Tottenham’s long road back to momentum: three turbulent years that reshaped club and sport

It has been 1,108 days since Tottenham Hotspur last won four Premier League matches in succession – a sequence they have the chance to match this weekend when they travel to Elland Road to face Leeds United.

Not since the opening months of Ange Postecoglou’s tenure have Spurs put together a run of more than three league victories, a feat they managed twice between August and October 2023 on either side of a north London derby draw. That burst briefly propelled Tottenham into the title conversation and underlined the impact of their new head coach.

During that 2023-24 campaign, Spurs won eight of their first 10 Premier League fixtures and moved five points clear at the top of the table, despite losing record goalscorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich the previous summer. They ultimately finished fifth, missing out on the UEFA Champions League but re-establishing themselves as a side capable of competing towards the upper reaches of the division.

As they look now to rediscover that kind of momentum, the past three years have brought sweeping change not only for Tottenham but across football and the wider sporting landscape. Here, GlobalHeadlinez Sport looks at how the period since Spurs last won four league games on the bounce has redefined the club’s direction, altered their competitive outlook and coincided with major shifts elsewhere in sport and politics.

Changing world, changing game

Beyond the boundaries of the pitch, the same period has coincided with significant institutional upheaval in global politics and within the Catholic Church, underlining how quickly the context around elite sport can move.

In May 2025, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV. While he is reported to be a Real Madrid supporter, his early months in office have already intersected with European football culture: he was presented with a Sunderland shirt bearing the name “Pope Leo, 14” on the back ahead of the English club’s Europa League campaign.

The gesture followed a similar moment in 2013, when Sunderland’s club chaplain, Father Marc Lyden-Smith, gave a shirt to then-Pope Francis before the Black Cats’ derby victory over Newcastle United. These small details underline how football’s reach extends into religious and political institutions and how clubs leverage such moments to strengthen identity, visibility and commercial narratives.

Donald Trump is currently serving his second term as President of the United States

AFP/Getty

Global politics reshaped around sport

Donald Trump returns to the White House

In November 2024, Donald Trump was re-elected President of the United States, defeating Democratic candidate and former vice-president Kamala Harris. His victory restored him to the White House four years after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, which had ended his first spell in office that began after his win over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

For sport, stability and clarity in US leadership matters: American policy influences major event hosting, international broadcasting rights and cross-border investment in clubs and competitions. With the United States a key market for football’s global growth, any change in administration can affect scheduling, commercial strategy and the game’s long-term positioning in North America.

Labour back in power in the UK

On the other side of the Atlantic, the Labour Party returned to government in July 2024 as Sir Keir Starmer became UK Prime Minister after 14 years of Conservative rule. Despite securing a landslide election victory, Starmer resigned in July 2026 and was replaced by Andy Burnham. The UK has now had five Prime Ministers in the last five years, a churn that indirectly impacts sport through shifting policy on infrastructure, taxation and public spending.

For English football clubs, such volatility frames decisions around stadium financing, community investment and regulation. With the Premier League operating as a separate corporate entity but subject to domestic law and policy, the relationship between club executives and government can shape how governance and oversight evolve in the coming seasons.

Post-Levy Tottenham and the cost of instability

End of the Levy era

Within Tottenham itself, one of the most consequential changes came in September 2025, when Daniel Levy stepped down as executive chairman, bringing to a close his 25-year spell at the helm of the club.

Non-executive chairman Peter Charrington heralded his exit as “a new era of leadership for the club”, a phrase that captured both the expectation and uncertainty that followed. In practice, the immediate aftermath proved deeply challenging: Spurs endured their worst Premier League season and only narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship on the final day.

Daniel Levy spent 25 years at Tottenham before leaving the club in September 2025

PA Wire

Trophy relief followed by relegation fear

Ironically, the club’s modern nadir came just a year after one of its most significant recent highs. Twelve months on from lifting the Europa League – Tottenham’s first major trophy in 17 years – Spurs found themselves dragged into a relegation battle.

They would have gone down had they not edged past Everton 1-0 at home on the final day of the season, a nervy win that preserved their place in the top flight. That great escape came courtesy of a decisive goal from loanee Joao Palhinha and highlighted how quickly fortunes can swing in a league where fine margins separate European qualification from a drop into the Championship.

For supporters, the contrast between continental success and domestic struggle has underlined the importance of long-term squad planning, coherent recruitment and managerial continuity. For the club’s hierarchy, it has sharpened the focus on meeting the financial and competitive demands baked into the Premier League’s structure, where relegation carries serious revenue and status consequences.

Three managers in 10 months

Managerial upheaval compounded those pressures. Tottenham’s decision to dismiss Ange Postecoglou only 16 days after he led them to Europa League glory over Manchester United in Bilbao was always likely to divide opinion. What followed turned a bold reset into a case study in instability.

Across the next season, Spurs cycled through three managers in 10 months. Thomas Frank was hired as Postecoglou’s successor but was sacked in February 2026 with the team hovering above the relegation zone. Igor Tudor replaced him but lasted just 44 days before he too departed, prompting the club to turn to Roberto De Zerbi to guide them to safety.

In competitive terms, that level of churn disrupted tactical identity, dressing-room clarity and longer-term recruitment plans. In governance terms, it underlined how ownership and boardroom decision-making feed directly into performance: frequent changes can satisfy short-term pressure but usually come at the cost of cohesion and sustained form.

Rivals and neighbours: West Ham’s rapid descent

From European triumph to second tier

Just across London, West Ham United’s own trajectory in the same period has been no less dramatic. In the space of three years, the Hammers moved from winning the Europa Conference League to being relegated to the Championship.

The club failed to build on their first major trophy in 43 years, undermined by a combination of poor recruitment decisions, managerial turnover and uncertainty over ownership. After 14 consecutive seasons in the Premier League, they eventually slipped back to the second tier.

For Tottenham, West Ham’s fall has been a stark reminder of how quickly stability can evaporate in England’s top division. The experiences of both clubs demonstrate how missteps in transfer strategy and leadership can drag established sides into trouble, even with significant stadium revenues and sizeable fanbases.

New faces at the top of global sport

Luke Littler’s rapid rise in darts

While Spurs have battled inconsistency, other areas of British sport have been transformed by the emergence of new superstars. In darts, Luke Littler became a breakout name when, at just 16, he embarked on a remarkable debut run to the World Championship final at Alexandra Palace in January 2024.

Since then, Littler has gone on to claim back-to-back world titles and establish himself as the dominant player in the sport while still a teenager. His rise has had clear commercial and competitive implications: household-name recognition at such a young age boosts ticket sales, broadcast interest and participation levels, particularly among younger fans who see a pathway from grassroots to elite competition.

Luke Littler is a back-to-back world champion and one of British sport’s biggest names

AFP/Getty

Kimi Antonelli rewrites F1 history

In motorsport, another teenage prodigy has reshaped expectations. Kimi Antonelli has risen from relative obscurity to the summit of Formula One over the past three years, assembling a record-breaking campaign that has re-set age markers in the sport.

Antonelli has become the youngest winner of the Monaco Grand Prix and the youngest driver ever to complete a Grand Slam – securing pole position, race victory, fastest lap and leading every lap in a single Grand Prix. He is also the first Italian in more than 60 years to be crowned world champion, a landmark that carries particular resonance in a country synonymous with F1 through its manufacturers, circuits and fan culture.

His achievements have competitive and commercial echo: a new champion from a traditional motorsport heartland helps refresh the grid’s hierarchy and anchors long-term interest in a key market for teams, sponsors and the sport’s governing structures.

Tennis turns the page on a golden era

Murray and Nadal step away

Men’s tennis has also entered a new chapter in this three-year span. Sir Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal retired within months of each other, leaving Novak Djokovic as the last active member of the ‘Big Four’ generation that dominated the early 21st century.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Murray called time on his career in August 2024, bringing to a close a journey that transformed British expectations in Grand Slam tennis. Nadal, a 22-time major winner and the defining force at Roland Garros, followed in October of the same year. Their departures came not long after Roger Federer’s retirement in September 2022.

Collectively, those exits mark the end of an era that shaped the ATP Tour’s global appeal, commercial deals and scheduling. For emerging players, the draw has opened: ranking points, titles and endorsement opportunities are being redistributed as the sport adapts to a landscape no longer dominated by a small group of icons.

Heavyweight boxing refuses to stand still

Tyson Fury’s latest return

Boxing, a sport long accustomed to dramatic twists, has continued to be shaped by Tyson Fury’s fluctuating status. Fans had already become familiar with his retirement reversals by the time he announced for the fourth time last year that he was stepping away from the ring.

That decision persuaded few and, within months, Fury confirmed yet another comeback. He returned for a fifth, and described as surely final, time in April 2026, beating Russian heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov by unanimous decision in his first bout back.

Fury has since also defeated Mariusz Wach in Thailand and is now preparing for a high-profile meeting with Anthony Joshua in Cardiff in December. For the heavyweight division, his presence continues to drive event-scale nights that shape broadcasting calendars, venue demand and the economic footprint of major fight weeks.

Leeds away and the search for a new Tottenham identity

All of this forms the backdrop to a deceptively simple target for Spurs this weekend: win at Leeds and secure a first run of four consecutive Premier League victories in more than three years.

On the surface, that is a statistical curiosity. In reality, it is a measure of how far Tottenham have drifted from the rhythm they briefly found under Postecoglou in late 2023. For a club that has experienced a European trophy, a brush with relegation, a change of long-serving chairman and three managers in 10 months, stringing together league wins is now less about optics and more about rebuilding a sustainable competitive platform.

In a league designed to reward consistency and punish misjudgement, and at a time when global sport is being reshaped by new champions, political realignments and institutional change, an autumn afternoon at Elland Road offers Spurs a chance to start writing a steadier chapter in a period defined by upheaval.