Tottenham Hotspur promised their “full support” for Juande Ramos last night, but cracks are emerging because of the head coach’s use of Ledley King, who has difficulty playing consecutive matches after a knee injury. Ramos has predominantly picked the defender for cup matches this season, probably because he regards the competitions as their best chance of success. But some inside the club believe that priorities have changed after their worst start to a season, which has left them rooted to the bottom of the Barclays Premier League.

Ramos has said that he can decide on King’s participation only on the day of a game, after assessing the reaction of his injury to training and matches. King travelled to the Britannia Stadium, but was not included in the squad for the 2-1 defeat by Stoke City on Sunday. He has not played since helping Tottenham to reach the Uefa Cup group stage with a 1-1 draw away to Wisla Krakow three weeks ago, but is likely to line up against Udi-nese in the competition on Thursday. King also played in the first leg of the Krakow tie and six days later in the 2-1 victory over Newcastle United in the Carling Cup. His only two league appearances this season have been against Sunderland and Chelsea, in the space of eight days in August.

King’s presence will be needed with Michael Dawson facing the possibility of an extra suspension in addition to the three-match ban he will receive for being dismissed against Stoke. The centre back is likely to be charged by the FA with improper conduct after allegedly failing to leave the field of play immediately, an incident that was included in the report of Lee Mason, the referee, along with an account of a coin being thrown at an assistant referee.

Tottenham will draw some comfort from the expectation that their annual financial results will show a healthy profit when they are announced early next month and some of the money is likely to be used to shore up the defence and bolster the forward line. They are looking at Matthew Upson, the West Ham United and England defender, and Stephen Appiah, the Ghana midfield player, who is a free agent after leaving Fenerbahçe.

Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, has received abusive e-mails from fans, some of whom are planning a protest during the match at home to Bolton Wanderers on Sunday. Levy arguably has little choice but to support Ramos, his fourth permanent managerial appointment since taking over the club in April 2001, because he identified him as the man to put them in contention for a Champions League place.

Ramos coached Seville to successive Uefa Cup titles in 2006 and 2007 and a place in the Champions League, attracting attention from Chelsea, among others.

Four months after taking charge at White Hart Lane, he guided Tottenham to victory over Chelsea in the final of the Carling Cup, the club’s first trophy in nine years. The impact of losing Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, his two main strikers, in the summer, might have been reduced had the club signed replacements sooner. Levy and Damien Comolli, the sporting director, who is likely to lose his job soon, must share the blame for Roman Pavlyuchenko arriving at the end of the transfer window while failing to boost the squad in other areas.

Ramos had been left to integrate six new faces – a difficult task for any manager and the Spaniard at least retains the support of the players, even if some of the more experienced among them appear to have let him down.

There are few credible alternatives as manager should he be dismissed and Ramos could expect compensation of about £10 million, with three years remaining on a contract worth about £3.5 million a season. But if poor results continue, Tottenham may consider that to be a cheaper option than relegation.