Road to glory or poisoned chalice? Arguing with Bill Nicholson

There’s been much debate over our involvement in the Europa League this season, not least because our hopes of a top 4 finished died long ago.

We’ve stuttered in the competition in recent years, our best showing being a quarter final appearance or two, but should we be taking it more seriously next season?

Kiss of Death

The Europa League hasn’t been kind to us in recent seasons. Whether we’ve played the youth under Redknapp or a full team under AVB, there haven’t been too many obvious benefits for either the players or the fans. For the most part we play unknown teams from Eastern Europe, the money received doesn’t compare to that of the Champions League and statistics show that our results after a European game seem to suffer, having adverse effects on our top 4 ambitions.

The competition doesn’t help us attract the best players either and some of the games at White Hart Lane have just felt rather subdued. Liverpool have more than proven this season that without the ‘distraction’ of the Europa League, we could really propel our league campaign and I feel that significant numbers of the fan base hope we don’t qualify for next seasons competition for this very reason.

“If we’re not in Europe we’re nothing…nothing.”

The famous words of Bill Nick. Despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the competition it does have its benefits. Next season sees a change of format that could alter the way we as fans view the competition. Namely, the winners of next season’s competition qualify for the Champions League.

Given how tough it is to get into the top 4, it helps to have another avenue to enter Europe’s premier competition - not to mention that winning a European trophy in itself would be glorious.

Personally, I think we’ve got the squad to cope in the competition and we have done for the past few years, it’s just been poorly mismanaged. Redknapp played a team that was too weak and AVB went to the other extreme, fielding teams that were more than qualified to beat the opponents in front of us, resulting in fatigue and injuries to key players.

I look at our squad and I see players like Holtby, Capoue, Naughton, Sigurdsson, Kane, Fryers and Chadli. These are just a handful of players who aren’t guaranteed starters in our first XI that should still easily be able to beat most of the inferior competition we face in the Europa League.

It is only when we face an inevitable Champions League drop out that we’ll really have to field a strong XI.

Help or hindrance?

Ultimately, the way we approach the competition next season will define how I feel about our involvement in it. I don’t want to see a full strength team against FC Tromso or Shamrock Rovers, it’s simply not needed. If we have a coach who can juggle the squad effectively then I feel we can have a good run in the competition and maybe just go all the way.

 

I have to agree with this article. The added incentive should give us a reason to take this reasonably seriously. Added to that, this year we assembled a squad which should have been big enough to play in both the Europa and the PL and be competitive in both. The players you name I completely agree with, plus we could use it as a way of making players compete for their places in competitive games, if you're dropped from the PL starting 11 - put in a couple of good Europa league performances and you'll get a nod.

 

A good read.
The argument of CL versus the current Europa is not valid, the champions league lifts fans and players alike, adrenaline and a feeling of prestige battle hard against fatigue, im sure of this. Though the CL has taken its toll on chelsea recently, this may be down to pressure from the manager that they should be beating Atletico, whereas if it was spurs, even a 4-3 defeat (to inter) proved rousing. When we had CL with redknapp, it was quite often said after a defeat that "luckily we have another game in a couple of days where we can bounce back,". I don't think that after a defeat right now, a trip to play tblisi would offer the same.
The pressure of Spurs in the CL is far lower than it is in the europa, but the games can be just as tiring no matter who you play. I think that this pressure makes it hard. If you get beaten up in eastern europe by a team of a lesser status (which does happen to even the very best) it takes its toll.

 

Shame they havent altered the europa league into more of a knock out competition. This would make it more exciting and teams would have to take it seriously from the start. A change in format would reinvigorate the competition away from just a long haul money maker into something worthwhile in its own right. Coys.

 

The format is very long winded and the games I saw were very pedestrian affairs and I hate the Thursday- Sunday thing but that's me being old school and still believing football should be played at 3pm on a Saturday but it's all about money now and fitting in with TV! I think we should try and win every competition going but we all know the money at stake nowadays means certain competitions will take priority over others. I'd still rather see spurs win a trophy than finish fourth every year!! Money has changed football but it will never change the fact that the history books show trophies won and are a guide to a clubs success not pounds earnt! Tottenham till I die!!

 

Europa league is a tedious affair that seems to go on forever before your even at the last 16. We have the dilema that if you play your best team they find it hard to get up for fc trombone, mini kiev or rapid vienetta yet they in turn want a scalp like ours making difficult encounters that are energy zapping and injury causing- the only other thing you then do is send out the youngens or squadies who lets face it when ever i see naughtons name on the team sheet you know we are going to leak goals etc making things difficult and long winded. The knock on effect is tiredness from travel and effort, confidence not great if youve struggled against minnows, extra pressure in the Prem as youve seen what rivals have done etc, injuries leading to team selection hindering consistancy etc. This is all only ever worth it if you win the damn thing but problem being the parachuting of Champs Lg teams and the much technically better European Teams who will all beat us when we have players like rose daws naughton etc propping up the defence. We need a much higher caliber of players to take this comp seriously so its a pointless venture from the start. A European Cup would be glorious but we need to sort a team out capable of winning it first.
We should be aiming for a domestic cup and top 4 at the moment- domestic cup less taxing and much more realistic and top 4 is much more achievable with out the distractions. Get top 4 upgrade on players then take Europe seriously!

 

The format used in the Europa League might not be the best but it is still a European competition. We've tasted the sweet nectar of champions league ones, and it was the most glorious time of our recent period, excluding those glorious cup wins, since Klinsmann graced our beautiful lane. However, would we really want to be a team without European competitions? Bill Nicholson's words should always be apart of our great club and fan base, as the years of mid table mediocrity should never be a goal for us. Do we really wan't to be Stoke, Newcastle or any other run of the mill club? We are Tottenham To Dare is To Do!

Sincerely Klinsi
First time poster

 

Am I right in thinking that next seasons Europa wont include the champions league failures being parachuted in either? Also....being in Europa gets you out of two rounds of League Cup action. Playing away on a thursday night and then again on Sunday is a pain ....but in Champions League its often a wednesday/saturday arrangement and given the quality of opposition you cant use your fringe or youth players either. So Europa is good practice for squad management. And I want a trophy at WHL not just playing for the Fourth Place Cup.

 

Agree that it is very important how we approach the competion, with a bit of tweaking our squad should be able to handle both the league and the europa. Europe provides games needed to keep fringe players match fit instead of sitting around picking splinters out of their backsides.

 

Treat the EL as the sideshow it is - play reserves and kids, and if that gets us to the business end of the competition, play first-teamers if the opposition merits it. No one can seriously dispute that AVB's obsession with the Tinpot Trophy cost us league points last year, and since we missed out on fourth so narrowly, it ultimately cost us CL qualification, and that's what caused the current rudderless shambles. The EL just isn't worth it, and Bill Nick's words are from a vanished world, where glory counted for more than money, and you were as likely to draw AC Milan or Real Madrid in the old EUFA or Cup-Winners Cups as the Scandinavian or Lithuanian no-hopers who clog up the EL these days.

 

That really is the point! Bill Nick's famous words do come from a bygone age when European football was still a novelty. The only thing the Europa League has going for it next season is the Champions League spot but that will be almost as hard to achieve as finishing in 4th place in the Premier League, if you think about it. If we qualify on Sunday, then I vote we trundle along with a 2nd eleven and see how far we get before it gets serious in February of next year. If we're still in it and we consider the cup worth going for then we treat it as such. No first teamers before then! The Premier League is our bread and butter, our proving ground. It is where we test ourselves and measure our improvement.

 

The way I see it, we have no chance of winning a trophy in Europe in either competition. So what's the point of the Europa League if it causes problems for us in the BPL? If we're going to be in Europe, UCL gives us the opportunity to play really great teams like Real Madrid and Juventus, not the third place team from a country most of us can't find on a map. I'd rather play a home/away series against a Barcelona versus Viborg. Barring UCL, I'd prefer we focus on the League and Domestic Trophies.

 

I do get why some people feel we should jack in the EL. But, wouldn't we just be setting a bad example to the players? I mean, we are so obsessed with getting into the CL that we think it's not worth trying in the EL. So, what message do the players get from us?

 

Don`t forget that next season the winners of the Europa League will automatically qualify for the Champions League. I agree, a trophy is more important than finishing in the top four for nearly two decades and not winning a European trophy. I suspect more than a few Arsenal fans would feel the same way too. Chelsea seemed extremely happy with the " Mickey Mouse Cup " as many of their fans used to describe it. As far as playing on thursday and sunday goes, I mean come on get real, these guys are highly paid professional athletes. Who cares what day you play on. Most people`s working conditions change but they don`t winge about it like some managers and players do. Finally why are we looking for a new manager. People suggest AVB had to go after the six and five nil thrashings. Since then I think Sherwood has done a fine job with the team but even he has had to suffer some inept performances equally as pathetic as the City and Liverpool debacles. But of course sadly he will go because Daniel Levy has the vision of a blind man with his head planted firmly in the sand coupled with the short term memory of a goldfish. Someone should remind Mr Levy that Liverpool are doing okay with a British manager, who wasn`t exactly a big name when he arrived, after an uneventful first season. Amazing what can be achieved with patience and continuity.