Some interesting points on here, though perhaps over analysing too.
The way I look at it, Tottenham had what I shall refer to as a 'natural level' of around 4th - 6th place, and were finishing 2nd - 4th above our natural level. This isn't looking purely at players on the pitch, but the stadium (Old WHL), income, fan base and everything related to a football club.
Liverpool had a natural level of around 2nd - 4th but were finishing 2nd - 8th, around and below their natural level.
Now I would say Spurs have a natural level of around 3rd - 5th, and we can guess this season we finish 4th - 8th, around or below our natural level.. and Liverpool now have a natural level around 1st - 3rd, where I expect them to end up again.
Basically there's no huge drama. Liverpool have been a lot bigger than us for a long time. Anfield was a huge part of this, their history, salary outgoings and what is often overlooked when comparing both clubs transfer activity - player pulling power. Lots of their best signings probably wouldn't have wanted to join Spurs unless we went silly on wages like Chelsea and Man City did with their daddies credit cards. Not a model I would been keen nor proud to follow, regardless of their success.
I'm sorry to say it, but it's not simply all about scouts, recruitment strategy, Levy etc. A huge factor, particularly with foreign players - is the name Liverpool. We are nowhere near them in terms of name. We may post stats, profits, figures or whatever to argue that, but at the end of the day players look at salaries, and club profiles (trophies won). We are behind them on both, so 'naturally' ought to be behind them in the league. I thoroughly enjoyed our seasons finishing above them with no right to.
I joked in a thread last year about visiting Morocco.. Talking to locals about football, asking who you support - the response to "Tottenham" was once "ahh yes, Tottingham Forest - I know, Clough!" .. and this Spring (just before the Ajax first leg) it was "ahh yes, Harry Kane - beat Manchester City in Champions League".
We need to continue on that path. We need kids that are the next global football superstars who are currently 5-10 years old to see us playing in the Champions League, know our name, see us competing with the biggest teams on the planet, and doing ourselves proud like we did in last seasons campaign.
Levy has been working really hard on raising that global image but I think the rewards from that could be 10+ years away. At the same time he has remained true with increasing our player salaries in line with our increased income.
Just because we finished above Liverpool a lot recently never made us a bigger, higher profile club than them. We played above our natural level while they played below theirs. The way I look at it, the gap to them has been consistently closing over the last 10 years in terms of stature.
.
