I think it's on the record that most Spurs fans would have settled for a top four at the start of the season, and that none of us believed we would contend for the title. For most of us, that remains the case even to this day and will for the rest of season. However, the fact that we are currently challenging for the title should not come as any surprise to anyone who has followed football for the past four or five seasons, since we have clearly been knocking on the door. Neither are we a poor club, as our previous spending has proved. The only thing that has ever let us down is our wage structure, that has prevented us from securing the types of players that you and United (and now £ity) have been able to buy and keep.
I don't see any bubbles having been burst, since to aspire is, by its very definition, to allow always for the possibility of failure, and failure more often than not, otherwise one would not need to "aspire" since one would have "achieved."
It's true that Spurs has aspired to be a consistent top 4 side, and if we gain CL football next season we will have partly achieved that aspiration, by having finished in the top 4 three out of two seasons, and with every expectation that we will continue to challenge in future seasons.
If you want to talk about "bubbles bursting" perhaps you should start a debate about your own club, it's managerial recruitment record, and the crisis surrounding the decline in some of your key players.