Biggest drop in Premier League history? The scale of a Spurs relegation

If Tottenham are relegated from the Premier League it will be one of the biggest stories in the competition's history.

For all the analysis of what has gone wrong to leave Spurs in this perilous position, the sheer scale of the club makes a possible demotion to the second tier hard to comprehend...

Squad cost

Tottenham have the sixth most valuable squad in the Premier League. Yet, here they are, 17th in the table. Back where they finished last season - but this time in real danger of the drop.

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The £747.8m combined valuation of Spurs players is so far in excess of the squad cost of other sides battling relegation it will leave fans questioning whether their players are really worth such astronomical figures.

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It's no surprise they are the biggest underperformers when that ranking is stacked against league position.

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Wages

When it comes to value for money, it's also worth noting Spurs rank seventh in the Premier League for wages paid, according to Capology.

Their gross annual payroll for this season is estimated at £136.8m - that's £49.3m more than Nottingham Forest and £62.6m more than West Ham, two teams they are battling with for top-flight survival.

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If Spurs were relegated, the below chart hints at the enormity of cost-cutting they may have to undergo.

Currently their wage bill is more than three times that of the most highly-paid Championship squad - Leicester City.

Their new boss Roberto De Zerbi doesn't have a relegation release clause in his contract.

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Transfer spending

The transfer market is another big point of difference between where Spurs are and where they could be headed.

They spent almost as much in the two transfer windows this season as the entirety of the Championship combined.

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Spurs' transfer spending over the past five seasons is equivalent to 67 per cent of transfer fees paid by the three teams relegated (or currently in the relegation zone) combined across those seasons.

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Revenue and debt

Tottenham ranked ninth across Europe in the Deloitte Money League 2026.

Their revenue for the 2024/25 season was 672.6m Euros - that was £565m at the exchange rate in January when the report was published - placing Spurs just behind Man Utd and ahead of fellow heavyweights Chelsea and Inter Milan.

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Championship clubs had a combined revenue of £958m for the 2023/24 season, although that figure fluctuates substantially season-on-season depending on which clubs are in the league.

Spurs also had a net debt of £772m in June 2024, which was mainly made up of loans used to finance the building of their stadium.

Championship net debt in 23/24 was £1.5bn.

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Stadium size

Image: The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

'Tottenham away, ole, ole,' sang Lincoln City fans gleefully last month. The prospect of the Imps going to Spurs' £1bn stadium as Championship rivals next season has frequently been noted to highlight the enormity of Tottenham's potential tumble out of the top flight.

But perhaps it would be the reverse match which would really underline the point - Lincoln's LNER Stadium can host 10,130 fans in contrast to the 62,850 capacity at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It's a world away from the venues Spurs' multi-millionaire footballers are used to playing at.

The smallest stadium in the Championship right now is Oxford United's Kassam Stadium, with a 12,500 capacity.

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Season ticket prices

A change of league could also hit Spurs in the pocket when it comes to what they could charge for tickets.

Adult season tickets this season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium cost between £856 and £2,223.

At Championship side QPR you could get a season ticket for £262.

Training ground

When it comes to facilities, the magnificent Spurs training centre is another point of contrast. The state-of-the-art venue, which boasts its own on-site accommodation, cost £45m to build and opened in 2012.

If you adjust that for inflation that is the equivalent of £65.6m - dwarfing the £10m Championship side Stoke City spent on their training ground which opened in February 2026.

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Honours

So would Tottenham be the biggest team ever to be relegated from the Premier League?

While their finances would suggest so, there may be other clubs rivalling them for that unwanted accolade when it comes to honours.

The below table shows the number of titles a team had when they were first relegated from the Premier League.

Seven-time champions of England Aston Villa went down in 2016.

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If Spurs were to drop, last season's Europa League triumph means they would be the first side to go down having won the Champions League or Europa League (European Cup/UEFA Cup) on three occasions.

Leeds and Huddersfield have also been relegated from the Premier League and have both won more league titles than Spurs (three each).

Social media following

In the modern world, we can also measure the size of a club by their social media following.

Spurs have almost 10 million more followers on Instagram than the Championship's most-followed club Leicester City.

The Foxes account for a major chunk of the 18.67 million followers of Championship clubs combined on that platform, which only just surpasses the 17.38 million who follow Spurs.

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Counting the cost for Spurs...

Relegation from the Premier League would be a big hit to the prestige of Tottenham Hotspur. As the figures above show, they are a behemoth of English football in so many areas.

But their enormity would also mean a drop to the Championship would hit them substantially on the balance sheet.

Relegation would cost around £100m.

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Unless they win the Champions League, they will be substantially worse off for not playing in Europe's elite club competition. They pocketed £45.5m in prize money alone this season for reaching the last-16, with broadcast revenue to be added to that figure.

Will attendances remain as strong in the second tier? Currently, 22 per cent of Spurs' income is from matchday revenue.

They would receive a Premier League parachute payment of around £50m, though, if they spend one season in the Championship.

The figures across the board are enormous - and highlight the scale of a potential relegation for Spurs.

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