Again mate, net spend is irrelevant, we get Kane for free, United spent what on Lukaku? who got the better deal? (look at Dele, Eriksen, Son, all similar, way better value than cost). So let's stop with the 17th brick ..
Yes, we spend 6th to 8th on wages, Poch himself was clear, the 5 year plan with Levy was not to be in CL the first 3 years (we got there early), the stadium build itself was not budgeted on CL expectation. So your answer is we expected to finish 5th/6th with a goal of finishing in top 4, which to
@scaramanga's point is based on us believing we can run the club smarter than most of our competitors.
Here is the truth, Spurs did not have the financial ability to compete with United, Pool, Arsenal, Chelsea and City for a long time, Levy's plan was to make the club close the fiscal gap so we would be able to close the spending gap (exactly what you are complaining about), so we can legitimately compete. We have done that "now", in the last year or two, so you can't take a 5 or 10 year backward look because the income wasn't there to support the spend (without what obviously Levy thought was unnecessary risk).
The measurement of the club is the next 2-5 years, are we willing to raise our wages to 50-55% of turnover, are we willing to spend a little more on acquisition, are we willing to redirect the money raised from "non-football" events to squad quality?
I've said it before, if you fail to grasp that Levy/ENIC are playing the long game here, that they will never take impulsive decisions or risks this year that would be a non risk next year, then you will simply get frustrated. Spurs will grind and earn it's way to the top, however long that takes, and I'm not sure that's a bad thing even if like all of us, I'd love to see us win something now.
