FOR SPURS, LIKE MONTY, TITLES MAY NEVER COME

THeIr time will come. That is what we always hear about Tottenham and Mauricio Pochettino. They will win a major trophy, one day. Yet that isn’t necessarily true. Sport isn’t so fair. colin Montgomerie’s time never came in major tournament golf. nor did Paula radcliffe’s at the olympics. Barry Bonds never won a World Series; Dan Marino did not win a Super Bowl; and David Ferrer has won more matches on the aTP Tour than any player never to win a Grand Slam event. He was in tennis’s top 10 for almost six years consecutively; yet, zip.

So, no, it doesn’t follow that it will turn out fine for Tottenham in the end. It is not written that there will be a moment of supreme vindication, a day when it all falls into place. They have to make it happen. They have to drag matches like the champions league second leg with Juventus their way. Ferrer is now 35 and ranked 33rd in the world.

Midway through his peak years he was no doubt regularly told that, almost inevitably, he would eventually win a big one. It never happened, and now looks like it never will.

an even more unforgiving clock is ticking for Pochettino and Tottenham because individual ambitions are a factor, too. It is possible to assume that Harry Kane (above) or Dele alli might still be potent forces five years from now, perhaps more. Yet it cannot be guaranteed they will still be with Tottenham. nor Pochettino.

They can only last so many years on hope and ambition, eventually a greater opportunity will arise. It was the same for Ipswich Town and Bobby robson. They should have won the league, but did not, and circumstances changed.

robson became england’s manager. John Wark left for liverpool, arnold Muhren for Manchester United, Paul Mariner for arsenal. It would be astonishing if the key protagonists at Tottenham now were all still with the club in five years’ time; particularly if their luck hasn’t yet changed.