The striking failure of Spurs' spending

Indeed, the club's current transfer appears to to be in a state of disarray. To some observers, the stand against United's pursuit of Berbatov is a sign the club are not willing to give into player power. However, there are suspicions that the act of defiance is nothing more than a bargaining tool.

Spurs took a similar stance when Liverpool declared their interest in Robbie Keane but they let the striker go once the asking price of £20m was met.

Keane's departure, even for the admittedly high fee, was a shock simply because of the influence he had on Spurs' season last year. Spending most of the season as captain, the Irishman scored 23 goals in all competitions.

Even more surprising, is the club's failure to find an adequate replacement for their three-time player of the year - and all of this before taking into account Berbatov's likely exit.

Spurs have been renowned for doing many of their player transfers, both in and out, late in the window to pressure clubs into paying as high or selling as low as possible.

This year seemed to be a different story as the club moved swiftly to sign Croatia star Luka Modric for £16.5m before Euro 2008 and soon followed that with other midfielders in Giovani dos Santos, John Bostock and David Bentley, as well as keeper Heurelho Gomes.

But while the signings provoked excitement about the potential of Spurs' midfield, the fans have been questioning whether other areas, particularly defence, should have been made the priority. It wasn't last summer and they ended up having to pay a total of £17m in Jaunary for Alan Hutton and Jonathan Woodgate to repair the damage.

They still finished the campaign with only bottom club Derby conceding more goals at home and the first two games this season have seen little improvement.

Remarkably, Tottenham now also find themselves with one of the weakest forward lines in the League, having boasted arguably the strongest this time last year. The signing of Darren Bent for £16.5m last summer was questioned by many as the club already had Berbatov, Keane and Jermain Defoe to choose from. But Bent, who scored only eight times last term, is now effectively the only forward left with Defoe and Keane gone and Berbatov also set to leave.

With less than a week to go to fill the gaps, particularly the yawning chasm up front, the club have taken a huge gamble and they won't be able to get away with blaming the manager should they fail to compete at the top this time.