Tottenham: This is a crucial time for Spurs' future - Jermaine Jenas

This is such a crucial time for Tottenham's future and the direction they want to go in after taking such huge strides over the past couple of seasons.

Their fans, and undoubtedly their players too, just want to feel like they are still moving forwards after finishing third, then second in the Premier League.
The danger is not that they risk standing still - more that they could fall behind if they don't strengthen properly now or, even worse, keep this group of players together.

At the end of July, Daniel Levy defended Tottenham's lack of transfer activity this summer and claimed the spending by other Premier League clubs is unsustainable

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy holds the key to that with who they sign and the club's pay structure going forward.
He has a reputation for being a pretty vicious negotiator but when I played for Spurs I sat down with him personally on several occasions to speak about wages and we had a really good relationship.
There were times when I was offered an extended and improved contract and I bit his hand off, and others when I would say I did not think it was the right time to sign.
Daniel would say something like: 'I fully respect that, but we will sit down again.'
He was always brilliant with me. Even when I ruptured my Achilles in 2011 while I was on loan at Aston Villa, one of the first things that came down the chain to me was, 'Jermaine, you will be back - and here is an extra year', which was great.
So from my point of view, he always treated me with respect and treated me well.
He has definitely got that humane side to him and the reputation he seems to have of being a horrible or tight man is just plain wrong.

Spurs no longer have to see their best players leave

I was always happy at Spurs so it was never an issue for me but, without really knowing it, I got to a point where I was about 26 or 27 - the age Rose is now - where I realised that even if I did want to leave it was too late.
I could not renegotiate because I had too many years left on my contract, which took me up to the age of 30 or 31, at which point you are struggling to land a big deal anyway.
As a model for Tottenham, it worked in the same way it does today - but we saw some of our best players leave, which is something that no longer has to happen.
We reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2011 with genuine stars like Gareth Bale and Luka Modric in the team, but we were never as consistent as this Spurs side who are trying to achieve bigger things than we did in the Premier League.

A strange and stressful week for Spurs

It has been a very strange and probably quite stressful week for everyone at Tottenham despite their win over Newcastle on Sunday.
Off the back of Rose's comments about the club's wages and lack of activity in the transfer market, there has been a lot of discussion about the club's ambition, or the perceived lack of it.
It appears things are now happening on the transfer front, with Ajax's Davinson Sanchez and Everton's Ross Barkley both in Spurs' sights.
Only Levy knows why he always does business so late - even my transfer to Spurs from Newcastle was done on the last day of the window in August 2005.