Lifting a Trophy is not Success, it is A Success

I have been saying all summer that you are going to be very happy at the end of the window and we are now at crunch time where plenty of you are starting to panic and see things that aren't there.

It would appear some of you require explanations about the football business, about negotiations (most people have never conducted a major business negotiation, particularly financial ones), about the evolvement of Tottenham Hotspur, of a business, of goal setting (something 99.9% don't do and thus never achieve anything) and the carrying out of a plan to achieve that goal.

I may well tackle those views or some of them in an upcoming series of articles.

Your goal is not the goal of Tottenham Hotspur. Let us make that perfectly clear, so the criteria you are using to judge success or failure is wrong.

Fans look short term and the argument is only lifting a trophy is success. Sorry, that's wrong. It isn't success, it is a success, an indication that we are on the right road to ultimate success.

Portsmouth are not a success, Wigan Athletic are not a success, Swansea City are not a success, Birmingham City are not a success.

Success is measured against the ultimate goal and the goal of Tottenham is to rival Real Madrid and Barcelona on the field and off the field. That means first matching them financially off the field so we have to build financially, then build the team and continue to build off the field while increasing investment in the team.

Are Spurs on the journey towards that, most definitely. We have clearly grown and improved, we are clearly closer to winning a trophy.

Should we win trophies along the way? Yes, certainly we should, indeed we have to if we are to reach our goal, we have to as a part of the bigger picture.

Winning a trophy will be a step, winning the Premier League will be another step, winning the Champions League another step. All steps to a bigger goal.

If you stand at the foot of the stairs, success is reaching the top, it isn't being able to stand on the first step. That is a success, not the success.

Tottenham do not reach the top of the stairs with one TV deal or one trophy. They simply take a step, while our opposition also takes a step.

Football is a business, football is about having money, then and only then, can you hope to have sustained success.

The aim of every newly promoted team is not to win the Premier League or even to win a domestic trophy, it is simply not to get relegated again. Why, because the Premier League is where the money is at.

Tottenham have opened a new stadium and STARTED to generate additional revenue, that still has to grow as we are still miles behind Manchester City and Manchester United for instance.

They can pay a level of wages that we simply can't entertain.

We live in a world of spiraling transfer fees and player wages. We heard in the commentary of the Bayern Munich game that one of the worlds giant clubs are having to change their business model and develop more youth as a result.

They can not afford to simply pay what anyone wants and pay whatever wages someone wants, as some of our fans suggest Tottenham should.

Very few have considered wages when talking about Paulo Dybala. He is reported to want £350,000-a-week.

Tottenham are not in that bracket. If you give it to one player, you must start giving to all. What would Harry Kane's agent do if we signed Dybala on £350,000-a-week?

He would be straight in Daniel Levy's office demanding a 75% wage increase for his client and then every other agent would be demanding parity and a 75% age increase for their client.

You have now just financially destroyed the club. You have agreed to wages current income can't afford. That then means you must sell players to balance the books, just like Leeds United had to when they reached a Champions League semi-final. 

You have just taken the club into the Leeds United position, the very position these same people say it is impossible for Tottenham to be in.

Tottenham still have to cut their cloth. OK, the cloth we are cutting now is of a better quality than it was 5 years ago and we hope it will be even better quality in another 5 years.

Do Tottenham have money to invest in the transfer market? Yes

Can we just go out and spend it as the fans would like us to do and as clueless journalists write? No.

For instance, before we bring in Bruno Fernandes as the replacement for Christian Eriksen, we must first be certain that Christian Eriksen is leaving. For that, we must be certain that Real Madrid are going to buy him.

We haven't known that until now an can't act until now as a result. That affects our whole window. We don't know for sure our financial situation, how much money we have coming in, what we will be paying in wages and thus what we can pay others and stay within our allocated wages budget.

Our transfer window has had to wait until we can sort out the major purchases and see where we are financially, see who we have sold or more accurately, who other clubs have bought.

Last summer, to improve the team, Mauricio Pochettino wanted set players and set players only, not a great list of alternatives and go out and buy anyone one of them (obviously trying them in order first). Our targets were Malcom, Matthijs de Ligt and Anthony Martial basically.

Malcom went to Barcelona and now has clearly moved for money, going to Russia. Matthijs de Ligt Ajax refused to sell and he turned Tottenham down anyway wanting an already established top club while Manchester United simply refused to release Anthony Martial.

We were unable to secure the players we wanted. Was that a disappointment to Pochettino? Yes, it was, but he also understood it was ambitious for a club in our situation.

Another top-four finish, an unexpected run in the Champions League, mistakes that put us out of the FA Cup and a loss on penalties in League Cup showed we were close to winning something while generating extra revenue.

We opened the stadium and instead of projections, we could see what the stadium actually generated in revenue. A Champions League final also opens the eyes of potential sponsors, there might be commercial sponsorship deals to come.

All that puts us in a different position this window to last window. We can offer better financial packages to players, although not the £350,000 Dybala level yet.

The three primary targets for Mauricio Pochettino this window were Tanguy Ndombélé, Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon.

There is no way Daniel Levy was not and is not going to secure these signings.

Tanguy Ndombélé was the most important of all and after the international break, he was secured. We then had to wait for Lyon to secure a replacement and listen to media games while they did.

There is a determination to get Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon and again these deals were agreed early. Injuries, the Copa America and holidays stopped everything until Monday.

Real Betis have sold a player, bought a player and need to raise €28m (£25.58m - $31.11m) to pay the release clause for the striker they have decided they want. That means up front cash they don't have. That means generate it from player sales. That means try to renegotiate an already agree deal to get it.

Let us be clear, the Giovani Lo Celso deal will still happen, a solution will be found, he is too important to our plans not to be bought and Daniel Levy has no intention of not securing the deal. He is not at odds with Pochettino, who is very happy around the ground, he is on the same page.

Ryan Sessegnon will happen too, of that I'm also convinced.

Daniel Levy is fully aware he needs to deliver as the next step up that set of stairs. He has more to negotiate with the summer but that doesn't mean you simply recklessly spend as if money doesn't matter.

He is building the club with a bigger vision than fans have. He is fully aware that that isn't going to be achieved by not securing specific targets as we move up the notches.

The club is evolving thus transfer business evolves, that is all that is happening at Tottenham, not a change of approach, some fans it seems are still not evolving with it.

Business will still be conducted in the same manner it has always been conducted and that has been very successful, just at a higher level with a better grade of player than previously.

Look around the transfer market and until this week none of the top teams had done any more major business than we had done, Liverpool have done none.

People who don't trust Daniel Levy just haven't grown with the times and are clinging to the past. They don't understand how business operates. To want him out is to want the club to fail. Not one of these people has ever come up with an alternative.

In 6 days you will all be very pleased with our window I'm sure.