Jol's out the door if Spurs lose at home on Sunday

Sources at Tottenham have indicated that the manager, who has long since lost the full support of the boardroom and now many of the players, must beat Blackburn to stay in his £1.75million-a-year job.

Tottenham could be bottom of the League by the time they kick off on Sunday and Sportsmail understands that defeat in front of their own supporters is likely to spell the end for the Dutchman.

Although they face Spanish side Getafe in the UEFA Cup at White Hart Lane on Thursday, the biggest test of chairman Daniel Levy's patience will be against Blackburn.

Jol has been operating on a match-by-match basis since the club's embarrassing pursuit of Sevilla coach Juande Ramos but he is almost out of time following their 3-1 defeat at Newcastle on Monday.

Although Jol attempted to dismiss his rift with Dimitar Berbatov, the manager is believed to have lost the confidence of three of his four strikers.

Jermain Defoe, who refuses to sign a contract extension while Jol remains in charge, did not even travel to St James' Park and Darren Bent has scored only once in the League since arriving from Charlton.

Michael Dawson has lost his place in the England set-up after a disastrous start to the season and, with the honourable exception of Robbie Keane, the rest of the team appear to be living on their nerves.

Jol's relationship with Berbatov - clearly unhappy at being a substitute against Newcastle - is another area of concern and their dispute can be traced back to their opening day defeat at Sunderland.

Berbatov sulked after he was substituted following an appalling performance and he barely lifted a leg in the subsequent 3-1 defeat at home to Everton.

Some senior figures at Spurs wanted to sack Jol in the summer but Levy stood firm in his wholesome support.

Despite spending more than £40m in the transfer market, Tottenham remain third from bottom of the Premier League and show little sign that they can manoeuvre their way out.

Spurs remain confident that they can persuade Ramos to join them next summer but there are plans in place to promote reserve team coach Clive Allen if they sack Jol.

Confidence in the team is clearly low and Radek Cerny, who deputised at St James' Park for the 'injured' Paul Robinson, claimed it had almost evaporated.

The Czech keeper said: "We have a young team and the players are getting nervous. We are under a lot of pressure.

"It is a very difficult period for us. We have won only once this season and we need points quickly. The players are hurting that we are in the bottom three at this stage of the season.

"We have unbelievable players and before the season everyone was tipping us for the top four. It can't go on. We are Tottenham and we have to win the next league game."