Juande Ramos is the toast of White Hart Lane. The Carling Cup win was largely down to the Spaniard’s tactical acumen.

His substitution on 60 minutes at Wembley should go down in football folklore. Against a Chelsea side well versed in closing out a game and winning finals, the former Sevilla manager added Tom Huddlestone to the midfield to wrest dominance away from Avram Grant's men and gave Aaron Lennon the room and space to make a difference.

Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate have rightly taken some plaudits but it is Ramos who deserves most of the credit for Spurs’ first silverware this century. Alongside the final, the semi-final win over Arsenal and the quarter-final victory over Manchester City were also highly influenced by the Spaniard.

'Spurs are more likely to be relegated than challenge for a top-four place this season'


But as all Spurs fans will testify, the club have been in this position before. The last time Spurs won a trophy, also the League Cup in 1999, George Graham was also lauded as the saviour of Tottenham despite his Arsenal connections. A manager of the north London club does not even have to win a trophy to be considered a new Messiah.

Martin Jol was thought by many to be able to bring the glory days back to the Lane simply by challenging Arsenal for fourth place. And the 5-1 semi-final League Cup win over Chelsea in 2002 had many Spurs fans claiming Glenn Hoddle was on the cusp of returning the north London club to a period of dominance.

As much as the Spurs players and fans have celebrated in recent days, it was only the third most important trophy in England. Sure, it brings the same reward as the FA Cup, but if Spurs truly want to be considered a great club again they will have to make their mark in the League or in Europe.

Ramos has even admitted as much, saying: “We still cannot be considered one of the big four. We are not at the same level as Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool. We have to continue working from game to game, although the trophy will make things slightly easier. There are still many defects yet to polish.”

The Spaniard has done a great job so far. Spurs have outplayed both Arsenal and Manchester United during his short reign. But they need to do this on a consistent basis in the league season after season. The fact is that Tottenham have the resources to break into the top four and the support, but it is still a long way off.

Lest anyone forget in all the hysteria, Spurs are still 11th in the Premier League and are unlikely to finish any higher than 10th this season.  They have won just twice away from home this season, which has been the hallmark of Spurs ever since anyone can remember. They stand just as much chance of being relegated as challenging for a top-four place this season.

The key now is the UEFA Cup. Ramos showed with Sevilla that this competition can be the springboard to domestic success to challenge for a place in the Champions League. The season following their first UEFA Cup win, the Spanish side came close to winning La Liga and comfortably won a place in the elite competition in Europe.

Spurs have a great chance of winning Europe’s secondary trophy this season. They face a tough draw with PSV Eindhoven in the next round but if they can get past the Dutch league leaders they will really only feel Bayern Munich and possibly Werder Bremen could stand in their way.

Confidence is undoubtedly brimming throughout the team and Robbie Keane has already commented after the Carling Cup final how the players talked about a UEFA Cup run in the Wembley dressing room after the win over Chelsea.

This season they can now solely concentrate on the UEFA Cup - and by winning this tournament they would no doubt keep hold of Dimitar Berbatov and also set up a challenge on the big four next season.

The “Juande” puns have been used in full force by the press in recent days. This Spurs side have to seize the day and win the UEFA Cup so that this is not yet another false dawn at White Hart Lane.