The sequel to Tottenham’s Champions League trailer has arrived and it is clear that, as predicted, Daniel Levy has kept his wallet closed until he knows if Spurs will be heading to the Hollywood of club football and mixing it with the A-listers or not.
In the Premier League era, the so-called “Big Four” have dominated the major honours and the Champions League places almost exclusively, bar the odd anomalies (Newcastle, Leeds, Everton), but with Liverpool struggling for money and Arsenal, Man Utd, and even Chelsea cutting back on the spending, Tottenham’s clinching of fourth spot last season and Man City’s endless squad strengthening means there is now suddenly a chance for other clubs to break the monopoly and force their way into the elite.
Spurs may only have a small window of opportunity in which to muscle in with the big boys with Man City ’s bottomless pot of cash and Arsenal and Liverpool looking to hit back after disappointing seasons, and this home leg with Young Boys of Berne is snowballing into a seismic game of huge significance for Tottenham’s immediate and ongoing fortunes.
However, Daniel Levy has invested heavily into the team over the last few years with his mission being to get Spurs into the Champions League and eventually challenging for the title. Martin Jol twice went close, finishing fifth two years running, but Levy wasn’t convinced he was the man to edge into the top bracket of the Premier League.
Redknapp has been given decent financial backing, like Jol (and Ramos after him) was, and he is close to delivering the Champions League dream, but Levy will want to see Spurs’ name in the pot for the group stages of Champion’s league before he gives the squad further investment.
If Spurs can get the win that they and us fans desperately want and need, expect to see some weight put behind some offers in the final few days of transfer window.
Away from Astroturf and back at the Lane, Spurs should beat Young Boys tonight, but we lived up to our reputation last week as a team who goes the hard way about getting a result. After conceding three goals in the opening half an hour in Bern last week, the Champions League dream was turning into a nightmare, but they stopped the rot before showing a lot of heart to pull it back to 3-2, after a stunning late strike from Roman Pavlyuchenko, giving them a good chance of progression at the Lane.
In the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2007, Spurs had a similar shocker when conceding two-goals in the first eight minutes at home, and although Spurs pulled two goals back, they went out on aggregate. As long as Redknapp’s men avoid conceding an early goal tonight, Spurs should begin to dominate an average but dangerously pacy Young Boys team and win the game.
King should be back to help out a defence that looked scarily off the pace in Switzerland, and the alarming ease with which the Young Boys attack cut through the Spurs backline fast-tracked the deal to bring in Gallas on free transfer. We were already crying out for cover at the back, especially with centre-backs Woodgate and King suffering from ongoing long-term injury issues, but Redknapp moved quickly to bring in a proven experienced centre-back, despite Gallas’ time spent on the wrong side of North London .
Whatever happens tonight, Spurs are still on a upward curve and the future looks bright for the club, but getting into the Champions League proper means so much for the fans, the status of the club and of course money. This is an extremely nervy time for all Tottenham fans, as above all, playing in the Champions League will signify a return to those Glory Glory days we so often sing about.
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