LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur’s recent history of managerial churn, erratic recruitment and woeful home performances had the club spiralling towards a first relegation since 1977 but, amidst the wreckage, the hiring of Roberto de Zerbi as coach proved a masterstroke.
Even after a 1-0 win over Everton on the final day of the season on Sunday ensured Spurs’ Premier League survival, celebrations in the stands turned to chants against the club’s top brass after a second successive 17th-place finish.
One banner called for Chief Executive Vinai Venkatesham, Sports Director Johan Lange and owners ENIC to go.
But while the appointment of De Zerbi on March 31 appeared born out of desperation after the bizarre decision to replace Thomas Frank with interim manager Igor Tudor had backfired in spectacular fashion, it certainly paid off.
The Italian former Brighton & Hove Albion manager arrived with the London club in deep trouble and hope running out.
But the 46-year-old galvanised the squad, instilled some positivity and gathered 11 points form his seven games at the helm to win the relegation battle with West Ham United.
To put that into perspective, Tottenham had taken five points from the 13 games before his arrival.
Perhaps by accident, Spurs may have stumbled on the man to try and reverse a seven-year decline since the club reached the Champions League final in 2019.
Five permanent managers have come and gone in that period with a net spend of 850 million euros ($989.57 million) in player signings — many of whom have become expensive flops.
De Zerbi has a huge job to change Tottenham’s trajectory but at least he will continue it as a Premier League manager rather than planning for trips to Lincoln City and Wrexham.
DE ZERBI’S SURVIVAL MISSION COMPLETE
After the survival mission was completed on Sunday with a glass of red wine, the Italian spoke of his pride at how his injury-hit squad had responded to the crisis.
However, he stressed there was no time to waste to ensure that Spurs never find themselves in a position defender Micky van de Ven described as “embarrassing” again.
“I think we deserve to stay up, because we made 11 points in seven games and we deserved more,” said De Zerbi.
“From tonight, we have to start to organise and to build the new team. I don’t think we have to change too many players. We have 10, 11, 12 players good enough to stay. But first we must complete the squad with first-level players.
“We suffered too much. I suffered a lot, the players suffered a lot and the fans. We can’t suffer like this until the last second of the last game to stay up.
“The target to stay up is finished. My target now is to start the pre-season with the team I have in my dream.”
De Zerbi praised the long-suffering Tottenham fans who stood in massed ranks to greet the team bus on Sunday before a game that could have had calamitous consequences had it gone wrong.
“Next season the target is to make them happier than this season for sure,” he said. “I would like to compete, I don’t know for what, but stop suffering like this.”
The post Spurs stay up after De Zerbi arrives in the nick of time first appeared on Fastbreak.
