To be a big club, you need to act like a big club Spurs..

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·9 juin 2025

To be a big club, you need to act like a big club Spurs..

The irony is that Spurs have taken winning their first trophy in 17 years and returning to the Champions League to somehow prove they are the opposite.

Of course, any fanbase should be delighted to see their team win any cup. If you can’t enjoy moments like being victorious in finals, then what’s the point?

Vidéos OneFootball

If that’s not the time to banter your peers, then when is?

Calling yourself Champions of Europe based on winning the Europa League is funny if you’re a content creator after some views on social media.

It’s cringe when your vice-captain does it.

Bilbao should have been one of the highlights of James Maddison’s career. Yet by taking part in so many post-match interviews despite being injured against Man United, he showed the world why, at the age of 28, he doesn’t have the mentality to fulfil his potential.

He sarcastically made a dig at criticism made by Roy Keane, his lack of awareness was uncomfortable to watch. The midfielder thinks that medal proved a point. His whole demeanour confirmed exactly what the former Man United captain was saying.

Given what he won, maybe someone worth listening to?

Compare that to how Roy Keane conducted himself when suspended for a… CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!

Now ask yourself how the pundit would have reacted to finishing 17th in the Prem but being successful in UEFA’s secondary competition?

He’d be proud of the medal, but I’m not sure he’d refer to himself and his peers as “legends.”

I’m not sure what he would’ve done if he heard those words uttered in the dressing room.

What about a Tony Adams?A Steven Gerrard?A John Terry?

Skippers who would’ve been embarrassed to be competing at that level, and who would make it an expectation to go all the way in the competition, especially now the tournament is easier to navigate than it’s been in decades. They certainly wouldn’t believe it justifies 38 points and 22 Premier League defeats.

Daniel Levy has been criticised across the football community for sacking Ange Postecoglou two weeks after lifting silverware, yet he seems to be the only person at Spurs holding the club to any kind of standard.

Ange had a way out, but chose not to take it

I actually think there was a way Big Ange could have saved his job, but he bizarrely talked himself out of the post since Spain.

Because once the dust settles and the adrenaline wears off, you want to hear the man you pay thousands of pounds a week be humble, and show he understands that, domestically, the season has been unacceptable.

If supporters want to claim it’s been a great year on YouTube for clicks… that’s one thing. But the boss?

He should be wondering how a club that size didn’t even get 40 points.

Yet when losing on the final day 4-1 at home to Brighton, to confirm the club’s worst-ever Prem finish, the Australian had the audacity to summarise the campaign as “outstanding.”

Zero embarrassment.No shame.Devoid of any apology to those who pay a lot of money to watch the worst-ever Spurs team in the Premier League era.

He seemed to find it funny that he had kind of cheated and found a loophole.

I don’t like anyone being out of work (although he will be financially okay), but if there is one positive, it’s that at least an Aston Villa or Crystal Palace won’t play the kids the moment they’re safe from relegation, thinking the league is irrelevant as long as you win a Mickey Mouse cup.

(Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Spurs still don’t think like a big club

With the way UEFA have formatted the league stage, any English representative should be getting to at least the semi-finals. The standard of opposition is so poor, it would’ve been a dangerous precedent if clubs started thinking the league didn’t matter.

Ange’s employer must have laughed… then stopped, concerned, when he realised the 59-year-old was not joking.

Reality would’ve hit Mr Levy as it became apparent that the whole time his manager was being serious, not caught up in celebrations.

In that moment, the Spurs chairman had evidence that the man in charge of what happens on the pitch doesn’t get the size of the club, has zero desire for the club to be anything more, and has zero pride.

Yes, a fan channel can argue that Spurs won a trophy and qualified for the Champions League, and that the ends justify the means. And if you were talking to an alien who knew nothing about the sport, that’s how matter-of-fact you would be.

But a professional manager, working in the biggest league in the world, having spent over £150 million in the last 12 months?

No, you can’t have that attitude.

One fan famous on the internet went to the Emirates and took a photo in front of the Thierry Henry statue with a mock Europa League.

Which is kind of sad. Because in his bid to be humorous, he’s making Spurs look silly.

That’s what Ange did. He took a glorious moment, but due to a lack of dignity, he made Spurs get laughed at.

Could you imagine Everton winning the Carabao Cup but finishing 17th and then taking pictures outside Anfield?

I remember in 2005 when Liverpool won their 5th European Cup (the European Cup!).

Part of the thrill of Istanbul was they knew it wasn’t the greatest team in their history. They had finished 5th that year, below the Toffees.

I don’t recall them ever trying to say they were the best in Europe. They acted with class.

They shared the moment with their city but knew they had more steps to go.

A sprinter should be proud of a bronze medal at the Olympics. Yet if you start pointing out that Usain Bolt doesn’t have that colour medal in his Olympic collection, you look foolish and small. You’re also telling the universe you don’t have the drive to be anything more.

This, by the way, is not me being a bitter Gooner.

I can only speak for myself, but when we faced Chelsea in Baku, I remember thinking how relieved I’d be to win and paper over the cracks by saving our season.

It never once crossed my mind that if we had won, we’d be “Champions of Europe.”

It was rock bottom to be competing in UEFA’s second tier, and winning it was an expectation, not a trophy I’d be buying a replica of to pose outside West Ham with.

That was when we finished 5th, not 17th.

I’m old enough to remember Galatasaray on penalties, but again, I don’t recall thinking “we’re Champions of Europe” if those spot kicks go in our favour.

I just recall finishing so far behind Man United, wanting any kind of success.

I wouldn’t have boasted though, because the UEFA Cup/Europa League was not designed for us. It was a chance for a Middlesbrough or a Fulham to have European nights.

Both got to finals. Had they won, would they have been Champions of Europe?

I don’t blame our neighbours across North London. That’s how they’ve been educated.

If your own manager and players are saying 17th and the Europa League is “outstanding,” of course supporters will follow.

Daniel Levy has every right to expect an employee of Tottenham to have more pride and class than that.

He doesn’t pay for his own manager to tell players and fans they should drop all standards in the league because they are rubbish and therefore should accept anything they can get.

How patronising is that?

Mr Levy would’ve partied in Seville. He would’ve toasted everyone involved, a job well done.

With a sore head the next morning, he would’ve flown back to the UK with pride.

Yet he’s still a businessman, used to taking away emotion when making a decision.

Asking himself whether he has the best possible coach leading the team, he can’t ignore the league position based on a one-off game.

He can’t justify 38 points because you won a competition you were favourites to win.

Twenty-two league defeats isn’t overlooked because you beat AZ Alkmaar, Frankfurt, Bodo/Glimt and Man United.

Sacking someone, paying compensation to him, then potentially to another club to take their boss, bringing in that new person’s staff and even signings, it’s a decision worth millions of pounds.

You can’t make a decision worth millions based on one match.

Man United made that mistake with Ten Hag.

A Spurs fan asked me: would I accept five runners-up finishes or one of those years being a Europa League win?

I said, but to qualify for the Europa League, you have to fail first?

That can’t be how a professional sports team wants to be run.

Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, AC/Inter Milan, Bayern Munich would not be legends if they finished 17th domestically but won the Europa League. None of their managers would call that “outstanding.”

Because to be a big club… you think like one.

I guess… it’s happened again?

Dan Smith

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