Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino hit out at those who compare his club to the heavyweights of Europe, saying footage of their last title-winning team is in black and white.
Pochettino has been criticised for not delivering trophies, with another opportunity slipping away in midweek as they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup to Chelsea in the semifinals after a penalty shootout loss.
But the manager, who referenced the club’s prematch video of Bill Nicholson leading Spurs to the 1960-61 league title, is unhappy about the comparisons to other teams.
“Tottenham, with no history of winning… our glory, I watch the video about the glory, it’s with [Bill] Nicholson. It’s black and white,” he told a news conference. “And I watch it nearly every week and to create again that feeling you need time. Four years, five years, that’s nothing in the history of the club.
“Sometimes we forget where we came from four and a half years ago. That is the first mistake people make.
“Tottenham will be in the same level as Manchester united, Manchester City, this type of club, Chelsea. In the future, I hope, yes. But we sometimes forget from where we came.
“Four and a half years ago, when we arrived here the people begged to be competitive. Begged to have the possibility, in five years, once to be in the Champions League, to attract good players.
“Be regular competing in the cups in the semi-finals. If you looked at the record of the last four and a half years, we always when we lose, lose against big teams. Semi-finals, finals, and I think we were regular in the top four, in some seasons we were contenders – in a different way that the teams that we are talking about.
“And that is completely unfair, to charge the club like you are going to charge Manchester City, Liverpool or Chelsea.
“In the last 10 years who was the team that won the most titles? Chelsea, no? And after losing on penalties what are we going to say? Only to describe that Tottenham was so competitive, Chelsea was so competitive. It’s not changed the reality.”
Pochettino also said that the move to Wembley has had a major impact on the club as they wait to for their new home to be built.
“At the moment the team needed the last push, what happened in this process, in this club, with this generation of player?” he added. “We build, we build, we build but then White Hart Lane gone, we moved to Wembley.
“All the doubts about how we are going to behave, the example of West Ham’s first season and many things in this process that stopped the evolution of the team about to win. But no one say nothing.
“Remember, we were unbeaten, 19 games in the Premier League, at White Hart Lane in our last season there. And no one say what it means to move to Wembley to play and create another project.
“But not only this, but we are going to play only one season and then it’s nearly two seasons and no one says nothing. When Arsenal moved after playing in Highbury, people talked about massive problems, they’re still paying.”
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