Tottenham CEO Vinai Venkatesham has opened up on Spurs’ plans following their relegation scare in the 2025/26 season, and on how the Lilywhites’ early struggles this campaign left him frustrated.

Tottenham Hotspur have endured a difficult two years in the Premier League, finishing just one place above the relegation zone in back-to-back seasons.

Last season was particularly concerning for Spurs, as they came very close to relegation and needed a final-day victory over Everton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to secure their Premier League status.

A defeat on that day, and Tottenham would have found themselves in the Championship, relegated for the first time in the Premier League era.

Tottenham CEO Vinai Venkatesham reveals club prepared for relegation

Spurs CEO Vinai Venkatesham has now revealed the effect that being in a relegation scrap last season had on the club.

The Tottenham executive described it as a traumatic experience, one that even had the club preparing for the possibility of actual relegation ahead of the 2026/27 season.

In his own words, failing to prepare for such an outcome would have been irresponsible.

Speaking on The Sports Agents, he said: “It was, you know, really challenging. A really, really, really challenging period for the club.

“Yeah, you have to [prepare for relegation]. I mean, you can’t not. I mean, to not make that plan would have been irresponsible… Sometimes going through something as traumatic as we went through last season bonds people a little bit and also puts even more fire in everybody’s belly to make sure that something like that can never happen again.”

Venkatesham admits frustration at Spurs’ slow start

Following the relegation scare, Tottenham did look to take action and improve their squad in the summer transfer window. They did so by spending close to £400 million on recruits, with ten new faces coming through the door at Spurs.

However, that in itself did not prove to be a quick fix, as Tottenham struggled early in the season, failing to win their first six league games, a run that left them in the bottom three.

And while that has turned around, with Spurs now winning three matches on the bounce, Venkatesham admitted that the poor start left him frustrated.

He added: “The start of the season, what would I say? So, it was frustrating. I wasn’t worried, but I was definitely frustrated… Did we think we were going to make this many changes and everything would gel straight away? Of course we didn’t. But did we think we’d be hovering around the position of the league that we were in the international break? Of course we didn’t either.”