OPINION
Tottenham fans still digesting the disappointment of the cup heartache of the last week can find some solace in a reported update of the board’s plans.
The Daily Telegraph claim senior officials led by chairman Daniel Levy do not challenge Mauricio Pochettino’s assertion that Champions League qualification, and not cup trophies, is proof of the true health of a club.
It is said Spurs chiefs do not want to revert to the old cycle of mid-table Premier League finishes coupled with the odd cup triumph.
Instead, “Levy’s vision is for Tottenham to become one of the super-clubs that regularly compete for and win top honours”.
Fans will be getting goosebumps at such grandiose plans, even if there is an acceptance among the new White Hart Lane hierarchy it will be some time before the true financial benefits of the near-£1billion new stadium kick in.
It suggests a future, within a few years, where Spurs have the funds to buy the top bracket of players and the stability of regular Champions League football to seduce them.
Liverpool have showed the value of shopping in the designer stores, rather than the high street, through their 2018 acquisitions of Alisson and Virgil van Dijk in particular.
Both players would walk into virtually every side in the world, although in Liverpool’s case it probably took the sale of Philippe Coutinho to raise the capital.
Perhaps Spurs might need to sign one of their prize assets – Christian Eriksen is the obvious example – to go to the next level in the short term, as Jurgen Klopp’s side did.
But Lilywhites can at least be satisfied that Pochettino and Levy are on the same wavelength, and there is ambition to be true heavyweight rather than a nearly-club.