"We are trying to win the league and you have to admire him putting himself under that kind of pressure," says Alan of Calum, who enjoyed his first training session with his new team mates in the bright sunshine of Chadwell Heath on Thursday.
"At that age I don't know if I would have done that - maybe I would have taken the other, soft option.
"It speaks volumes for him that he has chosen to come here, because he hasn't been forced to - and we feel he is going to be a big player for us.
"We had a good relationship with Spurs anyway that has enabled this to happen; he can get settled in the area quickly with his young family and Spurs wanted him to continue playing - as would I, if I was manager of Spurs.
"You wouldn't want him to play in reserve games and let's be honest, he is not going to get into their first team at the moment.
"This is an opportunity to continue playing at the level he has been playing at and it suits them as much as it suits us.
"The key question was Calum, and having the strength of character to do it - which he obviously has. "And Christian Dailly will be back by the time the loan spell is due to end, because it is a three month agreement at the moment.
"I wanted to sign him from Coventry but Spurs got involved and we couldn't compete - he was someone we have been tracking for a long, long time.
"We really liked him when he played here and he is composed on the ball and a great header of it; we come up against big guys in this division and we have been struggling in that area."
Despite the obvious disruption of international week, meaning that Calum couldn't join any earlier and another recent signing, Carl Fletcher, was away as well, Alan says it has been a productive time at the training ground.
"Calum and Carl have had just the one training session with us now after coming back from international duty but a lot of the team have been here, such as Marlon and Teddy, the midfield, and our fullbacks, so we have managed to get some work done that I am pleased about.
"It hasn't been the worst thing for us although we went into it on the back of a defeat; we have had time to look at the league and although we are not as high as we want to be we are nicely poised.
"I have had time to work on transfers, which I have done, and I am hoping to finalise one or two more - and I am hoping to bring another couple of defenders in.
"Losing Christian was a massive blow for us so Calum will come straight into that slot and hopefully Christian will be back to us sooner than later."
But with a barrage of games coming up, Alan has mixed feelings about the enforced break from match action.
"Although we have adopted the international window like the Premier League we have to play eight games more and it is going to be very difficult.
"It is the first year we have had it and the games are really getting crowded in; any success in the league or cup is really going to stretch the personnel."