The blame game has begun

SPURS OUT OF THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

There is great debate on Twitter today as knee-jerk reaction kicks in and fans look for scapegoats or reasons why we are out of the UEFA Champions League.

Some blame for Chairman, some blame the manager, some blame the players, some blame the desire to finish in the top four, some blame the pursuit of money.

Manchester City earned €84 million from the Champions League, Real Madrid €80 million, Juventus €76 million, Paris Saint-Germain €71 million, Atletico Madrid €70 million and Chelsea €69 million.

Tottenham earned €20.9 million.

For us to compete regularly for trophies as opposed to a one-off trophy win, then we have to be competing in the Champions League and getting the revenue it generates. Thus the top four is and will always be top priority.

Take a look at the earning from European TV revenue for the top Premier League clubs over the last 5 years.

European TV Revuenue - last 5 years
Chelsea €253.2 million
Manchester City €221.7 million
Arsenal €176.7 million
Manchester United €158.7 million
Liverpool €77 million
Tottenham Hotspur €41.2 million

Chelsea have earned €212 million more than us. That means they can pay higher wages and therefore buy better players. It isn't an accountant thing, it is a simple plain fact, the top four is essential to win trophies on a regular basis and that is our aim.

I don't care what sort of fan you are, if you can't understand that concept you are not living in the real world. If we put all our eggs in one basket to win the FA Cup, those same fans celebrating that would complain we are not in the Champions League, the same fans who complain we are not buying players we simply can't afford the wages for. They are the same people who would complain the club isn't moving forward. Fans need to understand the reality of football today, they say they just want a trophy win, but they don't really, they want it all.

We simply have to build a squad that can cope with both competitions, which we don't have at the moment. You will recall fans not wanting to be in the Europa League which was always nonsense because if we couldn't handle the Europa League and the Premier League there was no way we were going to be able to cope with the Champions League and the Europa League. Some have misplaced thinking.

We have to play at a level to know what is required. This was our second attempt, the first ended with us failing to get back into the Champions League so didn't do anything for the club in the long run. We have to learn from this, understand the level of squad we need and refocus our transfer activity to meet that criteria.

Mauricio Pochettino has basically said that and been slated for it by fans who think they know more than he does, I have news for them, they don't.

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