After so much effort was expended in the 2016/17 season chasing down eventual champions Leicester City and qualifying for the Champions League themselves, Tottenham’s European campaign ended abruptly. Although it was a spirited 10 man performance against a feisty KAA Gent team, it all seemed too little too late. Tottenham’s Europa League exit may come at some considerable cost to the club.
Dele Alli
Much has been written about Dele Alli’s red card during the second leg match at Wembley last Thursday. Most are in general agreement that had he not been so rash or reckless in his challenge that he would have stayed on the pitch and Spurs would still have been in Europe today. But the fact of the matter is that with Mauricio Pochettino finally waking up to the importance of silverware to his managerial tenure and fielding a strong team in both legs; it was the first leg performance that lost it for his side.
Alli is young and the evident remorse that he showed after the game will hopefully be an indicator of what a valuable lesson this has been for him. There is no question that a depleted Spurs team, going for a third and potentially qualifying goal at 2-1 up on the night, may not have been caught by a Gent sucker punch had a full quota of players been on the pitch.
Opportunity Cost
Exiting any competition deprives a club of two things. First is clearly the chance to win a trophy. You have to be in it to win it. The second is revenue. Revenue for the Europa League comes a distant and relatively poor second to that of the Champions League. Clubs get a guaranteed €12.7 million just for being in the group stages of the Champions League plus €1.5m for each victory. The Europa League Round of 32 participants receive just €500,000. Winners of the Champions League could potentially earn close to €100m whilst the winners of the Europa League something like €25m.
Spurs poor performances in the Champions League deprived them of a tidy purse, but the exit from the Europa League deprived them of a realistic chance of silverware.
The Real Cost
There is another cost for Tottenham Hotspur on this occasion, however. Much has been made of their performances at Wembley during their European campaign. Familiarising themselves with new surroundings, even though they have set new “home” attendance records in the process, has not been easy. Wembley can be an inspiring theatre, but it can just as easily inspire the opposition. More importantly, the valuable element of “home advantage” has been lost for The Lilywhites this season. And there is some concern as to how the club will fare in the 2017/18 season when it is scheduled to play all of their home Premier League games there.
The European exit seemed to come at the wrong time for Tottenham. It looked as though the team was finally finding its feet there, and they probably could have done with a few more games in the stadium before next season. A win against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League came too late as they were relegated to the Europa League. But a win is a win and it was clear to see that against Gent the players seemed to have found some rhythm to playing at Wembley. Alli’s dismissal was unfortunate for the team, though deserved for the player, but even with ten men it seemed that Tottenham’s “style” had finally found them at Wembley.
Of course it should not be ignored that this was the first time that Tottenham played at Wembley this season with a full strength side. Maybe this was the real determining factor, rather than some stadium jinx hindering their progress.
Next Season
Tottenham have a difficult period facing them after the end of this season. They will potentially be facing not one but two seasons with no real home advantage. One more season at Wembley and then the first season at their stadium, which has yet to be named. Of course in each season it will depend how quickly the team adjusts. Early wins in each campaign will stop people talking about stadium jinxes and have them concentrating again on the football.
The Spurs players will need to familiarise themselves with their surroundings, and the sooner the stadia “feel” like home the sooner they will be able to relax. The games at Wembley this season should have gone some way to preparing them for this. For this reason, it is unfortunate that they were unable to play a few more games there this time around.
In addition fans have bemoaned the difficulty in creating an atmosphere in such a large bowl as Wembley and this is a valid claim. Particularly where, unlike Cup Finals, the fan split isn’t 50/50. But once the team is back into the hurly burly of the Premier League with full strength teams on the field then things may be different. It often takes two sets of supporters to create the atmosphere, and Premier League away fans will no doubt rise to the task.
Wembley has so far proved a hurdle for Tottenham to overcome on many fronts. But there are clear signs recently that the team may be in a position to overcome that hurdle. And whilst an early European exit may have curtailed that progress prematurely, it will be all about how quickly the club, and moreover the players, pick up the baton again in the new season and keep running with it.
Main Photo
Main Photo
