It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the year of Bilbao, it was the year of 11 league wins. It was the glorious demise of Ange Postecoglou, it was the faltering start of Thomas Frank. It was the arrival of Vinai Venkatesham, it was the ousting of Daniel Levy. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

Tottenham Hotspur have had some strange, confusing and confounding years before. Ones which put their fanbase through a turbulent rollercoaster of vibes, plunging and climbing and plunging again through footballing glory, footballing failure, boardroom drama, new-era optimism and the rest.

It felt like nothing would ever touch the profound significance of 2019: the new stadium, Ajax, Madrid, Mauricio Pochettino’s replacement being Jose Mourinho. But future historians will argue whether, in fact, 2025 was more important, more unusual, and more surprising. This club, 143 years since their founding, have never had a year quite like this.

We could just list here in chronological order everything that happened over the course of it. But that would take all day, and if you are reading this article you probably know most of it anyway (although there are some things — Tamworth, the ear-cupping drama, the Morgan Gibbs-White saga — you may need reminding about). But it is worth reflecting for a second on where Tottenham were at the start of this calendar year.

In some ways, it looked just like today.

They were stuck in mid-table, in that case with 24 points from 19 league games (the current team have 25 from 18). They were in the midst of a bruising injury crisis, with three first-teamers out with long-term problems (Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven) and plenty of other short-term issues. They had been inconsistent all season but were starting to wobble ominously. They needed to get players back, get their act together and hope that they could salvage something from the second half of the season.

The pressure was already building on Postecoglou by January 2025 (Harry Murphy/Getty Images)

So far, so familiar.

But then, so much about that world is distantly remote from the one of today.

Daniel Levy was still chairman, running the club in much the same way as he had since 2001. The majority owners, the Lewis family, were still in the background, with little visibility or voice. There was no suggestion of any real gap between Levy and the Lewises. Venkatesham was the former chief executive of neighbours Arsenal, with no connection to Spurs. Nobody outside of their specific industries knew anything about Peter Charrington or Eric Hinson.

Spurs still had Son Heung-min, a fading club great but a connection to a happier time. Postecoglou was the head coach, halfway through his three-year contract, and still with some credit in the bank from his thrilling start to the previous season. And there was still a feeling that, when players returned, the Postecoglou project could get back on the road.