Tuesday Hypothetical For Tottenham Fans: Would You Take Relegation For a Title Win?

Oh, Claudio. Where has it all gone wrong? Yet another defeat and yet another curious plot twist in the absorbing fairy tale that is Leicester City Football Club. From golden-era Disney to Brothers Grimm in eight short months.

At The Den on Saturday afternoon, Millwall’s daunting amphitheatre, a battleground which had already claimed Premier League scalps in the previous two rounds, the Champions tumbled to new depths. The eruptions of gold and blue streamers that were seen last May, replaced with makeshift missiles and police horses; both players and fans goaded by Millwall knuckleheads in Onslow-style vests. The kind of ugly scenes that football folk are quick to denounce as things no-one wants to see.

‘No-one wants to see that,’ said Lions boss Neil Harris, right on cue.

For Ranieri, well, he just can’t get it right. After reluctantly admitting that some of the heroic Foxes from last season’s improbable title win, had perhaps become too complacent— a fairly upheld observation— he has now been let down by their understudies. Players who should’ve been desperate to force the manager into a rethink.

Indeed, it’s all very well dropping an increasingly distant Ryiad Mahrez, or giving club legend Wes Morgan a day off— the Leicester captain looks even more immobile than the statue they’ll eventually build of him —but what if the back-ups can’t cut it either?

Leicester 2.0 weren’t exactly convincing in Round 4 against Derby and for all the swathes of possession they enjoyed against Millwall, ultimately, the Premier League titleholders were defeated by a 10-man League One side. For all Demarai Gray and Shinji Okasaki’s industry and verve, Leicester are out of the F.A Cup.

Steve McManaman went two-footed into Ranieri’s team selection on BT Sport at the weekend, but how many people were calling for the Italian to make these changes, to give those freewheeling title-winners the proverbial rocket in their breeches? Damned if he does…

That’s the crux for Claudio and it feels as if he’s painted himself into a corner. Treading a tightrope of legacy preservation, trusting that his 2016 stars can turn the tide; while also identifying that something needs to change. At what point does one abandon what once worked and recognise that Jamie Vardy and the gang might’ve just regressed to the mean? It’s a conundrum, no doubt.

The next chapter in this ever-evolving saga, is likely to be swift ejection from the Champions League, by serial Europa winners Sevilla tomorrow. Far from being the most mortifying lowlight of their season, a heavy defeat in Andalusia would put something of a line under the whole fairy tale narrative and bring the reality of relegation into sharp focus.

So then, a question for Tottenham fans. The hypothetical du jour. How many of you trophy-starved supporters would accept a title triumph, if it meant the following season the club were relegated? Let’s assume that the trade wouldn’t interest any followers of the habitual League winners. But what about a club who last won a major honour 3,286 days ago. That’s nearly nine years. And major honour is pushing it.

What sacrifice would you make to land the biggest domestic prize on offer?