One look at this new BT Sport graphic tells us that, the path to the Champions League final has just become an increasingly protracted affair, for those that have battled sufficiently hard enough domestically to qualify.
If you’re a truly elite side in a period of great form, then one’s route to the latter stages is unlikely to be adversely affected, the top 8 teams sail straight into the last 16.
However, those finding themselves in the lower echelons will see their season burdened with two more games, in which to slug it out, to progress into the last 16.
I take a view that Daniel Levy will be licking his lips at the prospect of this new style of tournament. Spurs are well off the pace of Europe’s footballing elites, so the opportunity of additional revenues will appeal enormously. As we saw with the sacking of Mourinho, just days before a domestic cup final, THFC is not overly concerned with competitions that payout comparatively meager sums.
This tweaking of the Champions League – with a nod to the proposed European Super League formation – has just become more appealing to clubs whose primary aim is to capture funds before trophies.
Went for forty something years hard a season ticket for 19 yrs membership before that and before that you could pay on the turnstile..
I don’t feel entitled as a Spurs fan I’ve seen us win numerous trophies under different Chmn.
I just couldn’t go anymore jacking the season ticket in this season…just felt and still feel I was being fleeced ..Poch not being backed being the epitome of money over football…Levy and ENIC are Parasites need smiting.
Good Luck With That .
This doesn’t affect THFC or should I say unlikely to. All our competitors have improved and will continue to (how the hell did we let Broja go he is just what we need as a Kane understudy).
So Levy can lick his lips he can lick his Arsenal for all I care.
How and why do fans still take this crap…I stopped buying season tickets about 3 years ago and stopped buying spurs overpriced merchandise god knows how long ago (still got my holsten t.shirt) just boycott this crap until top executives realise were not gonna take it anymore….( by twisted sisters)
So true. I remember once ……a long long time ago when being in the UEFA champions you had to be a champion, meaning ending up 1st in your domestic league. Not 2nd..3rd..4th…..OR FIFTH!!!!
Yep..I curse the day my brother took me to watch spurs at WHL 50 years ago winning the UEFA cup against wolves making me a lifelong spurs supporter, because j wish I followed my dads footsteps and became a rugby fan.
Wow…so I’m not the only one. You just feel you want to slap it.
What i’m saying is Levy has no problem with creditors for the next 25 years. He can spend minimally on THFC and still churn out enough cash from the prem contract, nfl games, boxing, whatever. But if he stays on running things the value of the team will drop since he has no clue how to manage anything. And since he’s a coward and won’t face the music I think at that point he’ll sell the team. At least I hope so as well do!
I see no difference between this and all the ultra consumerist and money grabbing obsolescence culture that means that your perfectly useful smartphone or car you drive is suddenly rendered obsolete.
Do what we say, cos we say so, and be made to feel like a loser if you don’t get fully on-board
Failure FC.
Coverage may not be an issue, however the spend on the team is still well below 5 other clubs in the Premiership at the very least. Add (as you say) to the utterly clueless decisions on the running of the team, and bonkers ‘jam tomorrow’ transfer choices and you end up with a lot of debt and very little to show for it. Unless you like to see American rugby played in North London…
The debt has been refinanced for 25 years at less than 3% so coverage is not an issue. But Levy is in over his head in this new world where football has become fungible content for NFT. Now that he has no clue about the football aspect or the business aspect he is utterly useless which should be apparent to anyone with a brain.
Classic stuff. The dunce Levy hired a guy that tells the world his boss is the problem. Brilliant!
You have to despair at the state of the game and how quickly it is spinning out of control as it goes down the gurgler.
The football authorities know no overarching body that stops them competing with each other to offer more, for which they are richly rewarded by the scourge of modern times, the media and TV empires. These rapacious parasites will feed and feed on this sport until it dies and as it weakens, they will morph (mutate) it into something that can stay alive to continue to generate revenue, whilst they devour the carcass of what it once was.
The public will be told how good everything is and dissention lost by the fact that the major platforms for the game are owned by those who are the beneficiaries of its exploitation. As players struggle to remain upright, “two legs good, four legs better” will be the new mantra.
More Champions League, “Yeah!”, World Cups every two years, “Yeah!”, additional domestic and international Euro competitions, “Yeah!”….. where will it end?
As things stand with these proposals, the top flight of European football clubs (and I’ve no doubt if/as other continents/genders can be exploited they will be) will play two or three times a week with the top players going on to play numerous International eliminations and finals tournaments every year against opponents whose whole populations would not fill the stadiums their teams play in.
The Media Barons and the football authorities they bribe, will just count the snouts and the subscriptions, but how much football can reasonably be played?
The players union will do nothing. Much like our own Supporters Trust, they embody all the embarrassment of seeing a wet spot on your hush puppies as you leave the bathroom. But surely someone will lead the charge to change the dynamic to appearance-based contracts with a maximum number of games or game-time played. The alternative will be an inevitable rise in injuries and drop in performance……………
………who are the paying beneficiaries of that performance?
Levy will be licking his lips alright, more opportunity to sell merchandise, beer and cold stale pies. Justification to put up the season ticket prices and of course clip the media ticket with a much bigger hole punch.
As an aside, I hear that Alan Brazil has posted that Levy was “summoned” by the great Oz in Barbados….. the sheep-dip hacks report this as if Uncle Joe was going to admonish Levy for recent failings. In 20 years that has never been an issue I can’t see it suddenly becoming one now. I wonder if the summons was discuss the business as a whole and the options going forward.
As it stand, across the entertainment and property portfolios, ENIC is ripe for picking. With the positioning of the club coming out of COVID the opportunity for growth is staggering…….. jam tomorrow anyone?
Offloading the management/ownership (or controlling ownership) building in a performance based profit share over say the next 5 -10 years might be seen as a a sharp way to keep making the money, reducing personal risk and well, doing less work providing working capital and allowing focus into other money-making escapades.
Might just be Levy was summoned to work through an end-game scenario.
OK, so I have days when I’m an optimist!
You have to despair at the state of the game and how quickly it is spinning out of control as it goes down the gurgler.
The football authorities know no overarching body that stops them competing with each to offer more, for which they are richly rewarded by the scourge of modern times, the media and TV empires. These rapacious parasites will feed and feed on t his sport until it dies and as it weakens, they will morph (mutate) it into something can stay alive to continue to generate revenue.
The public will be told how good everything is and dissention lost by the fact that the major platforms for the game are owned by those who are the beneficiaries of its exploitation.
More Champions League, “Yeah!”, World Cups every two Year, “Yeah!”, additional domestic and international Euro competitions, “Yeah!”….. where will it end? As things stand with these proposals, the top flight of European football clubs (and I’ve no doubt if/as other continents/genders can be exploited they will be) Will play two or three times a week with the top players going onto play numerous elimination and finals tournaments every year.
The Media barons and the football authorities they bribe will just count the snouts and the subscriptions, but how much football can reasonably be played?
The players union (much like our own Trust) embodies all the embarrassment of a spot on your hush puppies when leaving the bathroom, but surely someone is going to be first to change the dynamic to appearance based contracts with a maximum number of games or game time played. The alternative will be an inevitable rise in injuries and drop in performance……………
………who are the paying beneficiaries of that performance?
Levy will be licking his lips alright, more opportunity to sell merchandise, beer and cold, stale pies, justification to put up the season ticket prices and of course clip the media ticket with a bigger hole punch.
As an aside, I hear that Alan Brazil has posted that Levy was “summoned” by the great Oz in Barbados….. the sheep dip hacks report this as if Uncle Joe was going to admonish Levy for recent failings. In 20 years that has not been an issue I can’t see it suddenly becoming one now. I wonder if the summons was discuss the business as a whole.
As it stand, across the entertainment and property portfolios, ENIC is ripe for picking. I’ve posted before that the debts are largely irrelevant, no more so than owning a house but paying back the bank loan. With the positioning of the club coming out of COVID the opportunity for growth is staggering.
Might just be Levy was summoned to work through end-game scenarios. OK so I’m an optimist!
Football is f*cked…
We could be in the Champions League forever more and the extra revenue would be a drop in the ocean compared to our 860m of debt…
Top flight football has become a complete sham. Seeing as Spurs have also become a sham of a club under Levy, the stars could finally be aligning for the ‘narrow eyed accountant’ who has no intention off winning anything…
I’m glad you said that. There is always that faintly nauseating self satisfied smirk on his face as he tells another lie.
Every time I see his face I feel nauseous and angry at the same time
Yep.
It’s just more money for the big boys.
I think a better format would be to have 128 clubs enter and have a straight forward knockout competition. All in the hat together, no seeding and no two-legged afairs.Spread the money out and it will benefit football in in general.
I, for one, am dead chuffed if that means more revenue for the club. This will enable Levy to invest more money in property assets whilst investing as little as possible in the team whilst retaining a place in the top five. Happy days at St Tottering.
Spot on.
They really need to rename this thing. In theory you could have the 24th best team winning it. An absolute joke shop.
Massive yawn in you ask me ..we will win fak all and play more games ..fans getting bled like our better players..
A drowning man who will reach for anything that keeps him afloat. That’s what being in the “race” for 5th suggests. This just masks the massive problems we have by seeming to have achieved something.
CL is rapidly becoming a joke of a competition which is just set up to generate loads of revenue for the footballing authorities and TV companies.
BT will be salivating over the extra revenue these changes are likely to bring in.
Apologies if that’s too cynical, but 20 odd years of lies and deception by ENIC tend to do that to you.
Not if you’re a football TV executive.
ENIC are the masters of keeping us competitive enough for the race for top 6 – yay ENIC!
Fans can break the ENIC cycle? Blimey!
Break the negative cycle AL, sure we are a bit hit and miss but if thy are increasing the number of teams in the competition then presumably England will get 5, and even with our Spursyness we are more than capable of being in the “race” for 5th.
This is absolutely disgusting. A league format in any cup competition severely limits the ability of the minnow to spring a fairytale result and all this does is ensure that the same old teams with the biggest budgets are in the last 4 every year.
I don’t even understand how they can have 1 big league table where each team only plays 10 games, how do they decide who plays who?
It is just wide open for corruption and cronyism.
What a joke.
Levy can lick all he wants. ENIC FC will not be in it. 🤔
Conte has stated that no manager can provide a quick fix for Tottenham. He then goes onto to state that the problems with the club are “the story of the past 20 years”, Remind me again of how long ENIC and Levy have been owners?
We are still holding off Palace
chin up
I think the extra places would benefit the teams more like Celtic, Rangers some of the Dutch and Portuguese teams.
The teams with big and loyal fan bases, who regularly win in there respective leagues. 6 home games at a packed 60,000 Celtic Park would suit the money orientated UEFA perfectly.
It would only suit Levy if he invested in a team to make the top 4. At the moment we’re not even in the top 4 teams of London, let alone in the Premier league.
Pointless changes if you ask me
We couldn’t muster a decent performance in the Europa conference league. How anyone would think we’d do well in the CL is baffling.
So many things need to happen before we get to dine at the top table again. Extending the qualification to more teams isn’t going to do anything for Spurs.