Jermaine Jenas has questioned why Tottenham would build a “big stadium” only to never “invest properly and challenge for a league title”.
The north Londoners are without a trophy since their League Cup win in 2008 and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United on Wednesday.
The FA Cup was a great chance to end their trophy drought and a defeat to the Championship side was a bitterly disappointing result.
Tottenham’s best spell in the Premier League came between 2015-16 and 2017-18 when they finished third twice and second once.
However, since then, they have failed to finish higher than fourth.
Incidentally, Spurs finished sixth in their first full season in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Having moved into such a wonderful arena after some domestic success – albeit without the silverware to show for it – you would have expected the club to really push on and bring in some top-class players to win their first league title since 1961.
Many Spurs fans have begged the question: ‘Why would we build this stadium not to push on and compete for the biggest titles?’ and now their former player, Jenas, has asked just that.
Speaking to FourFourTwo, the former midfielder said: “I sympathise with the fans to an extent. I totally with the standpoint of ‘What’s the point in building this big stadium and having all this lovely stuff if you’re not going to invest properly and challenge for a league title?’ I think the frustration from the fans is that they seem to just half-heart everything.
“It’s like, are they ever going to get to a window, like this summer and go, ‘You know what? We need James Maddison: go and get him. We need a top goalkeeper, let’s go and compete for one.’ That never seems to happen.
“It’s always half-hearted and I think that’s where the frustration lies. You’re here now, so go: you’re very close but you’re not prepared to take that next step.”
Jenas also believes Spurs head coach Antonio Conte should leave the club if he is not “backed” by Daniel Levy.
“The uncertainty comes, though: I’m not sure Antonio Conte will be there next year,” he continued.
“You look at his career and the cycles are pretty short: he’s coming to the end of another one. I hope he stays if he’s refreshed, supported and backed. If he’s not, he should move on.”
Spurs have reached four finals since their 2008 triumph in the League Cup and finished second in the Premier League on one occasion, as mentioned prior.
They only suffered four league defeats in the season (16-17) they finished second to Chelsea and scored 86 goals on their way to accumulating as many points.
That period under Mauricio Pochettino was the best in the club’s recent history, but they seem to be falling further away from competing for a Premier League title, even with serial winner Conte at the helm.
READ MORE: Every Premier League club’s most valuable former Academy player