Tottenham Sign Off Greatest Season in Decades with Classic Embarrassment

The final day of the Premier League season saw Tottenham Hotspur presented with a seemingly simple assignment. 

Avoid defeat against already-relegated Newcastle United to secure second place, the club's best finish since the glory days on the 1960s and ahead of Arsenal for the first time since 1995. 

They failed, miserably, and their eternal rivals took full advantage by thrashing Aston Villa 4-0 to claim the runner-up spot. 

Other chances at significant milestones were similarly squandered in the 5-1 surrender at St. James' Park. 

Had Spurs scored three or more goals and conceded fewer than three, they would have ended the season with the best attack and defence in the division and the club's Premier League points record. 

Instead, they produced the limpest performance since the 5-0 thrashing at home to Liverpool that cost Andre Villas-Boas his job in December 2013. 

Manchester City have finished with the best attack, Manchester United (having played 37 games) have the best defence and Spurs have accumulated 70 points from 38 games. That matches the tally Harry Redknapp's side collected in 2009–10 but two fewer than Villas-Boas' 2012–13 vintage. 

They had 68 points after 34 this season but managed just two draws and two defeats in the final month of the campaign. 

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Having not lost a league game by a margin greater than one goal in over a year and not conceded more than two goals in any match, the comprehensive nature of Newcastle's victory over Spurs ranks as astonishing. 

Mauricio Pochettino's team has performed progressively worse since the West Bromwich Albion draw that all but ended their title hopes, and they saved the most insipid display for the final day.

Tottenham were abject in the opening period and lucky to be trailing just 2-0. Newcastle were tentative in attack at first, seemingly in disbelief at the careless, amateurish nature of their opposition.

Erik Lamela got the visitors' only goal by accident but signalled no recovery, rather Moussa Sissoko won a soft penalty and Tottenham's fragile mental state was shattered.

In a season in which Pochettino's diligent troops have worked hard to erase the tired cliche of "Spursiness," they produced a display in the finale that seemingly confirmed it.

It almost seemed, in a daring display of showmanship, the club was ceremonially bidding farewell to decades of mediocrity with a 90-minute-long re-enactment.

Utterly disinterested in a contested match, Spurs surrendered virtually from the off. 

Aleksandar Mitrovic was dismissed after 67 minutes, but even at 10 versus 11, Tottenham looked desperately short, and the home side took full advantage. 

Pochettino gambled, withdrawing Kyle Walker for Nacer Chadli, but this backfired terribly as the team's shape was compromised, and Newcastle were able to break with abandon and tear Spurs' suddenly ersatz defence to shreds. 

Tottenham's season began with a similarly winless stretch of four games, and any hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification seemed forlorn. The spectre of mid-table mediocrity beckoned.

From September to mid-April, they were the best team in the country. 

The last four games have brought Tottenham back down to earth and threaten to overshadow the genuine progress that has been made.

For all the frustration at letting second place slip to, of all teams, Arsenal, the shrieking hysteria emanating from their fans at finishing a single point ahead proves that Tottenham are moving in the right direction.

This young Spurs team have diminished their remarkable achievements in a disastrous final month as virtually everything that could go wrong seemed to do so.

The suspensions of Dele Alli and Mousa Dembele robbed them of desperately needed energy, while the "Battle of Stamford Bridge" evidently took a great toll on their psyche.

Despite all that, Tottenham will play at least six Champions League games, having qualified for the group stage directly for the first time. 

They retain an exciting, young core under an ambitious maturing manager and are better placed than most of their foes to muster another title tilt. 

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Harry Kane is the first Englishman to claim the league's Golden Boot since Kevin Phillips in 1999-00, and that too, is a fine achievement. 

The bitterness of these last games—particularly the humiliation of the final day—should burn with the squad over a long summer and forge them into a more resilient side. 

They've tasted much of the worst that football has to offer, and they'll be desperate to avoid a repeat next season.