Thank the deity that doesn’t exist it’s over. The Modric saga and Harry’s inability to pass by a camera without giving an interview meant the last few weeks have been excruciating. Let’s get on with it now and play some football. However, here’s no denying the backdrop of genuine tension on deadline day. I’ve talked of this being the watershed season, the last chance to build on the foundation of a fine group containing four outstanding footballers. Parker and Adebayor will enhance the squad greatly but I can’t escape the lingering sensation that at this crucial moment more should have been invested in the team and that the reasons why stunt our growth in the long run.

No question, this is a fine squad. Adebayor is strong, mobile and dangerous in the box, in short, just what the manager ordered.. It’s hard to work out what motivates him. Tough enough to carry on after lying on the floor of a bullet ridden coach as teammates died around him, a wet January Wednesday in Stoke shouldn’t be too much of a problem but at City and L’arse, his interest waned and form declined. The loan nature of his transfer doesn’t help. However, he knows he’s first choice and that’s significant for him. Bale and Lennon out wide, Luka and VDV through the middle, should give him plenty of chances.

Parker is an excellent buy. The criticism around the boards is based on West Ham’s failure last season but takes little account of what he can bring to our play. He links defence and attack, passes well short and long, makes space for himself and for others and will fit straight in to the side.  What’s not to like. WHam went down through no fault of Parker, who at times tried to carry the entire team and often succeeded. Rumours say he rather than manager Avram Grant gave the half time team talk that led to the Hammers turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 away win, so here’s the on the pitch leadership we crave. He makes the men around him better players.

Above all, we’ve achieved my main target, keeping Modric, Sandro, Bale and Van der Vaart. Credit to Levy, unmoving and true to his word. So far so good.

But. Whereas I had hoped a loan striker plus experienced midfielder would be the basis of our planning for the future, they are the future. It’s who we didn’t sign that’s significant in the longer term, or more accurately, why. No fourth striker, bearing in mind we have only two other first team front men, both of whom are not quite what we want, and no centre half. Of the many players we were interested in, they either stayed with their clubs or went elsewhere. Why?

Taking last January’s window into consideration, I suspect that we have tried but failed to go for a host of players who fit our profile, i.e. talented players under 26 who are on the up and for whom a move to Spurs is a move up the slippery slope. In recent times, Berbatov and Modric are classic examples. Note that neither were cheap: Levy will spend if he feels we can get value. He doesn’t want to spend big on older players whose potential sell on value will plummet as they turn 30.

Unfortunately these men will not come to us, partly because we are not in the Champions League and partly because we don’t match salaries being offered elsewhere. Take Ageuro for instance. I believe the stories that we made a bid of £30m plus for him, maybe Rossi too, in January. City come in and we are nowhere. Same this window for Leandro – they have no incentive to move.

So we fall back on Harry’s old guard. If someone else is in for them, chances are our salary scale will be too low even if Levy will pay the fee. Bellamy for example – I’m assuming Liverpool offered to match or nearly match his giant pay packet. We have no chance. I’m assuming that Harry’s late night comment on Levy not being able to do the deal over Cahill also refers to salary not the fee. If I’m wrong, Levy is more foolish than I think he is.

I’ve said throughout the window that we didn’t have to sell in order to buy. Harry wanted to use 30 or 40 m from Modric to buy other players but we’ve emerged well over 20m up overall, including O’Hara for 4 or 5m. That’s not counting the CL income, so the availability of ready cash isn’t the issue. Levy being reluctant to spend because Redknapp will be gone by the summer, discredited either by his court case or by becoming England manager, doesn’t hold up either. Why not get rid of him now, or why let him have any money at all? Remember Levy was prepared to spend this window. Not perhaps as much as we would have liked but something nevertheless, and we still have a surplus plus Modric as an asset if the new man needs to rebuild.

There’s more weight behind the idea that the driver is the ‘I’ in ENIC. After all, as chairman Levy has a duty to shareholders and the owner Lewis to ensure there’s profit on that investment, for example if the club is sold. The new stadium is getting closer and we need money not only to build it but also to do so without destroying that investment.

In the end, Levy the consummate businessman is ignoring the forces that shape his working life, supply and demand. I admire his fiscal prudence on both a practical level, ensuring we have a sound financial foundation,  and on a moral level, resisting greedy players and adroitly avoiding the insane business practice adopted by other club owners blind to everything but the pursuit of success on the field. And that includes keeping tabs on his manager.

However, Levy is fast becoming the King Canute of football. He cannot singlehandedly hold back the onrushing tide of improving salaries if he wishes to secure the club’s long term interests. His unbending response to the Modric transfer was admirable but the same quality is a potential disaster when applied to budgets. Retain by all means the sound budgetary principles of not paying fees and salaries over the odds for older players but the club’s entire salary structure must be revised upwards. Otherwise we won’t survive the rat race.

Now it’s down to Redknapp, the coaches and the players. Despite my concerns regarding long term planning, it’s worth repeating that this remains by far the best squad we’ve had at Spurs in recent times. Time to realise that potential. Opposing teams have sussed our formation so Harry has to come up with Plan B. Parker and Adebayor will give more options in that respect as we have to switch from an over-reliance on two wide men to a passing game, flexible and interchanging in the middle as well as width. Pienaar will be important here. Frankly he’s done nothing so far but that’s his game.

Luka and Harry aren’t best friends any more – put it to one side. We’ve got one more season, let’s make the most of it. Hud, that ‘stepping up’ phrase I hate, bit more from you and you could be a star. Each individual has their own targets but the team’s the thing. The pressure’s on, time to deliver.

It’s not the indecent amounts of cash swilling around the game, or that we’re all now at Sky’s beck and call. Not obscene ticket prices, not even the player’s loyalty to the one thing that truly matters, their bank account. No, I’ve discovered what’s crucifying football – 5-0 victories. Absolutely fatal. The modern curse. Join me comrades on TOMM’s grand crusade to rid our great game of the evil within. Ban them from all football! NOW!

I’m certain that I could never be bored watching Spurs play football. That would be going too far. Suffice to say this may well have been the closest I’ve ever come. The disjointed nature of our play plus Hearts’ inability to score even if they played for another week gave the evening the feel of a testimonial, although it’s a puzzle who benefited. The stars were indisputably the Hearts fans, determined to have a good time. They sung for the whole time, loud and long, and I sincerely hope for their sakes that their chairman isn’t as bonkers as he appears to be and gives them a decent team for the season to come.

Regular readers and I have an unspoken bond. Although I like to think the 40 plus years I’ve been a Spurs fan brings a certain perspective to my observations, if I ever begin a sentence with the phrase, ‘In my day’, feel free to shoot me. All I’d say, though, is that we’ve taken big leads back to the Lane before in European competition and, well, made them bigger. Keflavik we added 9 to a five goal first leg lead, off the top of my head.

Times have changed. Organisation and fitness levels go a long way to even out the disparities. Also, whilst it’s ‘good to see the kids’ the boys on show were just that, boys, and we shouldn’t either expect too much or read anything significant into their performances last night. A team is just that, a team, and this lot had never played together before. On the field, Livermore played the old hand, encouraging those around him, and Corluka did likewise for Fredericks, consigned to a wide role and looking increasingly forlorn and detached as the evening passed him by. He’s quick mind, faster even than Lennon over 5 yards.

Carroll had the best debut, even though he looked like his mum had bought him a kit the next size up so he could  get another season’s wear out of it. Never mind, he’ll grow into it. I liked the way he wanted to be involved, probably risking the ire of the coaches by coming inside to search for the ball. Lovely pass for the Kane penalty chance.

Kane on the other hand has been eating girders since he could take solids, washed down with iron filings in his bottle. He’s quick as well as powerful with an eye for the half chance and good movement and control. Not his fault he experienced the same problems as his elders, the lack of good chances. The two he had, he moved onto them with purpose and poise. Never mind the miss – he had to wait a while, too long to think – he had the gumption to take it, on his debut, and that’s what’s important in the long term.

They chased back when the ball was lost and want to play the game the right way, all of them. Remember these are one level removed from the group who are next in line, young men like Caulker and Mason who are learning their trade in the league.

As the game wore on, it became dominated by the Pavyluchenko Parallax, an occasional but potentially dire phenomenon that at its worst can, like last night, empty a ground in a few short moments. Normally strikers get a sighter, then find their range. Pav is the opposite – a sizzling early left footer followed by shooting increasingly wayward, to the point where fans took evasive action when he moved onto the ball, not just those behind the goals but in the wings of the East and West. A final effort signalled a deafening banging of upturned seats as the ground emptied, or perhaps fans feared for their safety. For both he and Hudd, best said that they were playing their way back to fitness and leave it at that.

I welcome the arrival of Adebayor. More about him in the next couple of days, but provided he is motivated, he’s just the alert, powerful and mobile striker we crave. Strong in the air, Lennon and Bale at last have a target vaguely interested in what they have to offer, while Rafa and Luka will look to his movement. If Luka stays. No more about that. Wait until the deadline passes, we might have a respite of at least ten minutes before they start going on about January.

It’s good to be back at the Lane once more, easing gently into the new season. A warm welcome for those of us who got there early: pie and a drink, £5, pie and lager £6.50, bottle of water £2. The east stand bagels have shrunk in inverse proportion to their increased price. At what point does a smoked salmon bagel become just a bagel? They came close last night, whilst in front of me Janice’s seat, £900 or so for the season, encrusted in bird’s dollop. Baked on, by the look of it. They really don’t care, do they.

Half time from Tottenham’s own Smashie (or is he Nicey?) was for once worth a glance. Tom White, John’s brother, returned to the Lane for the first time since he played for Spurs in his brother’s testimonial in 1965 or ‘66. He looked genuinely touched, a reminder that football means something. Surely he is the subject of the all-time football trivia question: which player has spent the shortest time at a club? To comply with the regulations and play for Spurs in that game, he signed for us for the duration of the match and then Hearts signed him back when it was over.

Finally, a touching moment or two in the company of greatness. Frail and grey, unable to say even a couple of words, Dave Mackay walked out uncertainly but when he stood on the pitch where he and he alone once ruled, he stood  upright and proud as the ground rose. Age cannot diminish his achievements. The legs were unwilling but the glory days will never leave him, not when fans stand to honour the memory of a true master. Forever mighty.

New season, same old story. Good possession and passing wasted because there’s nothing going on up front. Unprotected defenders stretched out of shape, eventually reaching breaking point.  Free-kick routines that would be laughed off the pitch at an under 10s tournament. After coming back into the match before and just after half-time, by the end it’s relief that it wasn’t more.

Previews on the game focussed on the inexperience of the two sides in key areas. The game was won and lost because United exploited our weakness, centre midfield, whereas we put little pressure on their new back five.

Talking of previews, my pre-season effort implored Redknapp and his players to adopt a formation that gave the back four additional protection. Every other team in the Premier league does so. If it means a more cautious approach, so be it, especially away from home. It shouldn’t matter – we have the perfect players for a counter-attacking game.

So forgive me if regular readers have heard this before. I’m a fan of Bale, Lennon and Kranjcar in their different ways but their indolent approach to defending was inexcusable. Strolling back when United got past them high up the pitch, they left Livermore to do his best. Walker and then Corluka in the second half were more often than not left one on one with Young or Nani, two of the best wide men in the business, or else were outnumbered two against one as Evra raced past. Both did well, considering, Charlie turned this way and that but made four or five tackles to block Young. It was noticeable that our best period came in the second quarter when someone had obviously had a word. They worked back and we looked better prospects, the solidity at the back offering a platform for our best passage of play.

Up front, well, the preview said we need a striker or two. Revolutionary insight, huh. You know it. Defoe demonstrated why. Kind of him, not that any further evidence was required after last season. Maybe Harry put him up to it as another dig in Levy’s ribs to spend spend spend. I can’t think of another explanation as to why he was so lame. Even then, there was a might-have-been, unlucky with a volley against the post that could have given hope out of the blue.

I’m not too down on myself or the team. I can’t say I’m disappointed because I had low xpectations beforehand. We’ve learned nothing new – the only problem is the same old same old – but I’m happy to give them time and new players to sort that. It’s the first game of the season away to the best team in the land with our 6th and 7th choice central midfielders. At least we’ve got it out of the way.

Positives too. I realised Friedel was likely to be first choice not on pre-season displays but when Paddypower made him odds on to have more first team appearances than Gomes by the end of the season. Straight away there’s an air of assurance and command of the box, plus several excellent low saves that kept us in the game. I don’t know how Gomes communicated with his back four, or perhaps the question is whether he communicated in ways other than fear-laden grimaces, but the super new Sky effects mikes picked up Friedel’s stream of encouragement and authoritative instructions.

The back four did better than I expected. Kaboul had an especially good game. Every defender looks unsure at times against United and given how exposed he and Dawson were, I’ll give them the benefit. Daws might have come for the cross as Welbeck came in for the first but overall credit to United, there’s a limit to what a defender can do if a forward comes between two centre backs at pace and the cross is that good. Some goals are just good goals, this was one of those, although we gave the ball away needlessly further up the field in the build-up. The second was an example of what I’ve been saying about defending as a unit, centre half unprotected has to come out, they switch the ball one way then another, so quickly. Brilliant move. The third, Daws might have put in a better challenge there, on his heels as Rooney came in.

Rafa looks fit and eager, lasted 90 minutes and as the game progressed can be excused for all the long shots as he had nothing ahead of him. Livermore is a fine prospect with impressively quick feet, good control and enough poise to hold onto the ball when required, at Old Trafford, on his debut. Before he tired, his application was an example to more experienced team-mates around him.

United remain the benchmark in the Premier League and we could learn a thing or two from them. Much of what they do is comparatively simple. Our movement and passing was good when we could get on the ball. However, in advanced areas sometimes the easy ball is best. Cleverly had options, slipped it easily out wide for the ball before the cross that provided the goal. Time and again we held on to it in those situations, Defoe, Bale and Lennon jiggling around, waiting to be closed down.

Let’s leave it and move on. No time to bemoan our tough start. City on Sunday, let’s get on with it.