Keep Tudor? Go for De Zerbi, Mason or Redknapp? Where do Spurs go next?

Tottenham Hotspur’s boardroom is once again bracing for a crisis summit after Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest pushed the club to within one point of the Premier League releg zone and left interim head coach Igor Tudor on the edge of the exit door. The loss, the fourth in five league outings under the Croat, has turned a gamble into a near-emergency for CEO Vinai Venkatasham, sporting director Johan Lange and the north-London club’s owner, the Lewis family.

Tudor was parachuted into the post last month after the sacking of Thomas Matthew Frank, inheriting a dressing-room already stripped of confidence and a medical room overflowing with casualties. Yet the 45-year-old has delivered just one win in seven fixtures and has failed to forge any visible rapport with supporters or players. The nadir arrived in the Champions League last-16 first leg in Madrid, where a surprise start for 19-year-old goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky backfired spectacularly: two errors inside 17 minutes forced Tudor to hook the teenager and Spurs ultimately slumped to a 5-2 defeat.

the short-lived upturn that followed the 2-2 draw at Liverpool and a 2-1 win over At lasted only until Sunday, when a blunt attacking display and a creaking defence were punished by a Forest side who had not won in eight league games.

now faces the most consequential decision of his short tenure: back Tudor for the remaining seven matches or make a second managerial change in less than two months. Releg to the Championship would be, in the words of one senior club source, “the most ign exit in the club’s modern history.”

the sack, the shortlist is as unorthodox as it is urgent.

Harry Red, 79, has not managed in the top four divisions since 201, but has privately signalled he is willing to return to the club he led to the 2010-11 Champions League quarter-finals. Glenn H, 68, has also expressed interest, though neither man has held a senior dugout post for more than a decade.

Ryan Mason, twice used as caretaker by Daniel Levy, is available after a brief and unsatisfactory stint at West Bromwich Albham, while Tim Sherwood, dismissed by Spurs in 201, has publicly insisted he would keep the club in the top flight. Robbie , currently at Hungarian champions Fer, is seen as a wildcard option.

the club’s power brokers favour a permanent appointment rather than another interim patch-up, Roberto De emerged as the leading candidate. The 44-year Italian left Marseille by mutual consent in February and is known to the hierarchy from his Brighton days, where he earned a reputation for attractive, pressing football. Sources say De would consider a short-term rescue mission, but only if he is guaranteed a long-term rebuild regardless of which division Spurs inhabit next season.

Sean D has been internally discussed for his record of survival at Burnley and Everton, though his 114-day spell at Nottingham, terminated in December, is viewed as a red flag. Adi H, sacked by Monaco in October, is the outside bet.

Maur Pochettino, the fans’ dream choice, is committed to the United States national team until after the World Cup and is therefore unavailable for immediate parachute into the releg fight.

With only seven games left and a pivotal trip to Sunderland on 12 April, Venk and his board have days, not weeks, to decide whether to rip up the blueprint again or hope that Tudor can somehow conjure a miracle escape.

as one insider put it, “fail now and the cost isn’t just releg – it is the reput of the entire club.”