Tottenham's season continues to stumble from one disaster to the next, with the finger of blame pointed towards many sections within the club.

The board, the manager, players, fans and even the pitch have come under fire this term but who is really to blame for the decline at White Hart Lane?

Sportsmail looks at the key figures involved at the club and the part they have played in Spurs' rapidly dwindling fortunes.

Erik Lamela and Harry Kane (right) react during Tottenham's calamitous 2-1 Premier League loss by Stoke at White Hart Lane on Sunday - their fourth home defeat of the campaign

Joe Lewis

Tottenham's owner may be a billionaire but he hasn't exactly dipped deep into his pockets to help the club elevate from the also-rans into Premier League title contenders.

That may seem a crazy statement considering Spurs have had summer transfer windows reaching over £100m in expenditure, and they have consistently over the last five years been one of the biggest spenders in the top flight.

Joe Lewis hold Daniel Levy's arm as he watches on during Tottenham's 3-0 defeat by Liverpool at White Hart Lane earlier this season in the Premier League

But they have also raised plenty of funds through player sales, and as a result are bottom of the table of Premier League net spenders over the last five years in comparison with every other top flight club.

Lewis was also on board with the decision to part company with Harry Redknapp over two years ago.

Blame rating 3/5

Daniel Levy

An increasing number of fans are losing patience with Levy, who has come under criticism for a range of issues including manager choices, stadium development and club's managerial set-up.

The Spurs chairman has successfully overseen a project to build one of the most impressive training grounds in Europe at Hotspur Way, but his track record elsewhere is questionable.

Levy has come under fire regarding the handling of a new stadium and his managerial appointments

DANIEL LEVY'S SPURS MANAGERS George Graham (1998-2001) Glenn Hoddle (2001-2003) David Pleat (2003-2004) Jacques Santini (2004) Martin Jol (2004-2007) Juande Ramos (2007-2008) Harry Redknapp (2008-2012) Andre Villas-Boas (2012-2013) Tim Sherwood (2013-2014) Mauricio Pochettino (2014- present) Advertisement

Having gone through 10 managers since taking over in 2001, no consistency is ever put down at the club and during that time Levy has favoured a continental approach of using a head coach and a director of football.

It's a system that's never worked. Harry Redknapp's tenure that took Spurs to Champions League football was a desperate breakaway from the format, with the current QPR boss having been originally brought in to clear up the mess left behind by Juande Ramos and Damien Comolli in 2008.

A lack of discussion with fans over a controversial move to Stratford's Olympic Stadium (which failed) and constant delays over the build of the new stadium has made the club look amateurish in planning its future home - especially regarding the temporary move to Milton Keynes.

Meanwhile long suffering fans are paying the second highest ticket prices in the league, with a partnership with ticketing site Stubhub also alienating sections of supporters.

With the club in regression, many see Levy is a constant presence in every false dawn making him accountable to many fans over Tottenham's current plight.

Blame rating 5/5

Franco Baldini

Recruited as director of football in 2013 to 'assist' Andre Villas-Boas with transfers after Redknapp's managerial replacement had guided the club to their biggest ever Premier League points haul the season before.

His challenge was to reinvest the money collected from Gareth Bale's record £86million transfer to Real Madrid and bring in a raft of replacements to make Spurs an overall stronger squad.

Seven high profile signings and a little over a year later, all Spurs have to show for the £100m-plus spend-up is a fairly positive season from Christian Eriksen (who has faded badly this term), and a rather decent rabona goal from Erik Lamela (who has done little else as the club's £30million record signing.)

Before joining Tottenham, Franco Baldini (left) was an assistant to Fabio Capello in the England set-up

From left to right, Paulinho, Christian Eriksen, Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches and Erik Lamela were the seven players signed to replace Gareth Bale - but none have consistently starred

Roberto Soldado at £26m has proven to be one of the Premier League's worst ever striker signings, while Paulinho and Vlad Chiriches at over £25million combined are fortunate to even reach a matchday squad such is their poor contribution.

Etienne Capoue has made little impact while utility addition Nacer Chadli is slowly starting to become the team's key player.

This year's summer signings included Federico Fazio, Benji Stambouli and Ben Davies, with the latter two struggling to get on the pitch while the former can barely stay on it having already picked up two red cards.

You had one job, Franco...

Blame rating 4/5

Mauricio Pochettino

Arrived in the Premier League as an unknown manager on these shores at Southampton at the start of 2013 and in18 months forged a reputation as one of the brightest bosses in the top flight.

Yet since taking over at Tottenham, that reputation is starting to take a hammering on a weekly basis. So what's gone wrong?

The players appear to be struggling with Pochettino's pressing tactic and the Argentine is either too stubborn to change it or lacking a Plan B for his confidence-shot team.

Mauricio Pochettino looks on during Tottenham's League Cup fourth round win over Brighton earlier this season, the cup competitions have been the Spurs boss's highlights in a slow start at White Hart Lane

The constant changing of starting line-ups suggest he still doesn't know his best XI and if he did have a say in summer transfers, he appears to already have lost faith in all three of his signings who have hardly featured.

With a team very similar to last season's, Pochettino's side are already six points off Villas-Boas' Spurs outfit.

More worryingly will be the level of performances. Tottenham have already been rolled over with ease by Stoke, Newcastle and West Brom, while relative big guns Liverpool and Manchester City have already stuck seven goals past Spurs this term.

The Argentine deserves more time to lay his blueprint on the squad however - especially with the team progressing well in Europe and the League Cup.

Blame rating 3/5

The players

Every team loses, it's an inevitable of football. So when it does happen, fans can point blame towards tight refereeing calls, ways the team can learn from mistakes or just flat out settle that luck went against them.

But on many occasions this season, Tottenham fans have been left with none of the above three to call upon.

Tottenham have lost games showing very little (if any) danger in attack while throwing up a circus of a back four on many occasions. Even the league wins are unconvincing, with the 4-0 home win over QPR the only time Spurs have looked relatively comfortable playing in the top flight all season (draws at Sunderland and Arsenal aside).

Kane and Nacer Chadli share a discussion on the pitch during the 2-1 loss by Stoke at White Hart Lane

Emmanuel Adebayor infuriated fans after being unprepared to come on as a substitute against Stoke on Sunday after being forced to change his footwear

Considering the money spent on much of the first-team, it's a rather poor return from the current squad.

But with a team containing fingerprints from six previous Spurs managers, it's little wonder that the current crop have failed to settle into a cohesive unit.

Another pressing issue is the departure of long term stalwarts and characters in recent years such as Ledley King and Michael Dawson, leaving Spurs with very few leaders on the pitch.

Blame rating 3/5

The fans

Emmanuel Adebayor may have whipped up a frenzy in speaking about the negative atmosphere inside White Hart Lane provided by the home support, but he isn't the first to point the finger of blame at the Spurs fans.

Andre Villas-Boas made a similar remark in the last few months of his reign of how he felt the fans were hindering rather than supporting his players with booing at matches.

It's a touchy subject, with supporters arguing that having paid for a ticket they have a right to voice their displeasure and that it's up to the players to give them something to cheer about.

Tottenham fans have been criticised by Adebayor and Andre Villas-Boas before over their negative impact at White Hart Lane having often turned on their team with a chorus of boos when the home side are struggling

It makes the opposition's team-talk a lot easier though when you know a fast start at White Hart Lane will quickly lead to home fans getting on their side's backs.

Adebayor and AVB seem to make valid points though, with booing hardly a strong motivational tool to help get behind a struggling team.

But to blame a section of supporters for a team's plight is quite drastic. Tottenham's home fans need to show more patience and support for the benefit of their side but neither are they the cause of the problem.

Blame rating 1/5

Previous managers

A rot started under Harry Redknapp when his team went on a disastrous run at the end of the 2011-12 campaign to throw away a Champions League place, but the bounce back the following season under Andre Villas-Boas makes Redknapp unaccountable for current events.

Blame rating 0/5

Replacing Redknapp, was Andre Villas-Boas and while Spurs recorded their most ever points in a Premier League season under AVB - many point towards Gareth Bale as the key reason behind their challenge for a Champions League place in 2012/13.

Harry Redknapp, Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood have had managerail spells since 2012 at Tottenham

After Bale's departure, Spurs struggled to score and started suffering humiliating defeats by Manchester City (6-0) and Liverpool (5-0) leading to the Portuguese' in December last year. The team's now fragile mentality hasn't recovered.

Blame rating 2/5

Tim Sherwood was brought in to replace Villas-Boas shortly before Christmas last year, but while Spurs often beat teams below them in the table, they were often heavily defeated by the division's best outfits. Sherwood promoted youngsters like Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb into the line-up but his honest attitude failed to install a team ethic in the squad and he was dismissed as manager in the summer.

Blame rating 1/5

White Hart Lane's 'small pitch'

Not even the turf at White Hart Lane is avoiding the finger of blame, with Pochettino describing Tottenham's pitch as too small for the way his side like to play.

Pochettino has described White Hart Lane's pitch as being too small for his team's style of play

It's proving easy enough for the opposition to play on though while the same pitch has previously brought success for Redknapp's free-flowing Spurs.