Spurs: The true cost on Premiership form of UEFA


By Aha - Andy !
February 15 2007

Before tucking into the meat and grist, let me just share with you a piece of personal philosophy; nothing in life is ever determined by one single consideration, .....

Tottenham: The true cost on Premiership form of UEFA involvement

 

 

Before tucking into the meat and grist, let me just share with you a piece of personal philosophy; nothing in life is ever determined by one single consideration, there is always a whole basket of reasons on one side of an issue And, at the very same time, there’s always a counter basket on the other side of the issue. We, the sharp high-apes we are, consider and weigh that of which we’re consciously aware, add to it everything that’s simultaneously whirling around in our subconscious before, finally, we somehow work out which basket tips the balance. Which is handy otherwise the joke ‘I used to be a procrastinator but now I’m not sure’ wouldn’t be half as hysterical as it never was.

 

Applying that to our present quandary, it isn’t reasonable to assert Tottenham are performing badly at home in the Premiership solely because – alternatively - a) Comolli is rubbish b) Jol is pants, c) Levy’s worse still, d) Carrick’s gone, Ledley’s missing and Huddlestone’s too inexperienced, e) the moon is in Aquarius, f) the year ends in a large God awful mess g) I dunno, and h) It’s not that bad what you all moaning about.

 

In other words, while those factors – all of which appear weekly on message boards or in pub conversations - may weigh as part of a basket, they are not by themselves the whole explanation, at least according to my high-ape philosophy If that’s obvious, it doesn’t seem so to the many who type their frustration on that Interweb ting or, worse still, provide entertainment on shock-jock style football phone-in shows with their demands for Jol’s resignation or sacking. By the way, I’m just coming to the point.

 

Another factor sometimes mentioned as being THE reason for our current plight is involvement in the UEFA Cup and, given it’s possible to do so, I wanted to offer something factual information in relation to that. Over to you Motty. Thank you Gary, the scores since 2000-01:

 

 

In relation to Chelsea, it is perhaps worth noting Ken Bates reputedly took the club to the literal brink of financial ruin in his European quest, and Liverpool have had a culture of European involvement for 25 years.

 

Indeed, if you separate the proven European experience of Liverpool from the rest of this group, but include the then still aspiring Chelsea, the average finishing positions in the Premiership are 5.5 in the season the club qualified, and 11.875 in the season of UEFA Cup involvement.

 

So there you are, another factor to toss into whichever basket it best suits, the UEFA Cup knock the arse out of your Premiership form, unless you’re Liverpool or Ken Bates accountants. Fact!

 

 

 

*I’ve included details of how all 8 teams qualified as a footnote so people can check the stats (it’s always possible I made a istake). If you do want to question the stats I would ask you remember that I’ve only included clubs qualifying for the UEFA Cup through their (Premiership) league position since 2000-01. Other clubs have qualified through the following routes; the Fair Play malarkey, the Inter-Two-Bob, as Carling Cup winners, as FA Cup Finalists and via Tony Blair's Citizenship Awards - just checking you're still reading.

 

The figure in brackets represents the Premiership finishing position in the season before UEFA involvement, the figure not in brackets is the finishing position the following season:

 

00-01      Leeds (4) 5, Ipswich (5) 18, Chelsea (6) 6

01-02     Leeds (5) 15

02-03     Liverpool (5) 4, Blackburn (6) 15

03-04     Newcastle (5) 14

04-05     Liverpool (5) 3, Bolton (6) 8, Middlesborough (7) 14