Welcome to Spurs, Juande and yes, it's that bad

Then there was the customary apology of a performance from Tottenham's defence after they allowed Blackburn to score the winner deep into injury time. Some things never change.

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"Several events clearly did not happen as well as we all would have wished and I am the first to admit that things could have been handled differently and better," Levy admitted in an (under) statement on Spurs' website.

Well, you cannot buy class. Levy wanted the players to put on a show and put the past behind them. Bury the memories of two fifth-place finishes and persuade the 36,000 souls who routinely trudge down Tottenham High Road that the team, third from bottom of the Premier League, remains upwardly mobile.

Only one side in the Premier League is capable of being spell-binding one minute before shooting themselves in the foot the next. This, Juande Ramos, is the Tottenham way.

Seven full-time managers and four caretakers have attempted to restore this grand old club to former glories. Ramos, who has managed 11 different clubs with varying degrees of success, is the latest in a long line of suckers convinced that they can succeed where others have failed. Good luck.

"We start work tomorrow," were the words of wisdom at his brief meeting with the superstars who slipped to a third successive defeat.

Unquestionably, he will begin with a defence that has shipped 23 goals in the Premier League, 27 in all competitions and seven in the last week alone.

Levy has thrown all his eggs into one basket with this appointment but Ramos, who witnessed Tottenham's sixth League defeat, believes the corporate cockerel on the club's badge will soon be crowing again.

It was all hail the new man when Robbie Keane converted Tottenham's goal from the penalty spot three minutes after the break. Then the fears and anxiety that have permeated their 11 Premier League games this season set in. Panic led to pandemonium and pandemonium led to a predictable conclusion.

Michael Dawson, once of England, is scared of his own shadow and the deflection that led to Blackburn's equaliser, scored by Benni McCarthy, summed up his wretched season.

Some of Tottenham's forward play was exhilarating. Steed Malbranque played as though his career depended on it and Aaron Lennon, who won Tottenham's penalty when he went down under Stephen Warnock's innocuous challenge, stretched Rovers down the right wing.

Keane's strike should have settled nerves, but Rovers had the scent of victory in their nostrils after McCarthy's equaliser.

Stand-in Spurs boss Clive Allen attempted to look the part, up and down in the dug-out like a jack-in-the-box, but nothing could prevent Blackburn's winner.

Roque Santa Cruz, anonymous for 92 minutes, rolled the ball into the path of Christopher Samba who curled an outrageous effort beyond Radek Cerny.

Victory came at a cost for Rovers — Robbie Savage faces an operation on a damaged knee cartilage — but it stretched their unbeaten away record to five games.

Rovers boss Mark Hughes said: "I'd have settled for a point, but it was a special strike from Samba. I expected Spurs to be fragile and their confidence has been affected, but Clive got them going. They're at the wrong end of the table but they're better than results suggest."

Save for the brilliance of Blackburn keeper Brad Friedel, Tottenham were probably worth a point. He denied Dawson, Malbranque, Keane and Young- Pyo Lee but Tottenham' s toughest opponent is always the same. Themselves.

TOTTENHAM (4-4-2): Cerny 6; Chimbonda 6, Dawson 6, Kaboul 6, Pyo-Lee 6; Lennon 7, Zokora 6, Huddlestone 5, Malbranque 8 (D Bent 75, 5); Keane 7, Berbatov 5 (Defoe 88). Booked: Huddlestone, Zokora, Pyo-Lee, Defoe.

BLACKBURN (4-4-2): Friedel 8; Emerton 6, Samba 6, Ooijer 7, Warnock 6; Bentley 6, Savage 5 (Mokoena 46, 6), Tugay 5 (Pedersen 59, 6), Dunn 6 (Derbyshire 83); McCarthy 7, Santa Cruz 5. Booked: Dunn, Warnock, Gamst, Santa Cruz.

Man of the match: Brad Friedel.

Referee: Rob Styles.