My friends, it is a tough time to be a Spurs fan after our terrible start to the season but the point I wanted to reflect on was my reaction to the defeat against Stoke. I switched on a few minutes late because I was matching the political show Meet the Press where former US Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Obama for President.

When I switched the game on we were down 1-0 and down to ten men. Of course we cam back briefly before losing another goal, defender and the game.

I switched off in disgust and the switched on the preview for the NFL - now that is not the shock - I love futbol and the NFL, the real shock was that I was able to mostly shift Spurs out of my thought process and this morning I was trying to figure out why.

I think at its core it is because I realize that the mess is entirely predictable and of our own making. Two summers ago we had a coach who loved the club, did not want to be anywhere else and had finished 5th twice. He asked for three players - a midfielder, left winger (who was pals with our moody Bulgarian striker) and a defender. Total cost 12.5 million pounds. Instead he got a whole lot of young talent that did not fill the gaps we had. Then our coach made the mistake of saying 5th would be a good finish that year and - in part because the club wants the money of the Champs League - was called unambitious, undermined and fired.

Then, this summer, with another good coach in position we need three players - a defensive midfielder, a left winger and a defender. And yes, we needed to sell Berbatov and by a top striker. Instead me buy lots of young talent and sell our other top striker and now languish at the bottom of the league.

Predictable.

Now here is what will happen, we will dig our way off the bottom and probably finish the season somewhere around 12-14th - maybe we win a cup. Suddenly those top 5 finishes don't look so bad do they?