Spurs announce withdrawal from the 2025-26 FA Cup.

It's unknown when, or if, Tottenham ever plan to compete again.

In the 1900-01 season Tottenham Hotspur became the first, and only, non-League club to win the FA Cup — Beating Sheffield United 3-1 in a replay at Bolton Wanderers’ Burnden Park.

In North London today, 124 years later, there were scenes of shock, displays of grief, and feelings of loss as news filtered through — via WhatsApp, Bluesky, and the occasional phone call — that Spurs’ enigmatic Chairman, Daniel Levy, had withdrawn the club from the competition for the foreseeable future.

The sacking of Ange Postecoglou, mere weeks after delivering the club’s greatest achievement in more than 30 years, has sent a clear message:

“We don’t want success, we want 4th” — Tottenham Hotspur, June 6, 2025.

It would be cause for dismissal should the next manager to try to win a cup game using anything but the reserves when there’s an away point at Leeds up for grabs a few days later.

It would be a sackable offence for the next manager to bring on Son, the club captain, when a goal behind in a semi-final knowing full-well that Tottenham have to host Everton after the upcoming international break.

And so, for the first time since 1999-2000 when Manchester United pulled out of the FA Cup to play in the new FIFA Club World Cup — which incidentally included a match against South Melbourne FC, managed by Ange Postecoglou — a “big” club has withdrawn from the competition.

The good thing is, at Daniel Levy’s Tottenham Hotspur, you cannot really lose if you don’t really try to win.

And winning, as we now know, results in instant termination.