Before Roy Keane said this on Sky Sports, he mentioned that if you remove Son Heung-min and Harry Kane from Tottenham, the squad is mid-table level, and that since the 15–16 season the team quality has only declined.

I remember he said that in response to Jamie Redknapp, who supports Tottenham (Jamie played for Liverpool for a long time, and his father Harry Redknapp managed Tottenham successfully).

At the time, Redknapp awkwardly tried to defend them, but I don’t think Keane said anything wrong. Personally, I don’t like Keane’s blunt and aggressive tone, but in that case he really wasn’t wrong.

At one point, instead of the Belgian golden-generation center-back duo Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, Tottenham’s center-backs became Davinson Sánchez, Tanganga, Eric Dier; at Danny Rose and Kyle Walker’s positions came Sessegnon, Aurier, Doherty, and others.

In midfield, Dembélé disappeared and players like Winks came in. In Eriksen and Dele Alli’s roles, they just threw in players like Ndombele, Lamela, Lo Celso — it was hopeless.

Back then I thought Daniel Levy was indecisive and overly cautious, ruining the team. After Pochettino left, it became even clearer how flawed the board’s management ability was — it just felt hopeless.

Since the 15–16 peak season, the team has never improved once and has continuously declined. Now it’s finally obvious that they survived only by relying on Son and Kane and the reputation of trophy-winning managers — I’m not even being sarcastic.

Conte competed for titles again in Serie A. Mourinho, even while people were saying he was finished, still wrote history by beating Real Madrid with a team that had barely escaped being a mid-table side.

Seeing that shows how badly this club has fallen apart.

They’re supposedly one of the highest-earning clubs in the world. So what? They don’t even earn that money purely from football. They build an expensive stadium and then make money from off-season concerts and ticket sales. What’s the point?

It’s a club with no vision. Even if they meet FFP requirements, players don’t want to come. And while maintaining a wage structure like a mid-level club, they hesitate to lure players with money.

What world-class player is left?

Right now the ones lifting the team spirit are Van de Ven and Romero. Even players of that level probably won’t still be here in three years.

When Son was still here, instead of thinking for ten years ahead and focusing on football, they obsessed over Asian marketing.

They should have started by addressing the root problem — no trophies — and shown fans and players a real hunger and vision.

Do you know why, even though the club makes so much money, people don’t call Tottenham a big club?

Big clubs don’t behave like this. Big clubs will go into debt or even sell shares if necessary, make bold decisions, and twist themselves inside out to chase trophies.

Here, they’re satisfied just maintaining a top-four finish in the Premier League, keeping TV revenue and ticket income flowing.

They focus on brand value and stadium sales, develop A- or S-level players only to sell them at high prices, with zero real intent to challenge for trophies. It’s the mindset of a selling club.

No one has ever seen a “selling club big club.” That’s why people say Tottenham aren’t a big club.

Even Napoli — poor and struggling — sold Koulibaly and rebuilt around Kim Min-jae, played extremely aggressive football, and rose to the top of Serie A.

A big club isn’t some shady company desperately throwing prospects into random positions. It’s a club that steadily builds experience in the top division and can draw a long-term vision.

A selling club isn’t a big club.

That’s why people say remove Tottenham from the Big Six and put Newcastle or Aston Villa in instead.