Are Tottenham Hotspur actually getting ready to win something?

This image is a derivative of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium South Stand by Bluejam (CC BY-SA 4.0)

For the longest time, Tottenham Hotspur lived in their own little universe within the broader galaxy of English football.

Light-years from genuine premiership contention, but good enough to maintain permanent top-flight status.

Rarely good enough for the Champions League, but reliable enough to routinely compete in off-Broadway European competitions.

After winning England’s First Division in 1961, Spurs have kept their place in the top flight for 57 of the last 58 seasons, however between 1972 and 2010, they only managed a handful of top-five finishes.

While you could set your watch to Tottenham taking their place at the Premier League dining table each season, their ability to fall asleep halfway through the meal was equally predictable.

And then, well... then everything changed.

With the appointment of Argentinean Mauricio Pochettino on the 27^th of May, 2014, the entire narrative regarding Tottenham shifted.

In five completed seasons in charge, Tottenham have never finished outside the Premier League’s top-five, while their second-place finish in 2017 was their best return in nearly 50 years.

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They’ve become a mainstay in the Champions League too, participating in the last four editions with their most recent campaign taking the club all the way to the Final in Madrid where they were beaten by Liverpool.

Let's repeat that. Tottenham made the final of the European Champions League and were 90 minutes away from being crowned the best club in Europe.

To think that just five years ago they were being managed by caretaker coach Tim Sherwood and were knocked out of the Europa League by Benfica, having just slipped past an Ukrainian team called FC Dnipro in the Round of 32.

In incredibly short time, Pochettino has molded Spurs into a club that matters both within England and on the continent, yet despite their incredibly admirable makeover, one truth has unfortunately, and curiously remained: They don’t win anything!

While Pochettino’s 56.2% win rate as Tottenham manager is among the best strike rates in their 136 year history, and in spite of the herculean gains they’ve made under his stewardship, the fact remains that not a single trophy of any description has been added to the Spurs’ cabinet since 2009.

Not one!

Which brings us to whether this Tottenham revival is merely a flash in the pan or a sign of something more enduring?

Whether Tottenham’s competitive awakening is real or whether they’re due to return to the treadmill of mediocrity which they’d been tethered to for almost half a century?

Thankfully for Spurs fans, most indications suggest that their newfound status at the vanguard of British football is safe, thanks to the foundations that have been laid by Chairman Daniel Levy as well an encouraging set of events over the summer.

Rumors linking Pochettino with a move to the likes of Juventus, PSG and Manchester United have persisted throughout 2019 in spite of the Argentinean signing a five-year extension in 2018. To keep a hold of Pochettino amid such interest is a feather in Tottenham’s cap which can’t be underestimated.

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Few managers in world football have had such a profound affect on their playing group as Pochettino, while the relationship he enjoys with Levy is a significant reason why Spurs have been able to transform themselves into such a formidable outfit.

While the lure of joining one of Europe’s behemoths has without doubt piqued Pochettino’s interest, the manager would also appreciate how difficult it is to create genuine synergy between the off field and on field components of a club. He’s well aware of how rich the Tottenham pipeline of talent is - with five different players winning their Player of the Year award under his lead. Levy and his scouting group have unearthed gems like Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld, Son Heung-min and also a certain Luka Modric who has since gone on to win a Ballon d'Or. Levy was also the mastermind behind the 88 million Euros the club made via the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid six months prior to Pochettino's arrival.

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Just as important as Pochettino's retention is, so was Harry Kane’s commitment to the club. Kane has elevated his game to the point that he’s now regarded as one of Europe’s most coveted strikers and has been previously been linked with a move to Real Madrid. The same has been true of their midfield lynchpin, Christian Eriksen, who’s been rumored to be on his way out but has remained at the club and continued to excel.

Yet, the strongest reason we might be entering a period where Tottenham are able to break through and win trophies is their willingness to finally break open the checkbook.

When pen was finally put to paper on Frenchmen Tanguy Ndombele’s move to Spurs earlier in July a collective sigh of relief, mixed in with a good dose of profound joy, was heard around North London.

Not only does Ndombele’s signing make so much sense from an on-field point of view, mixed in with the French national's age profile, but the signing illustrated that Tottenham are now finally prepared to spend in the same kind of neighborhood that Europe’s big clubs like to frequent.

The Ndombele capture represented by far Tottenham’s biggest fee paid to lure a big name to the club. In fact, the 60 million Euros the club shelled out is nearly ten times the amount their fierce rival Arsenal has collectively spent on transfers this summer, providing further indication of just how far the landscape has shifted among the London clubs.

What we’ve seen from Tottenham since Pochettino’s arrival is a squad that is now robust enough to be able to compete both domestically and abroad with the next challenge being to translate all their gains into actual silverware.

A result of Tottenham’s elevation will be increased scrutiny on the club which is the natural bedfellow of elevated performance. While expectations will doubtlessly rise both internally and externally, there’s little to indicate that Spurs won’t be able to meet them.

Having such continuity both in the front office and on the pitch, in concert with Pochettino's continued reign, will make winning cups- and lots of them- an inevitability. However, Spurs’ fans will be entitled to be frustrated if at least one trophy isn’t added within the next twelve months.

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