With Tottenham fighting for Premier League survival heading into the final day, a grim reality has set in: relegation is not unlikely. In an attempt to ease our nerves, we have now identified every relegation battle in Tottenham’s history and traced exactly how each one ended.The football world has watched in disbelief as Tottenham Hotspur, a club that graced the 2019 Champions League final, now finds itself scrapping to avoid the drop. The club currently sits in 17th place in the Premier League, just two points above 18th-placed West Ham, and the question on every Spurs fan’s mind is simple: how did we get here? More importantly, have we been here before?The short answer is yes. Tottenham have stared into the abyss on multiple occasions throughout the club’s long history. Some battles ended in survival, others in the unthinkable. As we navigate this current crisis, it’s worth looking back at the times we’ve faced similar fights and understanding what happened when the pressure was at its most intense.Credit: @thefrederikkejensen / Instagram1914-15: Bottom of the First Division, then World War I changed everythingThe first time Tottenham faced a genuine relegation battle came in the 1914-15 season, and it didn’t end well. Tottenham finished bottom of the league at the end of the 1914–15 season when league football was suspended owing to the First World War. Manager Peter McWilliam’s early record had been poor, and by the time war broke out, Spurs were in 20th place out of 20 teams.What makes this relegation particularly controversial is what happened next. When football resumed after World War I in 1919, the First Division was expanded from 20 to 22 clubs. Arsenal, who had finished fifth in the 1914/15 Second Division, were elected to the expanded First Division at the expense of Tottenham, who had finished bottom of the top flight in 1914/15. Yes, you read that right: our north London rivals were given our spot in the top flight despite finishing fifth in the second tier. The controversy around that decision has never quite faded.Still, Spurs responded with typical determination. Spurs were relegated to the Second Division on the resumption of league football after the war, but quickly returned to the First Division as Second Division champions of the 1919–20 season. We didn’t just bounce back; we won the division. That immediate return set the tone for what would become a golden period under McWilliam, culminating in an FA Cup victory in 1921 and a second-place league finish in 1922.1927-28: McWilliam’s departure and Spurs’ relegation to 21st placeAfter McWilliam left the club, Spurs struggled to maintain the standards he had set. The 1927-28 season brought another relegation, though the circumstances were quite different from 1915. Tottenham Hotspur finished in 21st place, with Middlesbrough finishing bottom in 22nd, both teams being relegated from the First Division.This wasn’t a dramatic final-day escape or a heroic near-miss. It was a season-long struggle that reflected deeper problems within the club. Without McWilliam’s guidance, Tottenham had lost their way, and the drop to Division Two felt inevitable by the time it arrived.The silver lining? We didn’t panic. The club maintained a steady course, and promotion came in 1933 when Tottenham finished as Division Two runners-up. However, this wouldn’t be the last time we’d see the second tier in the 1930s.1934-35: A brief Tottenham return to First Division ends at the bottomAfter just two seasons back in the First Division, Tottenham were relegated again in 1935. Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur were relegated, with Spurs finishing bottom of the first division in 22nd place, dead last. This relegation marked the beginning of what would become nearly two decades of struggle.This was particularly painful because it marked the beginning of a long exile from the top flight. For most of the 1930s and 40s, Spurs languished in the Second Division, apart from a brief return to the top flight in the 1933–34 and 1934–35 seasons. The club wouldn’t return to the First Division until 1950, though World War II meant no competitive football was played from 1939 to 1946.When we finally did come back up in 1950, it was in style: Arthur Rowe’s famous ‘push and run’ team won the Second Division title and then followed it up by winning the First Division championship in 1951. That triumph proved that sometimes the darkest periods can precede the greatest glory.1976-77: Tottenham relegation, the last time we actually went downThe 1976-77 season marked Spurs’ most recent relegation from the top flight. This relegation, coming nearly 50 years ago, still haunts older Spurs fans because of how preventable it felt.Spurs finished bottom of the league in 22nd place, having managed to put just 33 points on the board from 42 games. We lost 21 matches that season and had the worst defensive record in the division. It was a collapse that seemed unthinkable for a club that had been in the UEFA Cup final just three years earlier in 1974.The nadir came on 7 May 1977, when Tottenham Hotspur’s first relegation since 1935 was virtually guaranteed after the Londoners were thrashed 5–0 at Manchester City. That result effectively sealed our fate, and confirmation came a week later when other results went against us.What made this relegation particularly difficult to accept was the quality in the squad. Managed by Keith Burkinshaw, Spurs actually boasted a formidable squad, with talent such as Pat Jennings in goal, Glenn Hoddle in midfield and rising star Gerry Armstrong in attack. Steve Perryman, who would become the club’s all-time appearance maker, was also in the team. On paper, we should never have gone down.But here’s where the story gets better: we came straight back up. Keith Burkinshaw, the manager of Spurs who had taken them down in the 1976-77 season, was given the opportunity to put that right, something that wouldn’t happen in today’s game. Tottenham finished third in Division Two in 1977-78 and won promotion back to the First Division for the 1978-79 season.More importantly, Burkinshaw was allowed to build something special. The club signed Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa, those legendary Argentines who would help deliver FA Cup triumphs in 1981 and 1982, and a UEFA Cup in 1984. The relegation of 1976-77, painful as it was, set the stage for one of the most romantic periods in the club’s history.1993-94: The Premier League’s first Tottenham relegation close callSince the formation of the Premier League in 1992, Tottenham have been one of six clubs to compete in every single season without suffering relegation. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t had scares. The 1993-94 season remains the closest we’ve come.In the 1993–94 season, Sheringham’s injury in October 1993 impacted on Spurs’ performance, and relegation became a real possibility. In the end, the club managed a 15th-place finish, its survival only guaranteed by a win in the penultimate game of the season. That 15th-place finish remained our lowest in the Premier League era, at least until last season’s 17th-place horror show and this season’s current predicament.The key difference between 1994 and now is that in 1994, we never actually entered the relegation zone. We flirted with danger, but we didn’t fall into the abyss. This season is different. This is the first time in 49 years that Spurs have been this close to the relegation zone this deep into a season (after 33+ league games), since being relegated from the top flight in 1976-77.Credit: @thefrederikkejensen / Instagram2024-25: Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham finish 17th but safe from relegationLast season should have been the wake-up call. Since the beginning of the Premier League era, Spurs’ poorest season came under Postecoglou in 2024/25, when they finished in 17th place in the table, with 38 points from 38 games. We were safe on points, but the form was wretched throughout the campaign. The one bright spot was winning the Europa League final against Manchester United, ending a 17-year trophy drought.But here’s the thing: we didn’t learn from it. Instead of viewing 17th place as the alarm bell it should have been, the club seemed to treat the Europa League triumph as validation that everything was fine. It wasn’t fine. The underlying problems that led to that dismal league campaign were never properly addressed. Postecoglou was sacked in June 2025, and Roberto De Zerbi was brought in for the 2025-26 season, but now we’re paying the price for years of systemic issues.What do Tottenham do now that Premier League survival is genuinely at stake?This current relegation battle under Roberto De Zerbi feels different from anything in the Premier League era because the stakes are so much higher. Tottenham would be the biggest club to go down since Leeds in 2003-04 and relegation led to a financial meltdown at Elland Road and the mass exodus of players. The financial implications alone are staggering, never mind the sporting humiliation.History tells us that Tottenham have always bounced back from relegation, but history also tells us that bouncing back isn’t guaranteed to be quick or painless. We spent 15 years in Division Two between 1935 and 1950. We’ve been fortunate that our other relegations led to immediate promotion, but there’s no law of football that says it must happen that way.The patterns from our past relegation battles are instructive. In 1915, 1928, and 1935, we had systemic problems that weren’t addressed until after we went down. In 1976-77, we had the talent but something was broken in how the team functioned. Right now, in 2026, we have both problems: systemic issues at the club level and a squad that, on paper, should be nowhere near the relegation zone.Being in 17th place with one game left provides Tottenham with their destiny in their own hands. Sitting two points above the relegation zone with a superior goal difference, a win or even a draw in the final match against Everton would secure safety. It is a situation any club would want to have if presented with a relegation battle. That’s the small mercy in all this: survival is still achievable. We don’t need miracles from other teams; we need to take care of our own business.But make no mistake, this is the most serious relegation threat in the Premier League era, and it’s happening to a club that shouldn’t be anywhere near this position. The question isn’t just whether we’ll survive this season; it’s whether we’ll learn from it if we do. Because if we somehow escape and then fail to address the deeper problems, we’ll be right back here soon enough. And next time, we might not be so lucky.READ MORE: Roberto De Zerbi reveals mood inside Spurs camp ahead of final relegation battleThe post Every time Tottenham have been in a relegation battle and where they finished appeared first on Spurs Web.