EXCLUSIVE: Tottenham told to get back to 'real football' by club legend

Cameron Smith

Updated: 23 Mar 2026 07:38 CDT
4 min read

Tottenham Hotspur legend Chris Waddle has urged his former club to start “looking at the real game of football” as they stare down the barrel of a potential relegation to the Championship.

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The north London giants suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon and the result leaves them just one point outside of the relegation zone after 13 consecutive Premier League matches without a win.

Spurs haven’t claimed a single victory in the English top flight in 2026 and interim manager Igor Tudor is under immense pressure to turn results around following an extremely underwhelming start to his temporary tenure at the club.

Speaking to FootballTransfers on behalf of 10bet - who offer football betting online - Waddle revealed his dissatisfaction at his former club’s performance on Sunday.

“It shouldn't be happening at a club that size,” the ex-England midfielder said. “Listen, the good thing is it’s now the international break so they will hopefully get two or three players back from injury.

“I'm not saying these players are that good that they're going to change the format and how the results are going to go. I'm not saying they're that good, but if you've got a better squad and a stronger squad, it does help you with selection choice.

“As we saw yesterday against Nottingham Forest, they were way behind, well off the pace. They played two up front, which I was very surprised by. It looks positive, I suppose, but they were just second best all over the park and their energy levels were very, very poor.”

Tottenham urged to change transfer strategy

Goals from Igor Jesus, Morgan Gibbs-White and Taiwo Awoniyi condemned Tottenham to their sixth defeat in their last seven Premier League matches, and Waddle believes the club must change their current transfer strategy during the upcoming summer window if they are able to avoid relegation.

“Tottenham have always been brought up on a tradition of a flair club, an entertaining club. You can entertain and win trophies; Man City have done this, Liverpool did it last year and won the title by scoring goals and being exciting. But, it's about time Tottenham bought established players who are ready-made and at their peak instead of going down this lane of buying potential,” the former England international, who made a total of 173 appearances across a four-year spell at Spurs, admitted.

“Some [signings] have worked, some haven't, but it means the team is going to be inconsistent. If you look at Man City, they are buying players who are ready. They'll have some youth players who are good enough to get through that system and get into the team, so you can have young players, but you look at Man City and they’ve bought Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo, who have been very consistent footballers over the last two years or even probably a little bit longer.

© IMAGO - Man City signed Marc Guehi during the January transfer window

“They bought Bernardo Silva, they bought Erling Haaland - players at the top of their game. They're not going: ‘We'll buy these and see what happens’.

“Tottenham have got to go down this lane, like Arsenal do now. Arsenal are the same, they're linked with Sandro Tonali, a player who is consistent, playing week-in, week-out, an international at the top of his game.

“Tottenham don't do this. They buy players who could become a good player in two years’ time. It's about time Tottenham started looking at the real game of football.”

Waddle continued: “They've got the best stadium in the world, they've got one of the best training grounds in the world. They've got everything going for them. They've got boxing, concerts, NFL, rugby. You can’t tell me this club isn’t making money, but they've got to actually start looking and thinking: ‘We need to spend money if we want to be Tottenham Hotspur.’

“The fans deserve it, they go there every week, home and away, they sell that stadium out all the time, and what they're seeing, to be perfectly honest, you might as well sit at home and watch EastEnders.”

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