Major Tottenham Hotspur relegation wage cut update as Premier League drop threat looms

Tottenham Hotspur players face wage cuts of up to 50 per cent if they are relegated from the Premier League, talkSPORT understands.

Spurs are four points above the drop zone having failed to win a league game in 2026.

They are currently 16th, with West Ham and Nottingham Forest behind them.

And The Athletic’s David Ornstein is reporting that Spurs players face wage cuts of up to 50 per cent if they do go down this season.

They report this was a provision that was factored into some players’ deals before Daniel Levy‘s departure.

This was to protect the club in case they are indeed relegated to the Championship.

talkSPORT understands this doesn’t apply to every member of the squad, but it does to certain members.

Relegation clauses are designed to protect clubs financially with the loss of Premier League income.

Despite finishing 17th in the Premier League last year, Spurs still claimed nearly £128million in TV money.

Going into the Championship would see those funds massively slashed.

So, to avoid having to pay Premier League wages while being in the second tier of English football, some clubs introduce these clauses into contracts.

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Real danger

Igor Tudor has been brought in as interim manager to try and save Spurs this season.

He is known as a firefighter manager and has a contract until the end of the 2025/26 campaign.

However, he’s lost his first two Premier League games, and he has been warned that he faces the sack.

Spurs fans broadcaster Ricky Sacks told talkSPORT Breakfast: “Tudor’s come in to a battle where honestly, at the moment, I’m really unsure whether we’ve made the right decision.

“He was a firefighter, but he’s walked into Tottenham… I think he doesn’t realise until he’s got in there the actual mess the club is in.

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if another couple of defeats, they may look to change him.

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“I’m worried that in his first two games, he’s gone in and absolutely buried them.

“Don’t get me wrong, they probably deserve to be buried. But how is that productive in terms of trying to get results out of this group when you’re already decimated by injuries and you’ve only got 12, 13 players fit to work with?”

Tudor fumes

In the aftermath of the defeat to Fulham, Tudor questioned the effort from his players, as well as the officiating.

Spurs were furious when Harry Wilson’s goal was given after a push in the back from Raul Jimenez on Radu Dragusin.

It was a very similar scenario to Randal Kolo Muani’s goal that was ruled out the week before in the north London derby when the striker was deemed to have pushed Gabriel Magalhaes in the back.

On that occasion, it was given as a foul, but this time, it was confirmed by Premier League Match Centre that there wasn’t enough contact.

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On the decision to award the goal, Tudor said: “Of course it’s a foul,. Nine out of ten people will say it’s a foul, I believe, because it’s so obvious.

“Sometimes the criteria don’t have consistency. Last week what happened in our game against Arsenal, same thing.

“He (Jimenez) was not thinking about the ball, he was thinking how to cheat, so he cheated the player with pushing and they scored the goal. So it’s cheating and there’s the foul.”

Tudor added in his BBC Match of the Day interview: “I didn’t like the referee today, too much of a home team referee.

“I didn’t feel well with him. All the decisions were on their side. He doesn’t understand football, the feeling of what is wrong and what is right.”

He said: “It’s a complicated situation. A lot of problems. I cannot tell you nothing new. We need to find forces inside each of us. I said to the players. It’s always what you are going to do. What do you want to do with yourself? More personality. More wish to do before reacting. Plenty of things.

“We lack when we attack. We are lacking the quality to score the goal. We are lacking in the middle to run. We are lacking behind to stay there and suffer and not concede the goal. An amazing situation.

“The situation was complicated because we know how many players are coming back. One thing is that you have a complete team that you can choose.

“One situation is that you cannot choose because you need to choose the quality to score the goal. You need to have quality players to score the goal, otherwise you cannot defend all the time.

“But when you are in a bad moment, you put the players, but then you lack defending, running and winning the duels. So what to do? That’s the big question in the future. To choose what is right for this team. To find a formula, what we want to be, what we can be in this moment.

“So that’s very difficult to understand, because you get the quality, but also football is a sport of running and duels. I have a sensation that Fulham players always arrived before. Even with the brain, they arrived before us. They predict – we are always late.”

Next up for Spurs in the Premier League is the visit of Crystal Palace on Thursday night, and then they go to Liverpool on March 15.