If Tottenham fans were looking for a permanent escape from the misery of supporting their club, relocating to North Korea might not be the worst option.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have endured a terrible run of form which culminated in last weekend’s FA Cup fourth round defeat against Aston Villa.
Spurs had exited the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage just three days earlier after they were pilloried for capitulating against Liverpool, surrendering a one-goal advantage from the first leg and limping to a 4-0 defeat.
Hopes of a top four finish and a return to Europe’s top tier competition evaporated long before the turn of the year and with Spurs currently languishing in 14th place there is little left to play for on the domestic front.
The grim details of the club’s decline would be hard to track down for any fan located in North Korea, with dictator Kim Jong-un having banned coverage of the north London club along with their Premier League counterparts Wolves and Brentford.
The despot’s regime insists no games involving teams with players from his hated neighbours are broadcast there.
South Korea currently boasts three players in the Premier League with Spurs skipper Son Heung-min the most high-profile of the trio.
Hwang Hee-chan, meanwhile, has been with Wolves since signing from RB Leipzig three years ago and Kim Ji-soo has made two top flight appearances for Brentford this season.
Premier League football is shown in North Korea, but coverage is restricted to 60 minutes and, according to a report, airs before early evening news bulletins but, bizarrely, four months after matches have been played.
The findings come in a report by the independent US think tank Stimson Center’s probe into North Korea.
State TV is a major vehicle for propaganda but sport is ‘one of the few moments each day when state TV is not trying to send an overt or underlying message to its viewers,’ analysis found.
The Center’s Martyn Williams said: ‘We thought it was interesting.
‘We just saw a lot of football on KCTV. It’s the main international sport they broadcast.’
Tottenham, meanwhile, are set to be boosted by the return of several key figures for Sunday’s visit of Manchester United, Kim’s favourite team.
Spurs were without 11 players for last weekend’s FA Cup defeat at Villa Park, but boss Postecoglou has worked with Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson in training this week.
Italy international Vicario has not featured since he fractured his ankle in the 4-0 win at Manchester City on November 23 and Postecoglou has used three different goalkeepers during the ensuing three-month period.
‘It’s been a good week, fair to say, in terms of the health and well-being of the group of young men I look after,’ Postecoglou smiled.
‘The guys who have been playing have benefited from a couple of days off.
‘On the injury front, good to have some significant players back for training purposes to start with because it raises the quality and level of our training, but in terms of helping us Vicario, yes trained really well and good to go.
‘Madders is good to go. Then we’ve had Destiny, Wilson and Brennan training with the group and they’re in a good space as well, so it’s been a good training week.’