Gary Neville has suggested that Tottenham Hotspur’s relegation would be a “very good thing for the Premier League”. Spurs have nine league games remaining and are in a precarious situation, just one point above the relegation zone.
The Lilywhites’ performance plummeted further under interim head coach Igor Tudor, who suffered defeats in his first four games at the helm. The pressure has increased on the former Juventus and Lazio manager following Tuesday’s 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
Tudor is now poised to lead his side into a match against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, with Tottenham potentially slipping into the bottom three by then if West Ham and Nottingham Forest win their previous games.
Former Manchester United defender turned pundit Neville shared his thoughts on the Overlap podcast, expressing his belief that Spurs could benefit England’s top tier as they face relegation.
He said: “I refuse to predict relegation. I didn’t want to see the club sink.”
“But I have to admit that it would not be good for Tottenham fans to see Tottenham lose and I think Tottenham are a great club, but from a competitive point of view and the idea that Leeds survive, Sunderland survive, it would be very good for the Premier League.”
“What I was more worried about at the beginning of the season was that all the clubs that were coming up were going to go straight back down again.
“I don’t think Tottenham necessarily needs to go down in the Premier League, but other clubs that are going up need to go down as well.
“It would be sad to see it go down, but maybe they were expecting it.”
Despite expressing his thoughts on the possibility of Spurs being relegated to the Championship, the 51-year-old does not expect such a scenario to play out for the Lilywhites.
He added: “I don’t think they’re going to go down. If you’re going to make more changes, for me it’s probably going to be today or tomorrow, because you don’t wait.”
