'We didn't run out of time... We wasted it'

[BBC]

[Getty Images]

Time is a resource that has intrigued humans for millennia. We fight against it every second of the day. Some try to buy more of it, while others chase it through sweat and self-discipline. Right now, Tottenham fans would do almost anything for a sliver more.

As 2025 turned into 2026, the boardroom at Spurs refused to panic. There were five months of the season to go, plenty of time. "No need to panic," they told us. Relegation was not even a line on the emergency procedure leaflet handed out to new starters.

So they sat and they watched as Thomas Frank burned through game after game. Eventually they acted, but Igor Tudor opened the window and let more drift away. Finally, the double act of Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange, perhaps the biggest wasters of time in our recent history, acted. But it seems, sadly, the damage had already been done.

Our decision-makers may finally have found a manager capable of saving us, but it is too late. Roberto de Zerbi appears to have given us lift, but the runway is too short. We are not going to make it.

In a modern Premier League where every club has money and reach, we took our place for granted. Just because something always has been does not mean it always will be.

History is littered with the fall of dynasties. Even ones as modestly successful as ours needed care and direction over time to maintain it. Nothing, no matter how strong, is immune to decline.

While those around us evolved and adapted, our club clung to the past, mistaking familiarity for stability. I do not stand alone in this sadness. Our fanbase is filled with melancholy and disbelief. All year our managers and board have referenced boats and tankers. Well, congratulations, it has finally sunk.

The performance, the fight, even the point against Brighton were hard-earned. But letting two points slip only reinforces the feeling that it is too little, too late.

There are five games left, but our biggest opponent is time, and there is no way we can beat that.

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