Harry Kane's role in Tottenham's demise explained by relegation-haunted star of Spurs' last tumble out of the top-flight in 1977

England captain Kane helped Spurs to League Cup and Champions League finals while finding the target on 280 occasions for the club that handed him his big break. Major silverware did, however, prove elusive as grass began to look greener elsewhere.

A big-money transfer to Bayern Munich was completed in 2023, with Kane maintaining remarkable individual standards with the German giants while becoming a Bundesliga title winner.

The spark that Kane once provided is being badly missed at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Ange Postecoglou did deliver Europa League glory in 2025, ending a 17-year barren run on the trophy front, but Spurs have moved through Thomas Frank and onto interim head coach Igor Tudor over the course of 10 largely forgettable months.

Just two places and one point separate them from the Premier League drop zone at present. Micky Stead knows how it feels to suffer relegation, having done so alongside the likes of Glenn Hoddle and Pat Jennings in 1977, and has told football.london of the challenges being faced by the class of 2025-26: “I'm gutted for them really. The players will be disappointed. Everyone's disappointed. I don't think we've had the vision to grow the club. We've got everything. We've got the stadium, we've got the training facilities, we've got the scouting but you look at what happened with Harry Kane.

“He's gone to Germany, and this is his third season there. Why couldn't Spurs keep him? Because he wanted to win something, so he must have known. He's scoring goals for fun there and could have been doing that in the Premier League. It's just a lot of changes at Spurs.”

Stead added on inconsistency that saw Spurs finish 17th last season, with those domestic struggles ultimately costing Postecoglou his job: “When you're going through a hard time, it's difficult to get the breaks, so everything breaks against you.

“Look at Liverpool this season. They go to Wolves on a bit of a bad run and they get beat. But then look at West Ham. They've had a few good results, and all of a sudden they look like they could get out of it.”

It has been nearly 40 years since Tottenham last lost their standing among English football’s elite, with Stead saying of how that humbling fall from grace feels: “You feel sick to your stomach, I tell you. If you make a mistake, you're absolutely sick.

“No matter how your team-mates try and help you out and tell you 'don't worry,' and 'keep going', you're absolutely gutted. You're a young boy, playing in that team. If you're playing with a lot of confidence, you're a better player than when you ain't. You can see that even in really top-class players. Once they get affected by a bit of pressure and they're not confident, they're not the same.”

Spurs, who also saw Heung-min Son depart last summer, are lacking players that boast the kind of unshakable confidence that Kane boasts. Injuries have been doing their cause few favours, but Tudor is yet to convince a disgruntled fan base that he is the right man to steer a course to safety.

Things are not about to get any easier either as Tottenham are preparing to face Atletico Madrid in a two-legged Champions League last-16 encounter that will sandwich a Premier League trip to Liverpool. They will then take in a potentially make-or-break encounter with Nottingham Forest on March 22.