Dubai: Tottenham Hotspur have what it takes to be a top four side for the next five years, but they won’t get a better chance than this season to end their wait for a Premier League title, according to former Spurs coach Martin Jol.
The North London club handed the title to 5000-1 shot Leicester City with two games to spare this season after being held to a 2-2 draw at Chelsea earlier this month.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side then got pipped to second by Arsenal on the last day of the season to complete a humiliating end, to an otherwise promising year, at the hands of their two biggest rivals in the capital.
Jol - who is in Dubai with his current club Al Ahly of Egypt ahead of their friendly with Italy’s AS Roma at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on Friday from 8pm - managed Spurs from 2004 to 2007 and said that while the future is bright, they won’t get a better chance than they did this year.
“Yes this was their best chance,” Jol told Gulf News. “Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City all weren’t as good as they should have been, so this year would have been the year to grab the title and they didn’t do it.
“But they will get a one or two good players in this summer and be strong enough to be a top four side for the next five years.
“I think Spurs is a unity and will be one of the strongest teams in the near future, they were the strongest team this year but just missed out because of a few difficult games.”
He also took a little credit for Tottenham’s rise, thanks to his involvement managing White Hart Lane’s Belgian defenders Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld at Ajax between 2009 and 2010.
“They’ve got Jan Vertonghen who was my player and I put him in defence for the first time at Ajax, because before that he was a midfielder. And I put Toby Alderweireld in when he was just 18-years-old. I know both of them and they have a great future with Spurs.”
But asked if this great future would involve a Premier League title, something Tottenham now haven’t won in 56-years, Jol sounded sceptical.
“I think it will be difficult. You can never predict, I don’t know what the limits are or what the maximum is for the team or Pochettino, but from what I saw this year, I think they were the strongest, and the best team in the Premier League.
“My biggest disappointment was that Arsenal overtook them in the last game, it reminded me of the 2005/06 season when I was at Spurs and we lost against West Ham on the last day of the season to allow Arsenal to overtake us for fourth.”
Tottenham’s players actually fell ill with a bout of food poisoning before that game and the club had requested in vain for the fixture to be moved, sparking comparison’s to the 1995 Rugby World Cup final when New Zealand were allegedly poisoned ahead of their defeat to South Africa.
“That was a big disappointment for me to see Arsenal come back last weekend, I was gutted to see Spurs finish third behind them. But looking at it realistically we must be over the moon, the only thing that would have made me happier this season is if we had won an FA Cup, League Cup, the Europa League, or even, yes, finished above Arsenal.”
