Igor Tudor's sacking and the fate of relegation-threatened Spurs

Tottenham in Premier League relegation crisis: Igor Tudor departs after 44 days, Spurs battle Nottingham Forest and West Ham to avoid the drop.

With Igor Tudor's departure from Tottenham after only 41 days in charge comes a reign of uncertainties and a big relegation fight. Where do Spurs go from here? (Photo credit Sky Sports)

With the international break winding down and Tottenham fans returning to their misery, you wonder where their mind is at, considering how short a time they have to salvage their season.

It's been long coming. They escaped relegation last season simply because the trio of Southampton, Leicester City, and Ipswich Town didn't mount a credible fight. Winning the Europa League papered over the cracks; however, you can look at their opponents on the night to have a sense of how it happened.

When Igor Tudor was hired to lead Tottenham out of the doldrums, the reception was indifferent. It felt like the hierarchy at Spurs probably thought the team was good enough to still claim something respectable; they could have gone for someone else.

Thomas Frank was not the right hire in the first place; fixing the error that Frank led Spurs to was a bigger mistake. Tudor came in to fight the fire that looked like a consuming one; he opted to use gasoline instead of water.

Tottenham could have looked in the direction of a pragmatic manager who steadies the ship and helps them out of trouble. With the announcement that Igor Tudor has departed, Tottenham will now enter the run-in in the murky waters of relegation.

Leeds United looks like the side that will comfortably survive the drop. West Ham has a manager who could be their X-factor; however, it's beginning to look like a straight battle between Nottingham Forest and Tottenham.

We have seen enough over the last two decades that no one is too big to go down. Leicester won the league title and went down three seasons afterwards. Leeds United were a force back in the day; they went down and couldn't return until over two decades later.

Tottenham could well be playing Championship football with their beautiful stadium next season. They will lose lots of players as they won't be able to cope financially. The thought of Spurs' relegation is scary, but it's becoming possible with each passing day.