LONDON — Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Tottenham’s new stadium will not change the club overnight, warning that the current project will continue for the foreseeable future — with or without him at the helm.
Pochettino has previously talked up the potentially transformative impact of Spurs’ new 61,500-seater home, suggesting next season’s move will help the club to compete financially with its big-spending rivals and, finally, win silverware.
Spurs have a net-spend of just £400,000 since Pochettino’s appointment in 2014 and, for all their progress under the Argentine, they have been unable to win a trophy, leading to suggestions that he can take them no further until the financial shackles come off.
But, speaking ahead of Monday’s match against Watford, Pochettino said Spurs’ project would continue into the new stadium and outlast his tenure as manager.
“It’s a new era because we are going to move to a different venue to play and you have to manage the expectations because it’s suddenly not going to change everything and millions of pounds will rain from the sky,” he said.
“The club is not going to change. If I stay here for three years more, after three years the project will not change. The most important thing now is that project — we need to keep pushing.
“Of course, we are frustrated about bad results. But we cannot change because the club cannot change. It cannot go, ‘Ok, now we are going to do the same that Manchester United are doing now’. That is not a point to discuss.”
Spurs’ progress has been questioned since their FA Cup semifinal defeat to Manchester United but Pochettino — who was evasive about his own future and refused to confirm if he will definitely lead the club into its new home — claimed they have been “victims of their own success,” explaining that his team was not supposed to currently be challenging for honours.
But, while he encouraged supporters to keep dreaming of bettering their wealthier domestic and European rivals, he warned them not to be disappointed if silverware does not follow the stadium move.
He added: “Tottenham needed when we arrived here to have a clear idea about discipline, rules, principles, a project to develop, to use young players … and that was how we created this project all together. Whether it is me or another, that is the right project to keep pushing.
“Don’t be disappointed if we still don’t win a trophy, the expectation always is massive. We [are] victims of our own success because we are ahead in our project.
“In my first meeting with Daniel [Levy, Spurs chairman] and [owner] Joe Lewis, the target was to arrive in the new stadium in four years and to create a team to have the possibility to fight for the top four and the second year [in the new stadium] to play Champions League. We are victims of our success.
“It’s not easy to be close, nearly to touch [success] and be disappointed. The easy thing to do is give up and say we need to change everything and blame this and that.
“No! Keep going, pushing hard and with all the energy try again. That is the realistic project for Tottenham and it’s fantastic because we are different and we need to keep going.
“I accept and I know that the other teams will keep doing what they are doing already but every season, we have to reassess and instil new basics because you have to keep dreaming.
“You have to dream to play big and win, and then just try. Maybe you don’t reach the level of the others but you have to reassess every year and to review the basics of your team and keep dreaming.”
It is the second time since the FA Cup semifinal defeat to United that Pochettino has alluded to the club’s future without him at the helm and it was suggested to the 46-year-old that he is the glue in the club’s project.
“Yes because Daniel Levy trusts me and the club trusts in me to develop this project,” he said. “Of course, there are plenty of my ideas here and with my staff here, with Jesus [Perez, assistant manager], Daniel, the board and everything. Of course, I still have three years contract here, so there’s no point to talk about [my future].”
Asked if he would sign a new contract, Pochettino said: “It’s a question for Daniel [Levy]. I am not [Arsene] Wenger or [Sir Alex] Ferguson who decide about their own future. I decide only about the starting XI in this football club.
“That is up to Daniel, does he want to offer or not? I am a person who is never going to ask to improve my salary or extend my contract or anything like this. Look, only he has the answer to that question.”
Dan is ESPN FC’s Tottenham correspondent. Follow him on Twitter: @Dan_KP.
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