The Crow - Welcome to the big time, let’s just hope it doesn’t last!
Published: 6 May, 2010
The Crow
by RICHARD OSLEY
LET me be the first to welcome Spurs to the Champions League. For the first time in the 40 odd weary years I’ve been writing this column, I can honestly say they deserve it.
Tottenham brilliantly came through that forest of tricky fixtures and beat Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City to get into the qualification places. So they have earned a turn in the big boys tournament after year upon year, upon year, upon year of watching Arsenal and the others contest the Champions League.
People will say it will give Spurs a tremendous cash boost and it will mean they will be able to buy new players. But that, my dear Gunners friends is where those fat-bellied bullies from down the road may just come unstuck. Tottenham don’t need any more players. Their spending already outstrips most clubs in the whole of Europe. They have bought success rather than nurtured it, yet Spurs still hold the moral high ground over Manchester City and the champions nobody wants, Chelsea. What Spurs should do now is stay calm. The hope is they won’t.
The hope is that they give into Harry Redknapp’s relentless
pattern of chopping and changing players, diluting their winning formula.
For now, however, they deserve a heck of a party.
The WROE
by PIP WROE
WERE this a typical season, I would right now be revelling in the fantastic incompetence of our neighbours.
However the small matter of our highest league finish in 20 years and its multi-million pound ramifications distracts me from the nearby rubbish down the road.
As Tom Huddlestone attempted to put a hole in the net with his thumping strike against Bolton on Saturday it became clear that this season would result in a showdown of biblical proportions (and wages, in Man City’s case).
The glorious Spurs, a team of young, talented hopefuls, banded together by a love of their club and a shared ambition to join the élite of European football, ventured north.
Upon arriving at Middle Eastlands, they would face the Citizens, a motley gang of greedy players, banded together by a love of money.
This game was bigger than fourth place, it was good -v- evil, it was Luka Modric -v- Craig Bellamy, it was the Cockney Wheeler Dealer -v- a huge scarf. Victory for Spurs was sunshine and Lib Dems, while Manchester City brought a summer of rain and David Cameron’s plastic face.
Good prevailed thanks to the mighty Peter Crouch. A deserved win, netting a deserved Top Four finish. Now bring on Europe’s elite.