Well, yes, it's a logical move, and perfectly in-keeping with the Realpolitik of ENIC-era Spurs and their careful balancing act. Their focus is growing the club's sale value, which means every spare penny is going to go into the bricks and mortar of the new build for the foreseeable. And so we compromise. The missed opportunity of Schneiderlin leads directly to the make-do-and-mend of Wanyama. It won't be quite enough, and everybody knows it before we even start, if we're honest, but there'll be all the talk, still. Much use of the word 'ambition,' again, just never any hint of meeting of it by paying the going rate for the required quality, which, increasingly, is going to become the only game in town. With everybody playing the analytics game, the Berbatov-type, Modrić-type signings we hark back to are going to be made ever more difficult as the doped clubs become more and more efficient at filtering them out and hoovering them up ahead of you.
For us, meanwhile, what's in store is more will-we, won't-we scratch together enough points for that plucky 4th-place finish. It's exciting, after all; puts bums on seats. On the other hand, we'll take a punt on any number of candidates to be the 'next Bale', rather than invest the same money in two or three with an actual shout of making up the re-expanding points gap. A punt is just a punt, though, and when the pay-offs dry up, eventually faith and patience will become exhausted and you will inevitably start to haemorrhage a critical mass of what true quality you actually have. There's the real gamble. The academy? Well, ok, let's see how that all pans out.
Nah, sorry; the annual 'ambition' speech really is just all talk, and I'm resigned to it, personally. Champions' League junkets are lovely; a bit of exposure, gives everyone a shot in the arm and it's great for the brand, but doing it on any sort of regular basis would inevitably lead to having to pay going-rate wages as well, and ENIC ain't about that.
I love the club, though, so it goes without saying I'll keep coming back, regardless. Screw the rest.
