For the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, this result would have been a minor disappointment only to those supporters who like their reserves and youth players to have a tournament of their own.
But to Tottenham, who won the Worthington Cup last year and rightly regard it as their best route into Europe when most of the big clubs do not even take it seriously, it was disastrous. And their notoriously grumpy fans, who could make a convoy of fuel protesters seem like reasonable men, were not slow to make their feelings known, chanting: "Stand up if you hate Sugar."
It was the first time this season that the Spurs chairman Alan Sugar has been the focus of the fans' anger, the manager George Graham taking the stick after defeat at Chelsea at the weekend. But both men now face a crucial period in their relationship as their club face a dismal winter.
Looking at the starting line-ups it appeared that Birmingham, who have bigger fish to fry in Nationwide Division One, were the ones treating this tournament with disdain, strikers Marcelo and Geoff Horsfield missing, presumed injured, and Peter Ndlovu sitting on the bench.
Tottenham put out the strongest side that their treatment room would allow, and their physio had another patient after eight minutes when Steffen Freund limped off with a hamstring injury, giving way to Stephen Davies, one of the star graduates from the club's youth academy.
Davies would have been lucky to get a D-minus when he gave away possession in the 15th minute and saw a grateful Stan Lazaridis power down the left wing and an even more grateful Dele Adebola accept the cross, switching the ball to his left foot and stroking it into the corner.
If that was a neat finish, Adebola's second in the 27th minute was pure class as he checked inside Ben Thatcher and Ramon Vega before shooting powerfully into the corner, leaving Tottenham's goalkeeper Neil Sullivan as much a spectator as his defenders had been.
A stunned Tottenham went three down a minute before half-time when Mark Burchill found time and space to convert Martin Grainger's left-wing cross.
Tottenham's fans booed their team back on to the pitch after the break and groaned in disbelief when Davies made way for another substitute in defender Luke Young.
The fans suspended their grievances for a while when Darren Anderton offered hope of a comeback, scoring from the spot after Lazaridis brought down Stephen Clemence. But, by the end, they were once again voicing their disapproval.
Winger Jose Dominguez was added to the mix, replacing Korsten for the last 22 minutes, but it was still a largely frenetic fare. Les Ferdinand, though, should have further cut the arrears in the 73rd minute, heading straight at Bennett from Carr's cross just eight yards out.
It was first division Fulham who convincingly removed Spurs from the competition by the same scoreline last season and Birmingham, with their best performance of the campaign, deserved to do so just as much. They now have a fourth-round tie against either Bradford or Newcastle to savour.
Tottenham Hotspur: Sullivan; Carr, Perry, Vega, Thatcher; Anderton, Freund, Sherwood, Clemence; Ferdinand, Korsten.
Birmingham City: Bennett; Gill, Purse, Johnson, Grainger; Eaden, Hughes, O'Connor, Lazaridis; Adebola, Burchill.
Referee: D Pugh (Bebington).
