Genuine title fight is a bit of a stretch
And 3 finals over 7 years is not impressive at all especially compared to our supposed rivals and other clubs in the big 6 who have all won more titles/Cups in that time.
I will ask you this as this is something that I am seeing more from ENIC apologists, what is your expectation of Tottenham? Do you see as us being in the big 6? Do you think we should compete for top 4, FA Cups, CL titles, Europa League titles?
I ask because a lot of the excuses I see from people like you seem to show a real lack of ambition, and I don't mean that as an insult but you might have a different view on where Spurs should be.
For me when you say 3 finals over 7 years to me that shows how poor we have been but you seem to think it shows well on the ownership. You say we have been fairly competitive, I would say we have not been very competitive at all especially outside of when Poch was here.
I do think that some of the disagreements could be resolved if people just realize that they have different expectations for the club. I don't think it will mean we agree but easier to understand views of people if they don't think that we should be competitive with the other top teams of the PL and Europe.
If we are in the Villa, Everton, Wolves, Leicester 2nd/3rd tier of PL football then our results are decent. I do not see us in that group but it makes some of your views make a lot more sense if you do.
This is very interesting, and perhaps is the bottom line of explaining not just the difference between views on here, but also the incredulity of each end of the spectrum that the other can possibly think the way they do.
I know it's not me you've asked the question to, but I'll answer if that's ok. Just my opinion obviously, others have every right to hold a different one.
For me personally, we currently naturally sit in a small tier between the long-term (say 10-year) top tier (Man City, Chelsea, Man United, Liverpool got in there in recent years), and what I'd consider the third tier (Villa, Leicester, Everton, West, Wolves have got in there in recent years). For me we sit in a 2nd tier with just Woolwich joining us there (they used to be top tier but have fallen, replaced by City 10 years ago).
Obvious question will be why do I see us in 2nd rather than top tier? Well, because for 3 of those 4 clubs - City, Chelsea, United - they are prepared to throw huge amounts of money at achieving success. I know people argue that our owners
should put more money in, but they own the club and it is their decision whether or not to do that, so there is no point in me saying 'Lewis should inject £500m to help us compete', for me that's his business not mine. (I know many will disagree with that, as is their prerogative. But in life I'm never one to try and spend other people's money). Liverpool are then in that top tier because in the last 5 years they have done similar to what we were doing a few years before, but they have done it better, bought the right players at the right time (mixture of wisdom and luck, like with any purchases), won trophies, and to some degree it seems success breeds success, players want to come, your scouts are clearly selecting well etc. For me we could well have got there, but we failed to back Poch when he needed it, then we to some extent got unlucky by paying big money for duds like N'Dombele and Lo Celso, when on paper they looked like they would significantly improve us. Also we did get into a couple of cup finals that on another day we could have won (Liverpool were nothing special that night, and although Man City battered us earlier this year, we've beaten them enough times in recent years to know that we can do it on the right day, etc).
So what is my expectation? Well, given that we've just built a new stadium, given that covid has impacted everyone, and given that Lewis doesn't want to bankroll big spending, personally for the next (say) 3 seasons I'd be delighted if we got at least 4th place every year, possibly challenging for the title one of those years (just being involved though, not winning it I very much doubt). Of course if we could pick up a cup in those 3 years that would be great, we're obviously long overdue, though as I said for me we've been incredibly unfortunate in that regard in the last 10 or so years. After 3 years, if the new stadium really cements us as bigger than we are now, then maybe I'd want more - though I'm always conscious that each year only one team can finish top of the EPL, we can't all win it...
Obviously 'success' is a relative term and different for everyone, but if you look at the other 90ish clubs in the English leagues, how many of them consider it failure if their club doesn't win either a cup or their division every few years? Most clubs win nothing ever! Now I know we're not 'most clubs', we're much bigger than that, but for the reasons I've mentioned above, for me we're only in the '2nd tier', and so should not expect regular titles or trophies.
There you go, that's my take, roughly at least (I've not planned it, I've written it as it's come out, so some bits may be not be quite right, but near enough). By the way, I don't say any of the above to wind anyone up etc, it's just how I personally feel, and I absolutely respect if others feel differently.
On the other side of the coin, I do perhaps have a question for the naysayers - if we'd won the CL final that night, the Carabao earlier this year, and one FA Cup in the last (say) 10 years, would you all be happy, or happier, with ENIC, Levy etc, or is it not about success on the pitch?