It's not exactly a disregard but it gets more and more a second division tournament as time progresses. Back in the days where the UEFA cup had 2nd and 3rd place clubs from all the big leagues it was nearly as hard to win as the European Club because it usually had many of that year's league leaders. Now it's only got a few clubs in the top 30 in Europe. We've got out of the CL group stage nearly every time we've been in it and I think that would continue next year. We've only got to finish in the top 24 and win a knockout match. In the Europa we should easily make the quarter finals but then we will be up against teams who are not much worse than us so winning three rounds is still unlikely in practice. And we are then £60m worse off having had no interesting matches all season
No honest and sane owner would do that for Spurs. We already borrow money cheaper than almost everyone and non criminals with spare cash are rare.
I agree with your second point but we have all the ingredients necessary to catch up on spending except CL income and the only way to improve is to spend more. So not getting into the CL this year just kicks the can down the road
I’m aware of the financial situation of the club. But one season back in the CL doesn’t change the pull to new recruits, which is about more than money. It’s more damaging to make CL and then fall down the league the next year on that front IMO. Like I said in an earlier post I’d love to be in the competition but I also see the benefit of a buildup of the squad over another year or so, so that we can properly sustain CL football over a number of years while being competitive on all fronts, rather than being a flash in the pan.
Most of the teams in Europa are in a similar situation to us in that they’re not the best in their league’s but a solid enough top team. We’ll fare a lot better in that than teams who are winning or finishing runners up in the Champions League, most third placed teams will be better than us too. We’re likely going to target the same players regardless of what competition we’re in or not, that’s also been said as such by most media outlets. Ange has already said one of his criteria for players joining us is the player wanting to join Spurs and not just wanting to join a EL/ CL club nor someone that just simply wants out of their current team.
It has essentially always been a second tier tournament but that isn’t a bad thing, it still involves many top and established European clubs, enough to make winning it a massive achievement. “We've only got to finish in the top 24 and win a knockout match.” - I think you are making that sound far easier for us than it is. I’m not sure we would be good enough to even make the top 24. We need about 6-7 quality additions to ensure that sort of finish and that requires more or less every signing we’ll make this summer to be an immediate hit which seems to far unlikely. I agree about our expectations in Europa, quarter finals should absolutely be achievable and expected, from then on it’ll be who wants it more on the day, I’d rather three rounds of 50-50s than almost a certainty of where our chances of winning in the CL League phase will be around 35-65, let alone beyond.
Not true. The Champions cup by definition meant that there were a lot of teams from lesser leagues, so unless the draw picked the big boys, you could get an easier run. The UEFA cup, by having 2-3 participants from the big leagues, meant the likelihood of a big boy clash happening sooner and more often was much higher.
You were saying earlier that we genuinely could win the Europa but are now saying “we’ll fare better”? Dammit, are we going to win it or not? I agree with the second paragraph regarding the signings. We want players that actually want to join Spurs but to be honest, there aren’t many out there with the dream to join Spurs! I know vicario and VDV said they only wanted to join spurs but do you truly believe that? I don’t.
We can definitely win the Europa League as we’d fare better in it, a lot comes down to our mentality when approaching it as well. We’ve often been amongst the favourites to win it when we’ve been in it over the last 10 or so years and that’s generally because there’ll only be about 4-5 other clubs at a similar or slightly better level to us most of the time but our lackadaisical approach to it has always held us back. In the Champions League, there is roughly around 15 teams substantially better, 5 considerably better and then about another 5 who are slightly better or equal to us right now. It’s hard to say but Ange strikes me as an honest guy with very strong principles that he won’t stray from. I do like the way he describes the type of player and person he wants here too, as I think they come with the best motivation to do well for Spurs. That said it’s probably not something you can 100% stick too, for Spurs to genuinely improve we’d need to convince some players that we’re the best option for their career rather than expecting them to jump for joy at the first sign of our interest.
I am sorry but I cannot watch tonight and want us to lose. It goes against everything that I love about being a football fan, and I hate City with a passion (it's a Gillingham thing) and so what if the Goons do win the league I won't like it, but it won't be just because we beat City, they have dropped points elsewhere lost at Wolves and Villa, drew with Palace and if you want a defining moment, the massive deflection that won the game between City and Arsenal at the new library is that moment, and if they end the season with the most points they are worthy champions. I still think we will lose but C O Y S
Is anyone actually looking forward to this? I'm heading off in a bit and I doubt I'm going to enjoy this at all.
In recent years this has been among the most exciting games,why would you not look forward to it. If we lose it's not surprising if we win it's brilliant
So I’m conflicted too. As much as I don’t want City to win it (and become the first team to win four in a row), I really don’t want Arsenal to win it either. I wouldn’t want them to miss their 20th anniversary next year. And who wins the league is actually a massive irrelevance to the club I support. Holding on to 8th place and a finishing runners up in the F.A.Cup are the priorities. I’m just going to watch the game to see if my 33/1 bet builder comes off
Spurs usually give Citeh and the Poool a good contest, regardless of the end result. Hopefully that contest can start on minute 1 rather than minute 45+ (as recently has been too often the case) .
