The Premier League for another season is all over bar the shouting and given the current climate, at Tottenham, that could go on for some time. The Tottenham press office has denied recent claims that Ange Postecoglou‘s recent bad mood was down to internal squabbles. While the majority of club staff had been focusing on their work as normal, the prospect of losing to Manchester City had been a theme of jokes among a minority of staff for the last week.
When one member of the support staff joked that Spurs should play a youth team against City, the Australian was furious. Equally, the fanbase, goaded on by the lower end of so-called journalists, were also less than focused on the serious business of Tottenham attempting to beat everyone that they played, without fear, or more importantly, favour.
Two weeks ago, Ange said, “If we’re really going to change, that means change. You have to make decisions. Some of those decisions aren’t that tough because whether it’s a player or a staff member, they realise it themselves and say, ‘You know what, I’ve got a better path somewhere else and you’ve got a better path here.’”
This points towards, exactly as I suggested here recently, that the culture is so toxic at Hotspur Way that it’s okay to undermine the gaffer.
Anyone with any clue of what it takes to work in a sports business understands that this is the direct opposite of what is acceptable. This is why that business has sports psychologists.
Working out quite how those campaign will end remains a complex business, and sports fans will want to go to the odds to get the best value and guidance.
A poor run of form for Ange Postecoglou’s side has Spurs looking over their shoulder. The Premier League has just the usual four Champions League places, which means competition for European football is particularly tight. Fifth place in the division guarantees a place in the Europa League next season, while sixth gets you entry to the Europa Conference League. The winners of the FA Cup also qualify for the Europa League.
Should Manchester City (who have qualified for the Champions League) beat Manchester United to win the FA Cup final, then Europa League would go to sixth place, and seventh goes to Europa Conference League.
If Manchester United win the FA Cup and finish sixth, seventh still goes to Europa Conference League. But if Manchester United beat City, and finish outside the top six, then United would qualify for the Europa League and whoever finishes sixth would go to the Europa Conference League.
Tottenham need to get their house in order, or otherwise Europe will be the least of their concerns!
