Who wants to be in Europe anyway?
Obviously I'm not talking about the real European competition that is Champions League. I'm talking about Europa League.
When Spurs are playing in Europa League, I find it hard to get motivated, to get up early to watch the morning matches here downunder. I fell out of love with Europa League, I realised it's not good enough and an unnecessary distraction.
Two sides of the coin
Financially good vs the risk of losing future greater profit. Experience gained vs wear and tear of the squad. Spurs deserve to be in Europe vs it's not the Europe we want to be in.
As the Europa League sits right now, it creates a foul after taste in my mouth. It's watered down and even has the nasty humiliating part where the teams from Champions league that weren't good enough to reach the playoffs, get a second chance in Europa League. That just makes Europa League lose all credibility, if it in fact had any left to lose. That to me is like a bad reality show, where the eliminated, voted off or what ever the method is, gets a second chance back into the competition. If you're out, you're out. Imagine if that was the case in any other sport?
Do you remember when the UEFA Cup still had some prestige? Do you remember when the European Cup actually was for the champions only? Champions League has revived the glory and excitement of what used to be the European 'cup for champions', but is running the risk of watering it out too much. It should be hard to reach. It should be for the best. I find myself hoping no one gets injured more than I am wishing for us to score. I'm looking at the next match and wondering if the players will have time enough to recover or not.
The money the club gets from Europa League might be fairly good. Both the money from UEFA as well as from the ticket sales are good, but is it worth risking not launching the best campaign possible to reach the top four, or even higher? Is it worth missing the Champions league qualification and the risk of losing some of your best players because of it?
Who wants Spurs to be in Europe anyway? Oh, yes, Bill Nicholson, I'm sorry Bill I should've known better. I apologise, but it's not the same European cup you were talking about when you made your famous statement. You are completely right though.
"It's magnificent to be in Europe, and this club - a club like Tottenham Hotspur - if we're not in Europe.... we're nothing. We're nothing."
That is the feeling. That is the Europe I want Tottenham to be in.
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I for one do, I actually even like the Europa league. A great chance to see the Tom Carrols of this world get their first decent shot in a senior spurs team.
ReplyDeleteI guess any ambitious with Spurs fan would like his club to win a major international trophy and to add everlasting glory in the club's history.
ReplyDeleteUnhappily every club has also a number of mediocre supporters who don't care about their club winning titles and trophies (the main target of every decent football club like Spurs) but they give more importance on how the owners of the club would earn more money!
In order to participate regularly in the CL, a club like Spurs need owners who are ambitious with the club and they have the financial capacity to strengthen properly and in the shortest possible time the squad and are also capable to hire an intelligent manager who has the appropriate technical and scientific knowledge concerning the game.
I hear what you're saying and I kind of agree. But there's just something about EL that pisses me off. I would love to win it and a trophy is a trophy, but still. What's the glory in winning the FA cup vs League cup? I was so happy when spurs won the LC back in 2008, but it's still a bit "bleh" compared to the FA cup and it's the same thing with EL vs CL....
ReplyDeleteif the competition are set for youngsters to gain experience vs the risk of playing your best team and thinking hard about the consequences doing so. EL is not a prestigious competition.