Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace

Luke,

We've been through this before. We owe £637m - the biggest debt in world football. The FA Cup winners earn £5m, CL last 16 get about £65m. The manager has stated that CL is the priority of the club and he agrees with that. He's doing what he agreed to.

Despite not being a priority, we've made the last 2 semi-finals and gone out to teams that finished above us in the league and have massively greater spends on wages and transfer fees.

It's all very well for some United fans to suggest that they view the CL as a non-essential, but the thought of going without got Moyesie, LVG and Mourinho the sack (one of them straight after winning the cup ). Your club see the CL as being an essential, too.

 

Nope, trophies still don’t matter

 

Watched the game at my Mum's, both of us commended him when he didn't celebrate. Class from him, as is that tweet.

 

Bellamy’s demeanour when he says it speaks volumes. It’s like he knew he’s not supposed to announce it but his big mouth has the shoot regardless.

With all the away ties and the convenient derby draws these past two years in both cups, I do wonder who’s really running football.

 

Contrary to what the lunatic fringe believe, an FA Cup win won't keep players nor will it attract them - Champions League qualification will

We simply aren't in a position to say "Oh, we lost a key player, no worries we can afford a direct replacement" like Man Utd, Chelsea or The Sheikh Mansour Team have been able to do for the entire decade, so losing a key player WILL set us back - as we found out when losing Berbatov & Keane and Bale

 

I haven’t paid much attention to the FA cup, but the people running the Carabao aren’t even subtle about it. No doubt in my mind that it’s to enhance the quality of a cup competition, that in recent years especially, no one gives a **** about.

 

I understand the commercial realities, but your top 4 position is pretty secure.
A greater commitment to today's game was not necessarily incompatible with aiming for top 4.
A good run in the Cup - even winning it - raises the club's profile, which helps commercial revenues.
This approach is pretty soulless too. What's it all about if you are prepared to give up the chance of silverware to be an also-ran in another competition?
Sometimes clubs need to recognise that football is not about pragmatism; it's about glory.

 

See also: removing away goals from two-legged ties because penalties are more "dramatic"

I must have imagined Moose's stoppage time equaliser against Lyon in 2012-13 to take us through being dramatic...

 

You seem incapable of seeing other than through United red-tinted glasses. Chelsea haven't loaned Higuain to win the FA Cup. Arsenal fans have realised that no CL for another season means more Leno's and Lichsteiners next season and not being able to feed Aaron Ramsay. Mourinho's not on a massive pay off because the football was ****.

LVG won the Cup....you sacked him straight away.......Wenger won 3 in 4......did they raise the clubs' profiles and revenues? I'm going to go out on a limb and join De Gaul and say "non". They failed to deliver CL and now sleep with the fishes.

Big clubs need CL football. If Sarri fails to deliver it, he'll find his Chelsea career stubbed out just as Conte did. Abramovic is trying to sell......."Of course, we passed up the CL income to win the Carabao Cup......it's the new CL, you know.....and the sponsors just love it."

 

Just blatant. Well spotted Roo.

 

I don't doubt any of that.
Clubs are businesses and no financial director would disagree with a word.
But as a fan, I recognise that my phenomenally wealthy club isn't going to win the league and is unlikely to win the CL. As a fan, I 'd like to win the only trophy the club can realistically win. My club played a full strength at Arsenal so I'm hopeful it hasn't lost sight of what matters to me as a fan. I've adjusted my expectations; winning the Cup would be a thrill. Getting top four would be too, but the Cup is shinier.

 

The thing is Luke it's all well and good having that attitude when you have more income coming in than plenty of countries but unfortunately we're not there yet and so the Champions league money is more important than some domestic silverware

 

Luke, you're a fan of just about the richest football club in the world. United can pay players to stay with them if they're not in the CL because their income is so much larger than their competitors. If you miss the CL it's painful, as sponsorships are based on criteria - the top of the list is CL involvement. However, you can absorb that financial loss and continue to pay Juan Mata to sit on the bench

Now look at Arsenal, no CL for 2 seasons and the reality of the harsh economies of football hit home. Suddenly it dawns on them that they can't afford Aaron Ramsay. Are the Gooners celebrating their recent cup wins? No, they want to know where the ****ing money's gone and why they've signed players from a 'bring and buy sale'?

A lot of fans want the earth and the moon for dessert. Unless you can spend like Citeh, United or Chelsea, that ain't possible. When we're rich enough to prioritise the Carabao Cup, I'll be very happy. Until then, such a course of action would be ridiculous for Spurs 2019.

 

Try telling the players that.

 

Correct, no supporter has ever been to watch a "top four" parade at the end of a season. Some of these clubs forget why people go to watch them, the delight of winning a final and watching the street parade of the cup means much more to the real supporters than a top four place.

 

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree as I see positives to Poch prioritising today's game even if all your arguments are accepted.
You'll probably disagree that the Ramones invented punk too.

 

Did LVG get to go on the bus or was he on the dole by then?

...and when Harry Kane, Dele and Sonny put in transfer requests like Berbatov and Keane did in 2008...so that they could play CL football and earn more than EL bound Spurs could pay? Would that be better?

We could keep those players by paying them wages made possible by CL money and sponsors like Audi, EA Sports, Nike, etc. If we start to lose that. it's back to the drawing board.

A cup win would be a great but pretending that it's important to Spurs immediate future doesn't cut it. United didn't even have an open-top bus parade for winning the EL and League Cup. The only reason for winning the EL was......to qualify for the CL.

 

I do.

 

Why do football clubs exist, is it to please the supporters or the board/players?
I have followed my team into the old second division but still expected/demanded that they try to go as far as they could in the cups (lack of squad depth or "tired"players would have been no excuse at all). You should expect your team/club to go into every game or competition trying to do their best, if not why bother.

 

You would