When Daniel Levy fielded questions in the debating chamber of the Cambridge Union last month, it was put to him that Tottenham's decline started with the book published by Mauricio Pochettino in late 2017.
It was called Brave New World and subtitled Inside Pochettino's Spurs, entwining details from the previous campaign, when finishing runners-up behind Antonio Conte's Chelsea, with the Argentine's personal journey from the backwater of Murphy in Santa Fe to north London.
Levy did not concede it was the source of all ills, but did not appear to have been firmly behind the project.