This current international break possibly more than other for me personally has been a welcome pause in the regular club football season. The main reason for this I think is its been a really long tough season being a Spurs fan. Some real high’s and some real lows but overall just an odd feeling of it all being a bit crap. The title of this blog is about it being the calm before the storm and I think that is accurate. When the players resume club duties this weekend, over Easter, they will begin the final chapter in the 2020/21 season and possibly some other final chapters too.
It is just nine games. Nine games to win. Win all nine and we as a club will finish the season with a trophy for the first time since the 2007/2008 season and would most likely (based on other teams indifferent form) finish in the top four and secure Champions League football for the 2021/22 season. However what are the odds of us winning all nine? Based on this season to date highly unlikely. I would guess we are 50:50 in every game, we just have no idea how we or indeed our opposition will play… so maybe win four, lose four and draw one. That would seem most likely based on this season BUT let us assume for one magical moment we are able to win all nine.
So Tottenham finish the season with a storming run. Nine straight wins lifting the league cup in the process and securing the Champions League once again. With that being the case then no matter what else has happened this season, the lows and the overall feeling of “this is all a bit crap” will mean …. we actually have hit our goals. Top four and a trophy at the start would have been the target for sure and that is what has happened.
How would you feel as a fan? I have to be honest I am not sure. It would mean Jose is safe in his job and has done what he set out to do. It would mean that the contracts on offer for Kane, Son and Lloris would likely be signed. It would mean the “when did you last win a trophy” brigade could **** off and keep f**king off some more and would mean when we are finally let back inside stadiums we will have the Champions League again.
That success and the promise of top flight European football for the next season would also allow for better signings. It would allow for the rebuild to continue.
However on the flip side it would mean Jose really is going nowhere (I know many have varying views on this) and would likely mean we say goodbye to Winks and Dele, to name two, from our squad who I personally have a lot of affection and time for.
HOWEVER…
On the flip side of these nine games, should we fail to win them all. Should we come up short BUT do win the most important and lift the League Cup, how do we feel then? League form goes to hell and we have no Champions League next season BUT we do have the cup. Is that a success? Is that hitting the targets? I think for Mr Levy it would be enough to continue to back Jose, how about the fans? Is the trophy the be all and end all?
From what I have read (and I will admit the UEFA changes have made it really complicated) the League Cup does not secure you a Europa League spot anymore unless you finish high enough in the league.
Without Champions League though what will our chairman and owner do. We need to invest in the squad but they have never, ever, invested money to do that. The club has sank or swam at all times on its own merits but can it do it right now thanks to COVID and the lost revenue happening just as we built the stadium? We have already borrowed money from the government to secure our cash flow for the business while all things have been locked down.
I do not believe ENIC will do anything. I believe the club will once again be left to fend for itself and without the financial benefit of the Champions League for next season our recruitment will be impacted greatly.
Will the League cup win be enough to secure the contract extensions for Lloris, Son and Kane? Will the clubs still be able to offer the terms the players want without the Champions League. Most likely not.
FINALLY…
We come to the worst case scenario. We lose the final. We lose games enough that we finish outside the top four and even the top six, hell even Arsenal leapfrog us (its the worst case) and we end the 2020/21 season mid table. What happens then? It has been made clear that Kane will consider his options. Son and Lloris likely would not get offered the extensions to their deals and what would happen with the manager.
Fans over the season have been very vocal in their disappointment as to how the team have played. The inconsistent performances and the style of play; which sadly is something Jose brings. I can only speak for me here and say the style would be fine (see smashing Southampton and Man Utd) if the players were also able to work space and create beyond counter attack. What I mean by that is when you play a counter style you have to be clinical, you will get fewer chances and you need to take them. Be ruthless. When you do that you can smash teams, when you do not you tend to lose 1-0 and be frustrated as hell. That frustration has boiled over for me on many an occasion this season.
Should we fail in all goals for the season then Jose would surely need to go and if that is the case what next? Who? The club appears to be in a form of free fall and with its big star in Kane considering his future who would want to walk into the job. Could a new system and new manager get the best from Dele again? Winks? Could the squad be salvaged or is it dead and needs wholesale changes?
It is also worth noting beyond the squad and the manager there is Daniel Levy and his position. Fans have been critical of the chairman for sometime and although I believe the man has done an amazing job transforming the club off the field for twenty years some of the football based decisions have been lacking and without the owner investment (ENIC more than Levy himself) we have seen good opportunities to kick on fall away and vanish on more than one occasion.
He has also put everything on the line for Jose. This is the manager he has wanted for some time and he sacked a very well liked coach in Pochettino to make this change. He even said on the Amazon doc about how this was on him and how time would tell if it was the right decision. For me, these nine games will be the proof in the pudding of it being the right or the wrong call. What happens with Mr Levy should be forced into having to sack Jose? Where does he then stand with fans of the club himself, with the players etc.
So…….. As I said, this break really has been the calm before the storm. No matter what happens this next period will be big for our club. Trophy and top four… trophy… no trophy and no top four… big changes are coming. I can only hope for nine wins. One game at a time. Win one, then the next. COME ON YOU SPURS!
-Admin SJ
