As a number of Tottenham players spent the night vomiting lasagne on the eve of a crucial match with West Ham in May 2006, the club must have felt that the heavens were conspiring against them.

Going into the final game of the 2005/06 Tottenham were fourth - one point clear of North London rivals Arsenal.

All Tottenham needed to do was match Arsenal’s result to go qualify for the Champions League for the first time ever.

But that is when a bout of food poisoning struck a large part of the squad. 

Arsenal beat Wigan 4 – 2 at home, while a depleted Spurs side fell 2 – 1 away to the Hammers.

The Champions League dream was gone. 

But six years on, Tottenham have already made it into the Champions League once in 2010/2011 and only missed out on this season’s competition after Chelsea won it, nullifying Spurs’ fourth place.

But can they go from the Top Four to title challengers in the next few seasons?

Resale value

Club chairman Daniel Levy has been a key part of Spurs’ recent success with astute buys in the transfer market.

The emphasis has been on bringing in talented young players with potential who can then be sold on for a profit when Europe’s biggest clubs come sniffing.

With the exception of Luka Modric (€20 million) and Dimitar Berbatov (€13 million), the likes of Michael Carrick, Jermain Defoe, Gareth Bale each cost less than €10 million.

Defoe and Bale are still at the club but Carrick, Berbatov and Modric were sold for enormous profits to Manchester United and Real Madrid respectively.

With the talent at the club’s disposal in recent years it has been possible for Tottenham to rise from mid-table to Top Four contenders. 

But their transfer strategy will not turn them into Premier League title challengers as Arsenal has shown that selling your best players on a consistent basis can limit a club’s ambition.

Regular Champions League football however will make this easier especially in terms of the revenue that can be used on wages.

Managerial consistency

When Harry Redknapp took over as manager in October 2008, Spurs were bottom of the league after eight games. 

But by the time of his sacking at the end of last season, he had achieved two fourth place finishes and reached the Champions League last-eight in 2011.

Prior to Redknapp, Tottenham had appointed seven head coaches in seven years, with only Martin Jol (2004 – 2007) proving somewhat successful.

But the stability of the Redknapp era helped yield impressive results, which makes it interesting to see whether new boss Andre Villas Boas can keep the momentum going and build on his predecessors work.

So far the jury is out with certain sections of the Spurs faithful booing the team during recent fixtures but the club’s hierarchy would be wise to give AVB time to implement his ideas.

Chopping and changing managers rarely leads to sustained success as Tottenham should know all too well.

Stadium

But a new stadium needs to be a priority – or at least redevelopment at White Hart Lane – to build on the club’s recent success.

White Hart Lane’s current capacity stands at just over 36,000 which is well below the likes of The Emirates (60,000) and Old Trafford (75,000).

Without the backing of rich sugar daddies, Tottenham needs to maximise ticket revenues to compete with their rivals.

London’s Olympic Stadium was mooted as a potential venue but this seems increasingly unlikely which leaves redevelopment as the best viable option.

This season remains crucial for Tottenham. With Manchester United, City and Chelsea far off in the distance there is a real possibility that Spurs could take fourth spot at the end of the season which makes a positive result over direct rivals Arsenal today even more important.

But for now it seems finishing fourth above Arsenal will be the height of their ambition.