I can definitely understand that, but to my mind there's no point in challenging if at the end of it you still end up exactly where you were when you began - trophyless and still looked on as a club that can never vaunt the final hurdle. There is no point keeping Alli, Toby and Lloris if they never win us anything - we could buy Snodgrass, Shawcross and Ben Foster, save the dosh and spend it on making tickets cheaper or the Spurs Foundation or something equally substantive, because there is no difference between finishing 2nd and not winning anything and finishing 10th and not winning anything. Except perhaps that hopes are sustained a bit longer than they would be if we were gurning around in mid-table.