As Saturdays go, July 26 served up a bit of a shocker for Tottenham Hotspur. The Morgan Gibbs-White farce reaching its conclusion on Saturday evening was the embarrassing cherry on the transfer cake after 180 minutes of Spurs football that only served to show the scale of what lies ahead for not just Thomas Frank but chairman Daniel Levy and technical director Johan Lange.
Levy and Lange were watching a drab Spurs affair from the stands at Kenilworth Road on Saturday alongside CEO Vinai Venkatesham on a day when things most certainly did not go the north London club's way. Earlier in the morning, Lange could be seen on his phone at the training ground in the first game of Tottenham's pre-season double header and the Dane needs to work some kind of magic with those among his contacts in the days ahead.
For in the moment last month when Levy declared that winning the Europa League was not enough and that he wanted to lift the Premier League and Champions League trophies, you just knew that the football gods were rubbing their hands with glee at the fun they could have.
Spurs duly wasted more than two-and-a-half weeks following the events of 'Release Clause-Gate' only to read the words on Forest's social media accounts on Saturday night that said: "A statement of intent from our owner Evangelos Marinakis, as Morgan Gibbs-White signs a record deal at the club until the summer of 2028."
After threatening legal action all round, Marinakis reportedly flew to Portugal to Forest's pre-season training camp and finally got the 25-year-old England international to sign a bumper new record contract without a release clause, after almost a year of Gibbs-White wanting to do no such thing.
It's not the first time Spurs have gone after a player, looked to be signing them only for them to pen a new contract with their club. Jack Grealish remains the most ridiculous example of that, but this might just be the first time that Tottenham have met a release clause, arranged a medical yet still managed to lose the player to a new contract.
For all the talk of Marinakis and his escapades at Forest, he put his money where his mouth is and he delivered for his club.
It's an example to Tottenham, who often eventually have to sell their own star players as they allow their contracts to run down. The last time Spurs tied down a key player wanted by others was Son Heung-min's new deal four years ago. It is the same contract that is now approaching its final 11 months.
If anything can come from this mess at the north London club, offering Cristian Romero a club record deal of their own would be one lesson learned.
The Argentine's route to Atletico Madrid looks to be closing, especially with the Spanish side signing David Hancko from Feyenoord.
Romero appears to have settled into life under Frank and could be seen having what looked to be a collaborative discussion in the rain over tactics with the Dane during half-time in the training ground friendly against Wycombe on Saturday morning, after the head coach had wheeled out his tactics table by the dugout.
The Argentine is Spurs' biggest winner, having lifted the World Cup and the Copa America twice and he was a pivotal figure in their Europa League triumph. He makes others around him better and deserves to be rewarded for his success with a fitting contract as he embarks on his peak years at 27.
Romero though will no doubt look at Tottenham in its current state and having publicly questioned a lack of investment before, need to be convinced about what lies ahead and whether Levy's words will be backed up by action as the Gibbs-White farce only compounded a concerning day on the pitch at the club.
It's still the early stages of pre-season but after a day in which 24 different Spurs first team players never really looked like scoring against two League One clubs for long periods, it's worth noting that in the next four fixtures Frank's men will face Arsenal, Newcastle, Bayern Munich and PSG.
Pre-season is about getting minutes in legs but it's also about putting into place patterns of play and good processes to ensure positive momentum going into the season.
The problem for Frank is that the team he has inherited bears little difference to the creativity-shorn one that ended the season under his predecessor Ange Postecoglou. Mohammed Kudus will provide more excitement and space for others with his dribbling, but the glaring problem comes in that empty Gibbs-White shaped number 10 role.
James Maddison is back in full training after his knee injury, but Saturday's fixtures came too soon for the 28-year-old who watched the first match against Wycombe Wanderers forlornly from behind railings in his shorts and training top at Hotspur Way.
Dejan Kulusevski is nowhere near returning following his patella surgery in mid-May. Frank warned not to expect the 25-year-old back for the first Premier League game of the season against Burnley next month. The Swede is expected to miss far more than that as he continues his rehabilitation work on his right knee.
Without either of those players, Spurs lack ideas or an ability to get the ball anywhere near the opposition goal.
Against Luton Town, they managed just two shots all game with only one on target. Former Tottenham goalkeeper Josh Keeley was named man of the match on his debut for the Hatters and even the young Irishman probably doesn't know why, other than showing off some nifty footwork.
It was probably one of the easiest days the 22-year-old has had between the sticks in months. For it was the League One hosts who had 11 shots at goal, albeit with only two on target.
Luton managed 15 touches in the Tottenham box while the Premier League visitors could only muster 10 with Kudus managing six of those, Brennan Johnson another two and substitute Will Lankshear the remaining couple as he took only Spurs' second shot of the game in the final moments, dragging his effort wide.
Kudus had the only other Tottenham effort during the entire 90 minute encounter, played into the box by Mathys Tel before hitting a shot that was blocked by a Luton defender in front of goal.
The home fans sang 'Champions of Europe, you're having a laugh' at what they were watching.
It was tough going for Spurs' attack. Seventeen-year-old Mikey Moore was thrust into a number 10 role behind the constantly roaming Tel. The teenager touched the ball just 22 times across his 77 minutes and not once in the Luton box. His passing was accurate with 15 of his 16 passes reaching their target but he was not looking to thread balls through as someone like Maddison would and even if he did, Tel was often drifting out to the flanks.
Moore's 22 touches were the fewest of the Spurs starters and second-fewest of any of the 22 players who started the game on either side. The youngster kept having to come deep to try to get the ball in his own half because there were no patterns of play on show to get him it in advanced positions.
football.london reported this week that Moore wants to head out on loan this season to get week in, week out football to continue his development and it's clear that's needed to build on his ability. The odd minute here and there and kept around as a homegrown player for numbers will be of no real benefit to him this season.
Spurs looked marginally better on the pitch when an older homegrown product in Jamie Donley was switched to the role after spending the previous 77 minutes covering at left-back for Destiny Udogie, who was removed from the starting line-up as a precaution after feeling something in the warm-up.
"The Luton game, that was the game where I felt, 'okay, there is a bit to be worked on'" said Frank after the match. "That was two mixed teams a little out of sync. The boys put everything into it, they were positive, heads down working hard, but those connections and relationships, they definitely weren’t fluent, but it's good to have something to work on."
Tottenham, who fly out to the heat of Hong Kong and South Korea on Sunday, need a big purchase in that number 10 role. They don't have enough depth there and it was meant to be the £60million signing of Gibbs-White that solved that problem - a mobile and creative number 10, also able to play deeper, that Frank had wanted for years.
Spurs now need to act quickly to sign an alternative target on their list after throwing a couple of weeks down the drain. After those declarations about wanting to win it all, the north London outfit are not only being left behind by their rivals in the transfer window. They're being buried by them.
In the time Tottenham have signed Kudus, made Tel's loan deal permanent and brought in the £5million Kota Takai, who is yet to play for the club after a training ground knock, the Premier League's big boys have made their activity look like spending pocket change.
The team Spurs beat in that Europa League final have not sat still. Manchester United have added proven quality in Bryan Mbeumo to their ranks, joining Matheus Cunha as a big money arrival while Diego Leon has also arrived this summer with the trio setting United back £130.8million.
Manchester City have spent £126million so far on four signings but last season's top two Liverpool and Spurs' north London rivals Arsenal are getting huge business done.
Arne Slot's side completed a £69million deal for Hugo Ekitike after that potential British record transfer of £116million for Florian Wirtz to take their transfer tally to £269million, while Arsenal's signing of Viktor Gyokeres took their spending to more than £200million with the prospect of adding Eberechi Eze on top of that.
Don't forget Chelsea either who have spent £212million with Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens and Liam Delap among the new faces.
Spurs are looking up and gawping at all of those sides on the ladder above them at a time when they needed to be trying to leap up to grab their ankles.
This should have been a time of pushing on. It's no longer an era when bringing in one big money signing is enough. The £55million put towards Kudus is just the tip of the iceberg compared to other side's spending this summer. Everyone knows Spurs were prepared to spend £60million on Gibbs-White so they will have to invest that now on someone else.
Tottenham finally won that long-craved trophy and they have Champions League football to look forward to this season and entice new players with. Instead it feels like one step forward and two steps back at Spurs, a common theme over the years.
Even the injuries are creeping back in. Dominic Solanke has a minor ankle injury from training that caused him to miss Saturday's action, Udogie felt something in the warm-up at Kenilworth Road and the injured summer signing Takai turned up in the second half as an observer after not arriving with the team. That's not to mention Manor Solomon who picked up another training ground injury.
In fact all three of Tottenham's team sheets so far in their first three pre-season games have ended up being incorrect because of late changes. Antonin Kinsky started the match at Reading rather than the named Guglielmo Vicario in a late switch, Rodrigo Bentancur had to pull out of the 2-2 draw with Wycombe on Saturday just before kick-off due to illness only for Udogie to also miss out a couple of hours later.
Somewhere Ange Postecoglou is probably awaiting the finger of blame to still be pointed at him.
It's still relatively early days and there is more than a month remaining of the window so it's not panic stations just yet, but this was a summer when Spurs needed to act swiftly and decisively for they cannot afford a poor start to Frank's debut season after making that big change in the dugout and those big declarations.
Saturday's football brought only a few positives and, other than Pedro Porro providing all of the playmaking from right-back, all of them were around younger players. Pape Matar Sarr showed his quality in front of goal in an advanced role with two poacher strikes against Wycombe, while George Abbott took his chance to impress amid Bentancur's illness with an energetic performance in the same game.
Tynan Thompson, just 17, came off the bench and set up Sarr's second goal following a good bit of Romero pressure high up the pitch. Luka Vuskovic, only a year older than Thompson, looked solid again alongside the experienced Argentine, who was playing on the left of their centre-back pairing.
Behind them though, Brandon Austin had a nightmare in that game, fumbling a low first half shot from Armando Quitirna through his hands and between his legs and into the net behind him.
At Luton, the positive pickings were even slimmer. Tel and Kudus were enthusiastic while lacking in end product as Djed Spence, Brennan Johnson and Archie Gray had tough days at the office.
Yves Bissouma should be dominating a League One midfield but did anything but. If Tottenham are to progress on their interest in Bayern's Joao Palhinha then the Mali international is likely to be the one who makes way as he enters the final 11 months of his contract.
There were some more positives from the bench as the game wore on with 16-year-old Junai Byfield making a composed senior debut at the back with half an hour to go at Kenilworth Road. In the earlier game against Wycombe, another 16-year-old talent in Luca Williams-Barnett got 15 minutes of action before heading off to play in the second half for the U21s in a 2-0 defeat at Woking.
In the final 15 minutes against Luton, both substitute full-backs Rio Kyerematen, fresh from his new contract, and Reiss-Alexander Russell-Denny were bright and industrious.
They are all players for the future though. Tottenham need players for the now. They have an unbalanced squad overloaded in some departments and lacking in others. It is those areas that are leaving Frank hamstrung, if you'll pardon the triggering medical vernacular.
Spurs are lacking in forward momentum right now both on and off the pitch. Frank cannot work miracles. He cannot turn what he currently has into a Champions League-ready outfit and it's not fair to expect him to.
That night in Bilbao was meant to be the moment when laughing at Tottenham stopped. The sniggering in the background has returned though and the only way to silence it is action, not words. Spurs have wasted enough time.
In a week when those famous White Hart Lane gates, synonymous with Bill Nicholson, were returned to N17, the club motto states it clearly enough. Tottenham need to dare and they need to do.
