When Tottenham Hotspur released their financial reports this week they proved two things.

Firstly, that you don't need to be flamboyant and brash when it comes to spending money on recruitment. The figures showed that Spurs' outlay on players over the period outstripped all other English clubs with the obvious exception of oil-rich, in-your-face, we-are-richer-than-you Manchester City.

But unlike City, and Chelsea before them, I don't think many fans have been overly offended by the way the White Hart Lane club have gone about making their purchases. Their spending has been carefully considered and there has been no flashing of the cash just for the sake of it. They have only bought the players they needed, players that fit in with their long-term plans.

The second thing Spurs proved with their figures, and this is something many other clubs need to take note of, is that you can still spend heavily while operating within your means. Despite their massive outlay on players, the club managed to post a record profit of £33.4 million.

True, they recovered a lot of their money by selling on players, but they still managed to build a considerably better team than the one they started with, and have cash to spare. So it can be done.

I have long said that I find no problem with teams spending big provided they can justify their expenditure. Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, for example, have every right to fork out large wads of cash because they have the history, fan base and commercial infrastructure to support the expenditure. Even Chelsea, now that they are established as one of the bigger teams, have gradually earned the right to be big spenders.

What I don't like is clubs spending big when their turnover doesn't justify it. Manchester City are a prime example of this, while, on a smaller scale but probably to a greater extent, so are Notts County.

Undoubtedly, Spurs are a club that have got their business model spot on. And this despite the fact that they play their home games at a ground that is far too small for them. White Hart Lane only holds 36,000 fans, and the club has a season ticket waiting-list of 23,000.

But, once again, Spurs are addressing this problem with plans to move to a bigger, 56,000-capacity stadium within three years. Applications have been submitted and work could start on the new ground by the beginning of next year.

And, if their recent financial results are anything to go by, that move could see the club really push on and challenge at the very top of the English game. If they can make substantial profits at their current ground, just think what they will be able to do when they move into a bigger stadium with considerably more revenue streams.

True, they will have to find the £400 million the new ground is rumoured to cost, but they, more than any other club, seem to have their financial heads properly screwed on.

In an era when clubs are floundering in debt, spending money they don't have, or being run by people who just haven't the faintest clue about either football or sensible finance, Spurs should be commended.

If the FA, Fifa, Uefa, the Premier League or anybody needs an example of how a modern and progressive club should be run, they should look no further than Tottenham Hotspur.

I'm actually starting to wish I supported them...

A Real shocker

Don't you just love it when one of football's superpowers is brought crashing down to earth?

This week, Real Madrid tumbled out of the Copa Del Rey following a 4-1 aggregate defeat to Alcorcon, a tiny team from the third tier of Spanish football.

Although they won Tuesday's home leg 1-0, the damage had already been done in the away tie when they were stuffed 4-0 despite fielding no less than nine internationals.

On Tuesday, even with summer signing Kaka in the side, Real were unable to claw their way back into the tie and ended up being knocked out of the competition by third division opponents for the second time in as many seasons.

Just to put things into perspective, Alcorcon have only been in existence as a team since 1971 and have won nothing. They have never been higher than the third division and play at a stadium with a capacity of just 3,000.

Madrid, on the other hand, have been around since 1902. They have won a staggering 31 league titles, 17 Spanish cups, nine European cups and two Uefa cups. Their home ground, the Bernabeu, holds more than 80,000 spectators.

A real David-and-Goliath contest.

Real's exit has heaped more pressure on manager Manuel Pellegrini who, after a cracking start to the season with seven straight wins, has seen his new-age Galacticos falter badly. In fact, they have won just three of their eight matches since record signing Cristiano Ronaldo suffered an ankle injury.

I'm sure fans of the Spanish giants would disagree, but for me it is results like this one that make football such a beautiful game.

A sad farewell

Like everyone else who follows football I was shocked and saddened by the death of German national goalkeeper Robert Enke.

When you think of professional footballers at the top of the game, you think of privileged individuals with fat bank accounts, luxury lifestyles and everything going for them.

You can, and I hold my hand up to this, forget that deep down inside they are only human and suffer from all the frailties and issues that average people like us have to deal with.

Enke was a perfect example of this contrast.

Outwardly he seemed to have it all, but privately he had been waging a six-year war against severe depression. A war he eventually lost last week when he committed suicide.

Despite the turmoil his depression must have caused, he never once went public with his condition, preferring instead to keep it within his family and rely on their support to help him through.

To compound his situation, back in 2006, his two-year-old daughter died from a rare heart disease. For any parent, this is an event of unimaginable grief. For someone already suffering severe depression it must have been truly horrific.

I am not going to pretend I had been a passionate follower of Enke's career but I am sure I have seen him play a few times over the years. And I most certainly would have seen him play next summer as he was in line to be Germany's number one at the World Cup.

But all the reports I have read this week suggest he was a model professional, a hard worker and a first-class teammate.

If nothing else, his death should serve as a reminder to all fans of the game that footballers are only human, and that despite the fantastic lives we believe them to be leading, theirs can be hidden problems we never know about.

Problems that no amount of money can solve. Problems that can, in extreme cases, end in tragedy.

Rest in peace big man.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com