Events at Tottenham Hotspur continue to defy conventional wisdom. On one hand, they are languishing in the relegation zone with only one win in ten Barclays Premier League matches, which would suggest that the manager’s job is in peril. And yet, on the other, Martin Jol’s position looks remarkably secure, thanks to a concurrence of external factors.

For a start, Jol continues to be a sympathetic figure, partly because of his self-effacing honesty, partly owing to the ham-fisted way in which the club went about approaching his potential successor, Juande Ramos, at the end of August. Spurs officials flew to Spain to meet the Seville coach without Jol’s knowledge and returned empty-handed. While they insist that it was a fact-finding mission and at no point were they going to offer Ramos a job, it was a public relations disaster.

Jol’s “grin and bear it” attitude won him the support of neutrals, while the club emerged with little credit. While the Dutchman comes across as humble and approachable, those above him - such as Damien Comolli, the sporting director – remain shadowy and difficult to pin down.

Further bad PR came when they were linked to Fabio Capello, the former Real Madrid and AC Milan coach. Rather than refuting the story immediately, Spurs hid behind the “we won’t comment on speculation” mantra, which left them looking silly when Capello categorically denied any interest in the job.

Yet none of this changes the fact that poor results, the latest of which was the 3-1 defeat away to Newcastle United on Monday, are making Jol’s position increasingly untenable and that Spurs may need to find a new manager. And this is where things get interesting.

Bringing in a British manager would prove difficult, first because there is a scarcity of high-profile candidates who would be seen as a clear upgrade on Jol, and second because, in Tottenham’s “continental” structure, Comolli is responsible for much of the transfer activity. While this set-up is common throughout Europe, it is difficult to imagine a British manager – say, a Harry Redknapp or a Martin O’Neill – happily relinquishing control to someone like Comolli, who is only 36 and largely unknown to the public.

It might be easier to persuade an up-and-coming British manager to accept the structure, but there seems to be little rising talent in the lower divisions. Consider the top half of the Coca-Cola Championship: the pool includes names such as Adrian Boothroyd, Tony Mowbray, Jim Magilton and Simon Davey and, besides, it has been a long time since Premier League clubs took gambles on domestic managers beneath the top flight.

All of which would appear to suggest that Spurs will go foreign, as overseas managers are more used to working with directors of football and collaborating over transfer activities. But that – again – raises a host of issues.

Foreign managers are a tough sell in the Premier League unless they have a first-rate CV, in which case you have to question their motives for coming. The likes of Capello, Marcello Lippi or Guus Hiddink have little left to prove. It is difficult to see what appeal a club such as Spurs might have, beyond a very big wage packet.

The next tier down, which would include the men employed at leading clubs in Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, France or Italy, presents a slightly different dynamic. For a start, their clubs are likely to be either bigger than Tottenham or competing in the Champions League, a tournament in which the North London team last took part 45 years ago.

Spurs’ biggest selling point – that they are in the Premier League, the world’s richest division – is also a double-edged sword. On one hand, it might help to lure a foreign coach who wants to have a go in a more high-profile league, but on the other, it may mean attracting people who see Spurs as little more than a stepping-stone – in which case the club would become a victim of their own success.

Increasingly, it appears that the options are limited, which would be fine, if only the Ramos fiasco and poor results on the pitch were not ratcheting up the pressure for change.