Two years ago, Tottenham Hotspur were involved in an extremely close battle for Champions League qualification. Just like they are now.
At the time, the race with Arsenal was spoken of in almost existential terms: for the winner, the promised land of the Champions League; for the loser, a life of purgatory in the Europa League. Fans, players, manager Antonio Conte – just about everyone associated with both clubs – worried about every permutation that could affect the outcome.
Two years later, the atmosphere around the race for the top four is completely different. So much so that most fans Athleticism have spoken in recent days and said they would rather qualify for the Europa League than the Champions League. Spurs are three points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa in the Premier League table but have a game in hand.
Some of the reasons why the intensity of Champions League qualification sentiment has diminished since 2022 are circumstantial. Two years ago, Spurs, competing with rivals Arsenal, added an advantage. This season there remains uncertainty over whether fifth place will be enough for the Champions League, which has made things a little more abstract (it is now almost certain that fifth place will not be enough)..
All of these things make a difference – not to mention the fact that head coach Ange Postecoglou has resolutely refused to talk about the importance of reaching the Champions League, insisting that all that matters is he continues to see “growth” in his team between now and the end of the season.
Contrast that with Conte’s almost maniacal need to qualify for the Champions League. — his repeated references to the fact that participation in Europe’s top competition was a minimum requirement for him. This feeling that Conte’s future depended on his success in the top four added to the angst around Spurs – the thought of losing the man who had saved their season was a terrifying prospect (as difficult as that might be to believe now).
There was also a feeling that it would be much harder to keep Harry Kane without the carrot of Champions League football.
The situation is much more stable now and things are believed to be moving in the right direction, regardless of which European competition Tottenham find themselves in next season. There is still a lot of pressure, but it helps when the head coach continually emphasizes the importance of the process rather than the outcome. The atmosphere was very different under Conte.
Regardless, it is still striking that in just a few years, sentiment around Champions League qualification has gone from despair to indifference among some supporters.
How and why did this happen? And can a convincing argument really be made that Spurs would be better off spending another season away from Europe’s biggest competition?
Starting with the second question, my personal view is that Spurs would be much better off in the Champions League.
This is not to dismiss the good arguments for wanting to participate in the Europa League: the team is not yet ready to compete in the Champions League and the Premier League, the Europa League presents a better chance of winning a trophy, the opportunity it offers to give minutes to young players.
Tottenham’s last Champions League was largely joyless and brought very little to the club in the short, medium or long term, apart from a healthier bank balance. The supposedly existential battle they won with Arsenal in May 2022 has only led to a miserable 2022-23 season for them and a very good one for their north London rivals. So is it really worth entering a competition next season that will drain resources – Newcastle United are a shining example this season – and will most likely see them knocked out in the last 16 anyway?
I think so. One of the arguments put forward for why qualifying for the Champions League is no longer so important is that the Premier League is now so financially dominant that its clubs can sign many of Europe’s best players whether they are there or not. No. This idea has merit: last summer, Nottingham Forest persuaded Ibrahim Sangaré to swap a key role at PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League for a relegation battle in the Premier League.
Spurs’ recruitment was also very positive last summer, although they were unable to offer European football to potential recruits. The argument goes that with a good recruitment structure in place, Champions League football becomes less necessary to recruit effectively. Postecoglou has also made it clear that he has no interest in signing players who only want to play for a Champions League club.
Either way, qualifying for the Champions League makes everything a little easier from a financial and prestige point of view. If we take last summer as an example, yes, Spurs made some effective signings, but only one of the seven players Postecoglou signed – not counting loan deals made permanent – came from a Champions League club ( and that was Manor Solomon, whose departure to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk was also made with other considerations in mind).
In general, it’s harder to get players to swap one Champions League club for another. Micky van de Ven, for example, who Postecoglou recently cited as proof that you don’t have to be in the Champions League to make good signings, was at a club, Wolfsburg, which also only took part in no European competition this season. .
If you’re not in the Champions League, it can be difficult to sign players who are also wanted by clubs in the competition. In general, Spurs signed players last summer that Champions League clubs did not rival them for.
Then there is the huge economic benefit of being in the Champions League – which makes it easier to pay higher transfer fees and wages and is increasingly important in an era where rules around fair play financial are applied like never before.
England’s top-flight clubs have an advantage over their European counterparts due to the Premier League’s huge TV rights deals, but Champions League revenue remains an extremely useful financial lever. Kieran Maguire, lecturer at the University of Liverpool and host of the Price of Football podcast, calls the difference between the Champions League and Europa League financially “huge” – highlighting the plight of Manchester clubs the last season.
Manchester City earned €135 million (£115.3 million; $144 million at current rates) in prize money for winning the Champions League, but Manchester United earned €32 million for reached the quarters of the Europa League. If they had won it, it would have cost 43 million euros. Closer to home, Spurs earned £56.2 million for reaching the last 16 of the Champions League last season and Arsenal earned £21.4 million for reaching the same stage of the Europa League. On a commercial level, playing in the Champions League also has great advantages: making deals much more attractive to potential sponsors, for example.
Maybe these numbers leave you cold. Many fans are understandably tired of hearing about Spurs’ excellent financial situation when it doesn’t translate into trophies.
The greater chances of winning the Europa League than the Champions League explain why many fans prefer to compete in the old competition. There are also fears that trying to compete in the Premier League and Champions League may be too much for this team. The Europa League would allow Postecoglou to rotate more for midweek matches (and there will be eight group games instead of six in both competitions next season), which would have the double benefit of giving more rest for key players while giving more minutes to younger players. , like the Swede Lucas Bergvall, 18 years old.
Many believe Spurs could benefit from a year in the Europa League at this stage of the team’s development. Especially since unlike 2022, there is no major risk of losing key players if they miss qualification for the Champions League.
Internally, some at Spurs recognize that a year in the Europa League could have certain advantages. Generally speaking, though, Tottenham want the squad to test themselves at the highest level. Some find it strange that anyone connected to the club wouldn’t want Spurs to play against the best.
In sport, you never know when opportunities will present themselves. Progress doesn’t always happen as expected and isn’t always as linear as hoped. When an opportunity presents itself, you have to seize it.
Spurs may have to make some pretty big moves to strengthen their squad this summer, but if they qualify for the Champions League, they should have the financial room to do so. Despite all the challenges that competing alongside the Premier League would present, it also provides players with the opportunity to accelerate their learning and development.
We also need to be realistic about how much fun the Europa League is. Its group matches can be deafening, with club football closest to international friendlies or uneven qualifying for major tournaments. You go to a game looking forward to seeing Spurs’ young and fringe players in action, and then you find yourself thinking, “I spent the last hour watching Lucas Moura run into dead ends, what am I doing with my life?
Maybe it’s just me. And maybe that’s the point: we all have reasons to want the things we want. For some fans, wanting the Europa League can be a defense mechanism, so they won’t be too disappointed if Champions League qualification doesn’t happen. For others, wanting the Europa League might be linked to a preference for it rather than beating Manchester City and Liverpool in the coming weeks and inadvertently helping Arsenal win the title. There will be a myriad of other viewpoints in between.
For all the Champions League’s flaws and the problems it could cause, it should also provide solutions and opportunities.
Whatever competition Spurs find themselves in, they must continue on the same path that has served them well under Postecoglou – but the Champions League would surely be best at speeding up the process. the “growth” of the team that he so wants to see.
(Top photo: Jan Kruger – UEFA via Getty Images))