Tottenham's Joy of Winning the Cup 1

Cup Success at Home and in Europe

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club's heritage is based on the success brought to the club through winning Cup competitions in one hundred and twenty nine years of history.  It is those successes that saw the club become known as a "Cup' team and which supporters remember with enthusiasm - that feeling of having been there the 'Day Tottenham Won the Cup' - such experiences will never be forgotten. 

Juande Ramos Celebrates with the Carling Cup at Wembley

Today football is so much about the Premier League and the Champions League that any other competition is dismissed an unimportant or a 'nuisance'.  However, for those clubs who aren't going to win either competition this focus is rather misguided.  Yes, there is the money involved in Champions League qualification but if it isn't re-invested in strengthening the team year on year with 'class' players then the football has become irrelevant and the football club has just become a money making concern for the already wealthy owners.

Football is about winning matches and ultimately winning trophies.  The current complaint about Arsene Wenger is that, in spite of playing Champions League football every year,  Arsenal haven't won a trophy for six years.  They've had all the advantages of playing in the Champions League but haven't been able to retain their star players because they haven't won any medals to show their grandchildren in years to come and have demand a transfer to a club with ambition.

Tottenham battled unsuccessfully to achieve qualification for European football for many years.  Managers were lambasted for failing to get into Europe but under Martin Jol that ambition was finally finally achieved and supporters enjoyed their European experiences.  Two years ago the team successfully qualified for the Champions League and brought us many memorable experiences in the competition last year before finally being eliminated by Real Madrid.  The games against the two Milan clubs will never be forgotten and the whole experience will long be remembered by Tottenham supporters around the world.  However, the success achieved in those games was in the end futile because the ultimate prize was missed.  Those victories eventually led to defeat, elimination from the competition and disappointment.

This season the European experience is designated as the Europa League but Harry Redknapp dismisses it as a 'nuisance', a 'killer' and a distraction from his goal of qualification for the Champions League by finishing fourth in the Premier League or perhaps third.  It's very unlikely that Spurs will finish any higher, I'd love to be proved wrong.  So Tottenham's aim is to be satisfied with failure to win a trophy and many supporters are in agreement with that objective, seeing the Champions League as the only worthwhile goal for the club and so dismiss serious participation in the Europa League or any other Cup competition.  The dismissal of the Cup competitions by clubs of all sizes is now common place and been accepted by the authorities as the norm.

However, there are many other supporters who disagree with this blinkered view of football.  They regard Cup competitions as being there to be won and provide them with triumphant days at Wembley - like the days they've experienced in the past when Tottenham won FA Cups and League Cups or were victorious in European competitions.

It was fantastic when Spurs defeated Chelsea 5 - 1 at White Hart Lane in the second leg of the semi-final of the Worthington Cup in 2002 but in the end it was a meaningless success as the ultimate prize was lost to Blackburn Rovers in the Final at Cardiff.  By concentrating all our energy on qualification for the Champions League this is what we are subscribing to year after year - the acceptance of failure, simply because we're not going to win the Champions League.

There's also an assumption that being in the Champions League will attract better players but that didn't happen with our involvement in the competition last year - Van der Vaart doesn't count, he was a last minute, opportunist deal without any planning or foresight by Tottenham.

Steve Perryman 1981 FA Cup

The real joy for supporters comes from winning trophies - the exhilaration, the memories, the celebrations are never forgotten. Supporters love to tell of being there on The 'Day Tottenham Won the Cup' and Danny Blanchflower or Steve Perryman lifted the trophy.

FA Cup Winners (8): 1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1981, 1982, 1991

League Cup Winners (4): 1971, 1973, 1999, 2008

European Cup Winners Cup Winners (1): 1963

UEFA Cup Winners (2): 1972, 1984

Supporters have stories to tell about being at those Finals or watching them on television.  Players are remembered at Spurs for their contribution to those successes - Sandy Brown, Jimmy Dimmock, Terry Dyson, Martin Chivers, Tony Parks, Ralph Coates, Ricky Villa, Jonathan Woodgate, Allan Nielsen to name just a few.  By regarding the Cup competitions, including the Europa League, as an irrelevance we are depriving ourselves of wonderful, memorable occasions like those that have passed before in the glorious history of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

It's the Europa League NOT the Champions League

Tottenham Fans Face Up to Reality of Europa League

After the heady excitement and the unforgettable Champions League campaign that took in such places as the San Siro Stadium in Milan (twice) and the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid with many outstanding performances from their team, Spurs fans are now facing up to the reality of this season's Europa League competition.

It was on Saturday after the win at Molineux that the reality of this season's European competition started to come into focus.  At his after match interview, the manager took up his anti-Europa League agenda once again, pointing out that not many of those who played on Saturday would be making the trip to Greece to play PAOK Salonika.  The competition was a 'nuisance' and he was more concerned with next Sunday's game against Liverpool.

He had, of course, made his views known very clearly during the summer, calling the competition a 'killer', having to play Thursday and Sunday and so the young players would get plenty of experience. (Out of interest - What's the difference between playing Wednesday and Saturday and Thursday and Sunday?)

The younger players at the club get little opportunity to get experience so there's no problem with playing some of them in the Europa League as long as it's a balanced team with experienced players who can support them.

However, the tone for the week had been set by the manager's comments - not the excited anticipation of the week ahead with the match as the climax.  Rather, a dread and a fear about how Spurs might look at the end of this youthful 'adventure'.  Any defeat goes into the record books and remains there as part of the club's history including the failed Intertoto campaign in the the summer of 1995 and the humiliating 8 - 0 defeat in Cologne with a 'non-team' comprised of reserves, youth team players and 'guests' including Alan Pardew, the current Newcastle manager.  As much as Spurs might try to delete the result from the club's history it's still there as part of UEFA's record of Tottenham's involvement in European competitions.  There'll be no footnote to explain that it was 'a young team' or 'Tottenham weren't interested in the competition that year'.  A team like Tottenham with a great history of success in European competition not really bothered about how they do in a European competition.  What would Bill Nicholson say about such an attitude?

The Sunday papers gave the next indication that it was going to be so different from last year.  No full page articles on Europa League games to peruse as there was for the Champions League matches.  The reality was  that in most papers they didn't get a mention although one did manage to include the date and time of kick-off.  Through the week this trend continued, with Thursday morning the only time there'll be a brief mention of each of the matches, if there's any room left after the match reports and analysis of the Champions League games.

Tuesday brought the possible team news delivered to a supporters messageboard - 'Youth team day out! Very weakened squad travelling.'  It would appear that Harry has kept to his intention of sending out a young squad to Greece - too many injuries and more important matches ahead is the excuse.

Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening and we're not on the television on high profile channels at 7.45pm - no, you might find us somewhere on Freeview on Thursday at 6pm - that's no time to play football.

Going to a European home game this season - well, that'll be no problem.  The Europa League has done away with queuing for tickets from early morning to make sure you're on-line before everyone else.  A quick visit to the ticket website, job done but at least the tickets are cheaper.

Then there's the away trips - no Milan this time to watch from the vast extent of the San Siro - rather it's a trip to Dublin and Shamrock Rovers' compact Tallaght Stadium - for those few who'll get a ticket.

Many supporters agree with the stance that Harry Redknapp has taken over the Europa League.  They regard all competitions, except the Premier League, as distractions from the main goal of getting into the Champions League.  However, for others, they feel that the club should be endeavouring to win every competition that take part in.  These supporters remember the 'glory' nights at White Hart Lane when Tottenham entertained European clubs enroute to success in the Cup Winners Cup and the UEFA Cup.

European Nights to Remember:
20th Sept. 1961 v Gornik Zabreze (h) European Cup Won 8 - 1 (Blanchflower, Jones (3), White, Smith (2), Dyson)

5th Apr. 1962 v Benefica (h) EC Won 2 - 1 (Blanchflower (p), Smith)

31st Oct. 1962 v Glasgow Rangers (h) European Cup Winners' Cup Won 5 - 2 (Norman, White (2), Allen, Opp.o.g.)

15th May, 1963 v Atletico Madrid (Rotterdam) ECWC Won 5 - 1 (Greaves (2), Dyson (2), White)

5th Apr. 1972 v AC Milan (h) UEFA Cup Won 2 - 1 (Perryman (2))

19th Apr. 1972 v AC Milan (a) UEFA Cup Draw 1 - 1 (Mullery)

3rd May, 1972 v Wolverhampton Wanderers (a) UEFA Cup Final (1st leg) Won 2 - 1 (Chivers (2))

12th Dec. 1973 v Dinamo Tbilisi (h) UEFA Cup Won 5 - 1 (McGrath, Chivers (2), Peters (2))

7th Apr. 1982 v Barcelona (h) ECWC Draw 1 - 1 Roberts

23rd May, 1984 v Anderlecht (h) UEFA Cup Final Draw 1 - 1 (Won 4 - 3 on pens) (Roberts)

2nd Nov. 2010 v Inter Milan (h)  CL Won 3 - 1 (Van der Vaart, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko)

Van der Vaart annoyed at being omitted from squad

At least one member of the playing staff considers playing in European competition important.  Rafael Van der Vaart was very annoyed yesterday to discover he was not included in the club's Europa League 25-man squad.  When it was submitted, Van der Vaart was expected to be out unjured for six weeks so missing much of the group stages and the club omitted him so that he could concentrate on keeping fit for the League.  if the club were to progress to the knock-out stages after Christmas, then he could have been introduced into the squad.  At the time this appeared a responsible decision to take but unfortunately, firstly, the manager didn't discuss the matter with the player and, secondly, Van der Vaart has recovered quicker than anticipated and targeting the game against Liverpool this weekend for his return.