy had a little foresight into what might be possible, however improbable.

Hi! Guess who needed a day off and asked to boss to fill in only for him, who is now frantically typing, to forget while watching two episodes of “Paradise” last night?

Yeah, this guy. Sorry about that. This is a quick Hoddle for y’all to start discussing and I’ll add in SOTD and other stuff here in edits.

A few years ago, there was an internet phenomenon about a song. A most unique song that was uploaded from a cassette tape ostensibly recorded by some kid in Norway back in the mid-1980s. The thing about this song is that nobody could figure out who or what it was. It gained notoriety for this. A LOT of notoriety. Hundreds, possibly thousands of people started listening to this song trying to figure out who recorded it, and when — there was no record of it anywhere.

It became known as “The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet.” It was finally cracked in 2019 when a series of internet sleuths deducted that it was a demo of a song called “Subways of Your Mind” by a German New Wave band FEX. In the meantime, that song started showing up in the various creepypasta corners of the internet, almost like a companion song to things like House of Leaves discussion boards and on jukeboxes in weird games. And yeah, there’s something just a little subliminally weird and creepy about what is otherwise a bog-standard German new wave song.

The secret is no longer a secret, but the weird vibes remain. Here’s a recording of it.

Every word Igor Tudor said about Tottenham after the loss to Fulham on Sunday

Wanna rate some Tottenham players? Well, I guess you have that option so here you go. Tottenham lost to Fulham at Craven Cottage today by the final score of 2-1, with goals from Harry Wilson & Alex Iwobi (Fulham) and Richarlison (Spurs). It was not fun to watch. But Spurs are at least not any worse off for their performance, since West Ham, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, and Crystal Palace also all lost as well.

Spurs stink. Anyway. It’s time to rate the players. Or not, whatever, I’m not your mom.

Rate the players from 1⁄2 to 5 stars. If the player doesn’t deserve a rating due to minutes played, DO NOT RANK. I will round the stars up/down to the nearest half-star for the player ratings later this week.

If you’re on mobile or found this via AMP and the survey isn’t appearing below, here’s a direct link.

Tottenham Hotspur had a huge opportunity at Craven Cottage today to gain points in what has become an increasingly scary relegation fight, but despite a second half fightback couldn’t get the job done. Tottenham went down 2-0 in the first half after a controversial seventh minute goal by Harry Wilson marked by a clear foul on Radu Dragusin in the buildup that VAR declined to call, followed by a banger from Alex Iwobi. Igor Tudor made a triple change in the second half bringing on Mathys Tel, Richarlison, and Pape Sarr, and Richarlison scored from a lovely Archie Gray cross to cut the lead in half. But despite a lot more attacking impetus in the late stages of the match, Spurs couldn’t find an equalizer and fell to Fulham 2-1.

It was a missed opportunity because all of Spurs’ relegation rivals — West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Leeds, and Crystal Palace, all lost this weekend. So Spurs don’t lose any ground, but it was a rare opportunity to get a step on all of them at once. Spurs once again looked timid and toothless going forward for much of the match, and it sure looks like Spurs are not going to get the expected new manager bounce from Igor Tudor. All points will he hard-fought and earned going forward.

Match Reations:

There was some speculation about Tudor’s formation pre-match, with some speculating based on warmups that Spurs would line up with Palhinha-Van de Ven-Porro with Archie Gray and Conor Gallagher as wingbacks. It looked to my eye as some sort of hybrid system based on possession, mutating between a back 3/4. But it was mostly just a back four.

Conor Gallagher giving away a corner kick from a misplayed 40 yard pass from midfield is peak Spurs this season, isn’t it?

I am FURIOUS about that VAR call allowing the push on Dragusin after Kolo Muani got a goal waved off for an obvious Gabriel flop in the same situation during the NLD last week. VAR sucks, the refs suck, everything sucks, and the inconsistency is maddening. What are we even doing here? It’s either two hands in the back or it isn’t.

Spurs do seem to have a few more ideas on how to attack. The players still stink and they didn’t come off, but the ideas are there, and that’s more than we could say for Thomas Frank.

I have complaints about Fulham’s first goal, but I can’t argue about Iwobi’s goal. Just a banger. Still sucks, and nobody closed him down, but whatchagonnado about that?

Football’s a simple game. Get into the box, find an open player with a cross, score a goal. Excellent little cross from Archie Gray and Richy was wide open at the back post. Credit also to Tel in the buildup. I will also stick up for Richy in the scuffle that followed, Bassey had no right to hold onto the ball there when Richy wanted a fast restart.

Conor Gallagher was ATROCIOUS today, is he possibly the worst signing Spurs have made all season? Also, I have no idea how Dominic Solanke could be out there the entire match and not contribute ANYTHING offensively. Terrible match. I literally forgot he was on the pitch for much of the second half.j

I should say something good — Mathys Tel was good today. So was Richarlison. Richy has actually been in relegation fights before with Everton so he gets it. Souza also showed some spark in his short cameo. So that was good!

This is the slimmest of silver linings, but the good news is that all of Spurs’ competitors for relegation also lost this weekend so Tottenham didn’t lose any ground. But this was a huge opportunity wasted, and that may not happen again.

This isn’t a manager thing. There’s no magic manager that can save Spurs here. It’s down to the players, and they look like they all suck and have given up. Even if they do manage to stay up, Spurs will need to do a MAJOR clear-out of the squad because these guys stink.

Spurs suck, but the officiating was OUTRAGEOUSLY bad in this match. Honestly, the state of officiating in the Premier League has never been lower, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I actually miss Mark Clattenburg.

Next match is home to Crystal Palace on Thursday, and it’s hard to find any optimism about this match. Brennan Johnson hat trick, anyone?

Tottenham Hotspur are the only Premier League side without a win in 2026, and we are now officially in the third month of the year. I’d like to get off this ride now, please.

Thankfully, Spurs have an easy assignment in the form of OH THAT’S RIGHT ANOTHER LONDON DERBY YAY. The Lilywhites are off to that other white-clad London side in the form of Fulham, with the Cottagers firmly ensconced in midtable. The heady heights of tenth are but an incomprehensible mirage to Spurs fans right now, with the current placement of 16th, combined with injuries and poor performance not exactly doing wonders to stave of fears of relegation.

Spurs’ new manager, Igor Tudor, can however help allay those fears with a statement win at Craven Cottage today. Can he right this sinking ship? Is now the moment Spurs suddenly turn things around?

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Fulham vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Craven Cottage, London, UK

Sunday, March 1, 2026

Time: 9:00 a.m. ET, 2:00 p.m. UK

TV: USA Network, Sky Sports+ (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Unknown

Match thread rules

The match thread rules are the same as always. To any visitors coming here for the first time, welcome! We’re glad you’re here! Wipe your feet, mind the gap, and be sure to check out the other pages at this outstanding site. While you’re here, though, we have a few rules and regulations:

Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They’re bad and they get us in trouble. Violators will be warned or banned.

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Along those lines, outright abuse of players or match officials is also not allowed. It’s fine to say “wow, that was a really bad call,” but it’s NOT okay to direct copious amounts of abuse in the direction of said official over a call you did not like.

Treat other people in the match thread the way you would want someone else to treat your grandmother. Be nice. This is a community of fans, not an un-moderated message board.

NO SPIDERS!

Finally, while we don’t have a rule against profanity, please try and keep the naughty words in check. Also, language that is sexist, racist, transphobic, or homophobic in nature will be swiftly deleted and you will be immediately banned. This is an open, supportive community.

Have fun, and COYS!

February was a good month for Tottenham Hotspur Women. There was of course the statement win over Aston Villa, as well as a decent win at West Ham, Monday’s thrilling FA Cup victory over London City on penalties, and a solid performance against Chelsea that we probably deserved more from than a 2-0 loss. A few of our number have received recognition for their work during this time.

Olivia Holdt is up for the WSL’s February player of the month. She’s continued to thrill in attack with goals against Aston Villa and West Ham, and an assist against Villa, too. Her rise has been the brightest of many bright points this season, and she’s more than deserving of this nomination.

You can vote for Olivia here.

Martin Ho has been shortlisted for WSL Manager of the Month. What really shone to me this month was Ho’s resilience. He didn’t win across the board, but he showed real tactical adaptation and growth, and the ability to motivate the team both after tough losses and thrilling wins. Martin Ho’s reign at Tottenham is still early days, but it’s hard not to like what I saw in February.

Vote for Martin here.

Turns out Spurs Women also scored a lot of gorgeous goals in February. We’ve got three goals in the running for goal of the month, and I actually can’t decide which one was my favorite. There was Matilda Vinberg’s rocket of an equalizer against West Ham and Olivia Holdt’s equally rocket-like winner (I’m not even sure this was Olivia’s best goal of the month, I personally prefer her near post strike against Villa, but I’m not the one picking these things). Somehow, only one of the seven goals against Aston Villa was nominated, and that was Tinka Tandberg’s strike on a rebound. To refresh your memory, you can rewatch the goals here:

And you can cast your vote for your preferred goal here.

Happy voting, and COYS!!!

Tottenham Hotspur Women equalized on a last-minute penalty to send their FA Cup tie with London City Lionesses into extra time and penalty kicks. After eight successful kicks a piece, Lize Kop saved Wassa Sangaré’s penalty, ensuring Spurs their place in the next round of the FA Cup.

Martin Ho made a few changes from recent lineups — Molly Bartrip came in for Clare Hunt (who had already departed to represent Australia at the Asian Cup), and Tinka Tandberg got the start over Beth England.

Tragically, this game was not televised in the United States. If you’re curious about what went down, you can check out some extended highlights here, although these admittedly don’t show much of what was going on in the center of the pitch. But this was the general idea – Matilda Vinberg opened the scoring in the 7th minute with a toe-poked goal, following excellent work by Tinka Tandberg and Olivia Holdt to set her up.

The rest of the half played out largely equally, but London City really dominated the second half. They scored two goals in quick succession in the 58th and 59th minute to take the lead. The first was a repeat of a goal we’ve witnessed many times this season – a speedy winger got the better of one of our fullbacks and crossed to the center, where an unmarked attacker stood waiting to put the shot away. Their second was a once-in-a-season banger from 35 yards that nobody seemed to be prepared for. Lize Kop had an excellent match and kept us in the game for much of the second half, but I’d say her positioning may have allowed this shot to begin with.

It seemed Spurs were destined for a disappointing exit, but a last-minute set piece caused an attacking flurry, and in the midst of it all, Teyah Goldie put her arm up to seemingly intentionally deny a clear goalscoring opportunity. Beth England made no mistake with the penalty, and sent the game into extra time.

Both sides had good chances to find the winner in extra time, but neither did. In the end, it went to penalties. Spurs and London City took and scored eight quality penalties a piece, including one by Lize Kop herself, who is starting to make a habit out of scoring in penalty shootouts (she also scored one in our cup game against Aston Villa in the fall). Lize ultimately proved the hero, getting a palm to Wassa Sangaré’s penalty to deny her. The team rushed her, except for Spurs fan Tinka Tandberg, who charged into the stands to celebrate with the fans.

Thoughts

Despite sacking their very good manager and going on a less-than-stellar run of form, London City Lionesses are still very good, and they still have some real stars in their ranks. I expected to struggle with their wingers and the rest of their attack, and despite our newfound scoring boots against Aston Villa, I thought we might struggle to string together attacks. That last bit didn’t really prove out – we seemed perfectly capable of creating chances (especially in the first half), but struggled to put them away. Luckily, we created enough to cancel out what London City managed to put past Lize Kop.

It was a bit of a return to earth after the screaming highs of Aston Villa, but we did enough to get by against an equal team and that’s promising! For our troubles, we’ve secured the opportunity to face Chelsea in April in the quarter finals. This is… not the draw I would’ve hoped for, but I suppose stranger things have happened. Who knows what kind of shape and form either squad will be in by then.

The teams have now gone off to international break, and Spurs won’t play again until March 15th. This is one of the strange things about the WSL – if you’re not in the Champions League and you make an early exit from one of the cups, you can end up with long stretches of no games. I’ll be here providing international break updates in the meantime, and looking forward to our return to action against Everton on March 15th.

There are three truisms in the Champions League knockouts: 1) Manchester City will always draw Real Madrid whenever possible, 2) Arsenal will always end up with the easiest path to the finals, and 3) Tottenham Hotspur will always draw the more difficult from two scenarios. That’s pretty much what happened in this morning’s Champions League Round of 16 draw, which set not only the remaining teams’ immediate opponents, but also the bracket for the rest of the tournament.

Tottenham Hotspur knew they would face either Atletico Madrid or Galatasaray in the Round of 16. When asked I bet most Spurs fans would’ve said they preferred Gala, even if it meant playing against an in-form Victor Osimhen. Well guess what — they drew Atletico Madrid instead. Galatasaray will play on the other side of the bracket against Liverpool.

Atleti is a solid team, though definitely beatable. They’ve got some horses in Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth and the exciting Julian Alvarez, not to mention former Spurs target Nico Gonzalez and the somehow still animated corpse of Antoine Griezmann. Considering Spurs’ focus is likely going to be on staying in the Premier League this season you wonder whether Igor Tudor will do the Reverse-Ange to maximize Spurs’ chances of staying up. It’s not helped by the fact that Spurs are a walking M*A*S*H* unit. That said, Spurs have overachieved already in the Champions League, with a solid win over Dortmund and a 2-2 draw away at Bodø/Glimt that’s looking better and better every day. Would you be the one to write off Spurs in this matchup over two legs? I won’t be.

The good news is that Spurs ended up on the “easier” side of the bracket, and that brings me to the other two truisms. Manchester City did indeed draw a R16 matchup against Real Madrid, a pairing that feels as inevitable as the tides, and Arsenal have a relative cakewalk to the semifinals, first going up against a Bayer Leverkusen team that’s currently sixth in the Bundesliga, and then the winner of giant killers (non-Tottenham edition) Bodø/Glimt and Sporting Lisbon. The other side of the bracket includes City, Madrid, Liverpool, PSG, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich. (That said, this draw does set up what could be the funniest Bodø/Glimt upset over two legs of all time.)

Not that Tottenham’s path to Budapest is easy. Should they get past Atleti they’ll face the winner of Newcastle vs. Barcelona, and then (probably) Arsenal in the semifinals. Don’t book your tickets quite yet, is what I’m saying. But as far as matchups go, it’s a pretty tasty path. Atleti-Barca-Arsenal is both super scary and super fun, and if you’re going to win the Champions League you’ve gotta beat the best.