Jose Mourinho offered his congratulations to Liverpool during his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
But there was more than hint of a message to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy in there.
Liverpool were crowned Premier League champions last Thursday thanks to Manchester City's defeat to Chelsea.
It was the Reds' first top flight crown for 30 years and put them one behind Manchester United in terms of number of league titles won.
Tottenham meanwhile, who lost to Liverpool in the Champions League final last season, have gone backwards. Defeat to Sheffield United on Thursday night left them ninth in the Premier League table with six games to play.
There is unlikely to be much money for Mourinho to spend in the summer transfer window, given the coronavirus pandemic, but ahead of the defeat at Bramall Lane, the head coach sent a clear message to chairman Daniel Levy about the future.
He said: "First of all congratulations, it is obvious to everyone connected to Liverpool Football Club, not just the coaches, the players but everyone at the club. Congratulations, it is time for them to enjoy after so long.
"The numbers don't let you lie, of course they deserved. I think what they did is what you have to do. When you trust a manager, you trust. And it doesn't matter how you do in your first season, it doesn't matter how you do in your second season, you keep working because you believe in him so you keep working together. So if the results in the first seasons are not good, you improve.
"If the results in the second season are not good you keep improving, and you go to the third season, you go the fourth and of course when the manager is good, and the structure behind is good, and when they manage to do a collective work like they did the results arrive.
"So I think it's a great example for people that think in football everything is done in one week, one month or one year. So I double my compliments to them exactly because of the profile and the way they accepted it was a project, well done."
