How do Spurs become champions? That is the billion pound question.
A billion pounds might sound hyperbolic, but that's the estimated figure the ENIC Group reportedly piled into building Tottenham Hotspur's incredible, state-of-the-art stadium that turned five years old this week.
When the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was finally completed in 2019, Spurs Chairman, Daniel Levy, spoke of Spurs now having to be considered as one of the biggest clubs in the world, adding,
"My dream is obviously to win. We want to win, and winning is both on the pitch and off the pitch, so we are going to keep going until we get both right."
Since raising its curtain in April of that year however, Spurs' fortunes have been mixed and the awe-inspiring new stadium has served more as a theatre of frustration for a directionless club than the stage for on-field glory.
Off the pitch, if there were trophies on offer for increasing revenue, adhering to Profit and Sustainability Rules or maximising the commercial status of the club, ENIC would already be building a new trophy room to sit alongside the cheese room and the Beavertown microbrewery.
The stadium itself changed everything for Spurs from a commercial point of view. At last count, they had the 8th highest revenue of any club in the world according to the Deloitte Football Money League, and this figure continues to rise.
Matchday revenue has more than doubled since leaving White Hart Lane and is now anticipated to overtake that of Manchester United in top spot at any moment.
Spurs are rubbing shoulders financially with the likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester United with only a fraction of the historic pedigree or success, all while having finished 8th last season.
As impressive as this might be, the question many fans want answered is, 'when will all this commercial success translate into success on the pitch?'.
When will commercial success result in on-field success?
With each passing year stretching out a trophyless spell that long predates the new stadium, Spurs fans are understandably growing tired of being mocked as the runt of the so-called 'Big 6' litter.
The more money ENIC makes therefore and the more they spend on non-football ventures, the more some fans see it as a sign that commercial success will always be prioritised over silverware in the eyes of the owners. "Profit Over Glory" remains the mantra of the prominent faction of vocal ENIC opponents among the Spurs fanbase.
The dirty secret of course is that this is true of nearly all big football club owners. It is, after all, their job to make money. To suggest they don't want to win trophies is perhaps slightly reductive, since winning on the pitch surely synergises with winning off it.
In the case of Spurs though, such is the contrast between their financial might and their recent (lack of) success that they have emerged as the clear black sheep among those considered the 'big clubs' in England.
It shines an increasingly bright spotlight on the fact that, save for a couple of seasons under Mauricio Pochettino prior to the stadium move, they have never really quite looked at the races when it comes to the top prize in England.
Since moving to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, fans have witnessed the downfall of Pochettino, followed by a succession of managers who were, at best the wrong men for the job, at worst the very antithesis of the club's entire culture incarnate.
It certainly seems though that Daniel Levy has finally started delivering on his promise to reinstate 'Spurs DNA' with the appointment of attack-minded Australian coach, Ange Postecoglou.
It must be asked therefore, when and how will he start delivering on his promise for the club to start winning on the pitch.
In this piece we look at the various factors at play and what would realistically need to happen over the coming years for Spurs to become genuine title challengers under the guidance of Postecoglou and Levy.
Time and patience
The last thing a fanbase wants to hear after waiting 15 years for a trophy of any kind, over 30 years for one that's even taken seriously and a literal lifetime for a league title, is to wait even longer.
However, if there's one thing Spurs fans should have learned from the last couple of decades watching other teams win things, it's that becoming the best side in the country takes time. Overnight success in any league is almost invariably an anomaly, and even then it's often unsustainable.
2019 marked the unveiling of Spurs' beautiful new stadium, but it was also the year that a certain club down the road brought in Mikel Arteta, fresh off the back of a spell of disappointment not entirely unlike that Spurs have endured.
Five years on and even the bravest Tottenham fans would hesitate before writing off his Arsenal side as genuine contenders this season.
The 2019/20 season also saw the culmination of a 5 year project at Anfield that started in similar fashion - a revolutionary up-and-coming manager, brought in to revitalise a club desperate to be restored to former glory.
Even the mighty Pep Guardiola, backed by all the gold in the desert, took a season to stamp his authority on the English game.
Taking the insanity of Leicester out of the equation, the only club in recent times that seems to have mastered the hallowed 'win-now' appointment is Chelsea who, in Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, found instant league success (at no small cost).
It's easy to see then why Spurs seemingly tried to emulate this a little too faithfully, just on a smaller budget, hiring both managers in quick succession.
The words 'trust the process' have become synonymous with Arteta's Arsenal to the point of parody but it is his Arsenal and Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool that Spurs must look to as the blueprint for why their fans need to do just that.
Trust the process
Before we look at what needs to change, it's important to highlight what shouldn't. Even if results and performances continue to fluctuate it's important for Spurs to keep the big picture in mind and not press the reset button.
Postecoglou, in his short time in charge, has shown an unwavering, dogmatic philosophy and belief in his own vision of how his team should play.
"It's just who we are mate", he playfully retorted in the press conference after his 9-man side simply refused to sit back against Chelsea.
They lost, of course, but as was so charmingly illustrated by Dejan Kulusevski in his recent open letter to the fans, it didn't really matter.
The Spurs winger said: "We kept attacking because we felt it was the right thing to do. Ange was proud of that. We never stopped being us."
Postecoglou clearly has a plan and he is going to do whatever it takes to make that plan work.
A common stick used to beat the Spurs boss by the few already starting to lose patience is that he is too stubborn or rigid in his tactics. But the evidence so far shows that he is in fact capable of tweaking his system, both between and during matches, and of adapting well to game states.
It's important to keep in mind that this project is still in its infancy with the coach finding out what works and what doesn't.
Crucially, there are parallels with the early days of both Klopp and Arteta here, in that both managers showed a clear picture of what they were trying to achieve, but both teams found themselves exposed at the back too regularly, or played through too easily, for their systems to be reliable.
Both refused to back down though until they had been given time and opportunity enough to not only find the right players to help execute their goals but to let the players internalise their philosophies.
It's fitting, perhaps, that Jürgen Klopp's first match as Liverpool boss was away to Tottenham in October 2015.
Take a look at the line-up that he named on that day:
It's no exaggeration to say this side is unrecognisable from the team that won Liverpool the league a few seasons later. Many hail the acquisition of Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson as a kind of seminal moment for Klopp that elevated them to champion material, but in truth that was just the final piece of the puzzle - Klopp essentially built an entire team from scratch.
It might also surprise some to see that this was Mikel Arteta's first ever teamsheet as Arsenal boss, from a 1-1 away draw with Bournemouth in 2019:
Liverpool's first five league placings under Klopp were as follows: 8th, 4th, 4th, 2nd, 1st.
Arteta's to date have been 8th, 8th, 5th, 2nd and, at the time of writing is locked in a closely fought title race with 10 matches to go.
If Postecoglou is to shape a title-winning side in his image, the evidence certainly suggests he will need a few years and more than a few signings to achieve it.
He is, by these yardsticks at least, seemingly already ahead of schedule though. Currently, Spurs are looking good for a top 4 or 5 finish, potentially qualifying for the Champions League in his first season in charge with a side that finished 8th last campaign.
Smart Summer signings
For all the complaining over Tottenham's allegedly frugal outlay on players, those who have been paying attention will have recognised that the recruitment at Tottenham has actually been really good for a number of windows now.
With an overhaul of the club's football operations having seen the arrival of figures like Scott Munn as Chief Football Officer, Johan Lange as Technical Director and the controversial Fabio Paratici, with the now former Tottenham director and current 'advisor', initiating a revolution behind the scenes in renovating a stale dressing room since arriving from Italy.
Postecoglou has already been a beneficiary of this. A series of clever, data-driven and cost-effective signings have put the first building blocks firmly in place.
Signings like James Maddison and Yves Bissouma for modest fees in this modern football economy had many rival fans looking on with envy and some of the lesser-known gems that Tottenham's recruitment team has unearthed, like Pape Matar Sarr, Destiny Udogie and Micky van de Ven, serve as evidence of a clear strategy of investing in young players with the right statistical profiles for the manager.
The core of the first team already looks almost unrecognisable from some Conte line-ups we saw just a season ago and the new arrivals won't be ending there.
There is a clear emphasis on bringing in youth too which, again, points to a long-term project.
Anyone who has watched the aforementioned Udogie (21), van de Ven (22) and Sarr (21) this season will tell you that none of these young men would look out of place in a title-contending team.
Room for improvement
Last summer the rallying cry from the fans was that Spurs desperately needed a new central defender - to the point where it practically became a meme.
When Beyoncé's Renaissance tour was announced as the latest glittering event to be staged at Tottenham, hundreds flocked to the comments section asking whether she could play centre-back.
Rumours of Spurs targeting real centre-backs did the rounds before the club settled on the signing of part-man, part-gazelle, Micky van de Ven - a move scoffed at by some and branded 'the cheap option' (despite not actually being that cheap) with more glamourous big-ticket defenders like Jean-Clair Todibo reportedly on the market.
The other glaring gap in the side, in the eyes of most, was a creative force to pick up the mantle of Christian Eriksen, who had left the club three years earlier.
While these were, and remain, big boots to fill, in James Maddison the Spurs fans seem to have been blessed with just about the best possible realistic suitor for this longstanding vacancy, and at a very reasonable estimated £40m.
Without breaking the bank, Spurs have identified clear areas for improvement and improved them very well, signing the types of players that Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester City could sign at twice the price and twice the wages and nobody would even flinch.
Just like last summer, there are now some clear areas for improvement, and in order to keep developing and implementing Postecoglou's ideas, Spurs will need to address them.
Postecoglou recently came out suggesting that Spurs just 'aren't in a position' to go and spend £100m on a single player like some of their rivals, adding that if he's given £100m he would rather sign two players for £50m each anyway.
It's hard to know quite how much these words are truly his own or a reflection of Levy's stance, but either way it seems a new marquee record signing is unlikely to be around the corner.
So this brings us to the signings themselves. If a new centre-back was top priority last summer, this year's must-have item appears to be a new profile of winger - specifically a dribbler.
If last summer is anything to go by and Fabrizio Romano and others are to be believed, it's likely Spurs fans will get their wish once again.
The need for a skillful winger
Spurs have shown a lot of quality this season, scoring a variety of goals and getting results against a variety of teams, great and small.
One thing they have undoubtedly struggled with though is wriggling their way through a deep, narrow defence.
Parking the bus against Spurs, forcing them out wide and playing for counters has proven a worryingly effective and popular tactic this season.
For the most part, if teams are organised and compact, getting back quickly enough in numbers to pack their own penalty box, Spurs have been devoid of solutions, usually horseshoeing the ball around the box with everyone forward and leaving themselves vulnerable to quick transitions.
This specific, yet common, scenario highlights nearly all of Spurs' weaknesses in one neat little package. Not only must they become better at defending against transitions but they must learn to find a way of giving settled opposition defenders something else to worry about.
This is where the two-way one-on-one skillful and 'dribbly' winger comes into play.
Now, these players don't exactly grow on trees - certainly not in the modern game where so much emphasis is placed on recycling possession, but nearly every top team has at least one at their disposal.
Jérémy Doku at Manchester City, Luis Díaz at Liverpool and Gabriel Martinelli at Arsenal all come to mind. If you venture onto the continent you have the likes of Vinicius Junior at Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappé at PSG and Jamal Musiala at Bayern Munich.
These are the players that give defenders sleepless nights - the ones that can embarrass you with a drop of the shoulder, a trick or a quick change of pace - often all three.
Sometimes quick, neat interplay among the forwards or a driven cutback can overcome a low block but often it's these unpredictable flair players who are your only route into the congested danger zones inside the opponents penalty area and to generating those high percentage chances.
The much-derided Timo Werner is probably the closest profile fit that Spurs have but even he excels much more at beating a man at pace, on the break and with space in behind than he does at weaving through a settled defence.
Manor Solomon, similarly, could potentially become that man but Spurs fans have barely been afforded a glimpse of him so far.
The chances of Tottenham signing Vinicius Junior or Jamal Musiala this Summer are about as likely as Ange Postecoglou setting up in a Catenaccio next season, and and these types of players generally don't come cheap in any case - not as anything close to the finished article anyway.
For Spurs to add an extra element to their attack next season, their data-crunching recruitment team will have to work with Postecoglou to identify a suitable profile, with a Spurs-friendly price tag, and add him to the rotation of forward options.
Names like Wolves' Pedro Neto, Bilbao's Nico Williams and Palace's Eberechi Eze have all been touted as potential answers. All have fairly suitable statistical profiles to what Spurs need and would likely cost in the neighbourhood of £50-60m.
The chances are, though, it will probably be none of these and might even end up being someone you 'have to Google' (to paraphrase former Spurs left-back, Danny Rose) but if the success of Micky van de Ven's debut season is anything to go by, it seems Postecoglou is absolutely being handed the right tools.
Squad depth in key areas
Speaking of the rapid young Dutchman, Micky van de Ven, such has been his impact in his first season in North London that Spurs have ended up looking significantly shakier at the back each time he has been absent from the team.
So far this season Spurs have won 12 in 16, conceding 17 goals when he has started. Without him, they have 5 wins in 12, conceding 27. These are flattering stats, since a lot of his absences coincided with other key players missing, but when you watch Spurs without him this season, it's clear how crucial he is to how they want to play.
Not only is he an outstanding defender one-on-one but his pace and acceleration are on an entirely new level, allowing Spurs to bet more on their attacks, throwing men forward, safe in the knowledge that Micky is there to sprint back and sweep up any threats that come quickly back the other way.
He is also left-footed, which is important. In a system that relies on build up through the defence, Spurs ideally need a left-sided centre back comfortable in finding a pass on the outside with his left to evade a press.
With the greatest of respect to the perennially unsung hero that is Ben Davies, though left-footed and capable of playing centre-back, his speed is far from what's needed here and the fact that Postecoglou appears to have a young, right-footed Radu Drăgușin ahead of him in the pecking order, suggests that Davies may find himself surplus to requirements once his contract is up.
Emerson Royal has had mostly unsuccessful outings at centre-back and, for now at least, Ange doesn't seem to trust any of the youth options either.
A left-sided centre back therefore must be another key target area if Spurs are going to build the depth required to compete.
Nobody is as fast as van de Ven, but this ideally needs to be someone quick enough to allow Spurs a high defensive line. This should also be someone good enough to knock on the door for a starting spot in due course - perhaps another young talent with a point to prove.
To ever mix it with the big boys, Spurs really need at least four reliable centre-backs, good enough to fill in for each other and provide adequate cover on both sides.
While on the topic of squad depth, two other positions where Spurs sorely need this are left-back and right-back. Porro and Udogie have been revelations this year as inverting full-backs, but the way they play is not only crucial to the success of Postecoglou's system, but also highly specialised and requires a very particular and broad skill set.
Full-backs in this team function almost like box-to-box midfielders in possession and must be incredibly comfortable receiving and releasing the ball in tight spaces.
At the business end of the pitch, they also regularly drive into the half spaces to create attacking overloads, often underlapping the attackers. Spurs' full-backs must combine all the attributes of a defensive midfield pivot with those of an attacking midfielder.
It's a particular credit to both Porro and Udogie (and Postecoglou) that both have taken so quickly to this role despite learning their trades as more conventional wing-backs until this season.
At the risk of taking a second swipe at Ben Davies - a man whom Spurs fans should owe nothing but respect - he simply isn't the right kind of profile for this position and neither is Emerson Royal on the other side.
Realistically if Tottenham want to compete, they will need to bring in cover or competition for both of these places in the team.
Sort out the six
I mentioned Spurs' vulnerability against quick transitions earlier and while disciplined counter-pressing and Micky van de Ven are both valuable shields against this, having a dynamic, defensively-minded midfielder with the ability to reliably break up attacks might be the missing piece.
With a resting defence, Spurs are actually good at keeping danger at bay (except for at set pieces, but more on that later). Since the turn of the year, Opta record that only Arsenal have faced fewer shots in total than Spurs, facing 77 to Tottenham's 98.
Despite this, the Lilywhites have actually faced over triple the total expected goals that Arsenal have in this time (Understat), which tells a story in itself.
When Spurs give up chances, they are often very good chances, particularly those where an opponent has been allowed to break quickly into space.
This has often ruined what would otherwise have been fairly comfortable and dominant performances, letting low-block, counter-attacking teams take a lead early on and then sit even deeper to protect that lead - bringing us right back to the earlier issue.
It probably remains to be seen whether a defensive midfield pivot needs to be on Postecoglou's wish list this Summer.
This is because they may well already have the man they need in one of Yves Bissouma or Rodrigo Bentancur. Both have shown on occasions that they can be brilliant in the role, not just at the defensive side but on the ball too.
However Bissouma, in particular, has been inconsistent, shown lapses in concentration and has missed games through suspension. Bentancur's season has been blemished by injury but on the rare occasion where he has been fit, he has, at times, looked like Spurs' best midfielder.
The Uruguayan does have the tools to play the deeper of the three midfield slots but many, including Postecoglou, might see his best role further up the field, competing for position with Pape Matar Sarr.
Sarr himself certainly has the physical acumen to play the part but he isn't yet entirely comfortable with that responsibility and doesn't really fit the 'number 6' profile entirely.
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg's future is uncertain and neither he nor Oliver Skipp appear to be anything close to the first choice option in this role either.
Whether a new face comes in or one of Bissouma and Bentancur steps up and makes it his own, Postecoglou needs to solve this problem if Spurs are going to dominate games regularly.
Tighten up set-pieces
It's not just counter-attacks that have proven effective weapons against Spurs this season. While not quite at the point of crisis just yet, Spurs have conceded 10 of their 44 goals this season from set-pieces (not including penalties).
This places them behind 11 teams for this metric including, vitally, all three of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City. At the other end they have not fared much better; despite having excellent set-piece takers like Pedro Porro and James Maddison, Spurs sit in 9th place for goals scored in this way, with 10.
Meanwhile, Arsenal are setting new standards in set-piece goalscoring, having recently notched up their 18th of the season.
It won't have helped to lose, in Harry Kane, one of the team's best headers of the ball at both ends, nor will the nebulous exit of attacking set-piece coach, Gianni Vio, have done any favours.
For now at least, Postecoglou appears unmoved by the prospect of bringing in dedicated set-piece specialists, preferring to leave routines in the hands of the respective attacking and defensive coaches.
Perhaps time, practice and familiarity will improve Spurs' set-pieces but it's certainly an area with room to grow and when you're looking to win titles, you need to grab hold of any marginal gains you can find.
Give youth a chance
A wise old Scot once infamously told us 'you can't win anything with kids', and while the current iteration of Spurs is a youthful one, there remains a good number of experienced heads on the pitch and in the dressing room.
Postecoglou has a track record of trusting in young players when they have proven themselves able, but for whatever reason he remains seemingly unconvinced by any of Spurs' current crop of emerging academy stars.
Names like Jamie Donley, Will Lankshear, Tyrese Hall, Ashley Phillips, Alfie Dorrington, Yago Santiago, Mikey Moore and Dane Scarlett have all generated a great deal of buzz among the Spurs set-up, with the U21 side currently bossing the Premier League 2.
This season has already seen the emergence of some excellent talents making the step up to the first team at other clubs, with players such as Kobbie Mainoo, Conor Bradley, Rico Lewis, Malo Gusto, Lewis Miley and Alejandro Garnacho playing their way into regular starting spots.
While Sarr and Udogie could easily fall into this bracket too, it's encouraging to see the amount of developing talent just on the periphery of the first team and maybe next year is the year Ange brings one or two of them into his plans.
Perhaps as exciting as any is the incoming Lucas Bergvall, a tantalising midfield technician from Sweden who, at the age of just 18 is already drawing comparisons with Frenkie De Jong.
It will be very interesting indeed to see how quickly he is integrated into first-team football and the kind of impact he could have stepping up into the Premier League.
Financial fair play
Football has become a sordid web of corruption, dirty money and loopholes, particularly in the decades since Spurs' ownership last changed hands.
Oligarchs and oil-rich despotic states have dipped their greedy fingers all the way into the Premier League pie and, with Manchester City's 115 reported breaches still being kicked down the road, it's easy to become a cynic and think that nothing will ever change.
For a long time now there has been a depressingly reliable correlation between league position and wage bill to the point where you can almost predict the final table before a ball is even kicked.
While this itself is unlikely to change very soon, there is a distinct sense that the authorities are finally beginning to grow some teeth, with some teams already having faced point deductions and being held to account for breaches of UEFA Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
When the rapture does finally arrive, Tottenham, perhaps above all others, will be sitting pretty as the enforcement of financial rules are tightened up and applied more and more stringently.
Spurs' majority owner, Joe Lewis, is evidently no angel when it comes to financial dealings, but as for adhering to football's sustainability initiatives, this is where Daniel Levy shines as Tottenham's trump card and the stadium is his golden goose.
As mentioned, Tottenham's matchday revenue is quickly on the way to becoming the highest in the Premier League, if not all of Europe.
However, as is so often lamented by Tottenham fans, Levy and ENIC's net spend on transfers has been significantly lower than that of their peers and while other clubs have been running to sugar daddies to top up their transfer piggy banks, Spurs have gradually been constructing a fully sustainable commercial juggernaut, growing the club's value exponentially and virtually printing money from the big bowl at the heart of it - the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Put simply, low net spend positioned against huge organic revenue means Spurs are very much on the right side of PSR, while many of their rivals could find themselves struggling to keep up, even being forced to sell players to make ends meet.
Tottenham fans shouldn't be expecting Mbappé and Bellingham to walk through the door any time soon, but if all carries on along the current trajectory, you can expect Spurs to amass some real bargaining power in the market and that can only be a good thing.
While Manchester City being relegated down to League 2 and Pep Guardiola walking off into the sunset still feels like a stretch, we are likely to see big changes in the way other big clubs are forced to operate.
Summary: Spurs are starting 'To Dare'
The wheels are already very much in motion for Tottenham to begin their slow crawl to the top.
The wonderful thing about football is its unpredictability of course, so there is never an exact formula for sustained success, but on the evidence presented so far by Postecoglou's fledgling career in English football, the future looks bright for Tottenham.
The Australian coach has arrived at a time where Spurs may just be about to start reaping the rewards of their game-changing new stadium, inheriting a first team squad and a youth squad with a lot of promise and has given every indication that he and his colleagues know just how to improve upon it.
It will take time, but if Tottenham's owners and their fans can take a leaf out of Liverpool or Arsenal's books and give this squad and this manager time to build something with data-driven, sensible signings in key areas, there's every chance Postecoglou can replicate the success he has enjoyed at every former club.
Jürgen Klopp is leaving, Pep Guardiola must be getting tired and a new financial era threatens to clip the wings of the nouveau riche.
In Postecoglou's own words, replying to a journalist earlier this season: 'I'm not aiming for fifth spot, mate'.
'To Dare is to Do', reads Tottenham's iconic and culture-defining motto; perhaps now, for the first time since ENIC's arrival in 2001, Spurs are truly starting to dare.