Europa League 2012-13 - QF: Basel (SUI)

[parklane1]

Why don't they just support Barcelona or Emirates Marketing Project? THey could go to the Etihad, easily get a ticket and sit next to their fellow south Korean die hard tourist fans?!

I wish some of them would, its a sad state of affairs that some fans would rather finish among the runners up then actually win a trophy.

 

[funster]

You can say the Europa League is great and it would be wonderful to win, the reality of the competition is far different.

There were 10 men and a dog at the San Siro for our game against Inter and a TV audience that consisted of probably 90% Spurs fans. A Far cry from our game against AC Milan in the CL.

The games against Basel will take place and the rest of football world will be oblivious to them, the only interested parties will be Arsenal fans, wanting us to win - to play more games - and hoping we pick up injuries.

Every Spurs fan would like us to win the whole thing - the difference in opinion is whether it's worth potentially sacrificing a CL place for it. We'd all like to have both, but we clearly lack the squad depth for that.

This just demonstrates the ruinous nature of football nowadays. When finishing fourth is seen as a greater reward than winning a trophy. The whole gonad*s of this latest era in football where it's money that counts and fudge everything else. It's why you have tossers who don't give a brick about football following the latest of the nouveau riche. Sod that. We should be going out to go as far as we possibly can in every tournament we compete in.

 

[Armchair Expert]

This just demonstrates the ruinous nature of football nowadays. When finishing fourth is seen as a greater reward than winning a trophy. The whole gonad*s of this latest era in football where it's money that counts and fudge everything else. It's why you have tossers who don't give a brick about football following the latest of the nouveau riche. Sod that. We should be going out to go as far as we possibly can in every tournament we compete in.

Don't worry mate, we'll see how many people want us to rest players for a Europa League second leg semi final away to Benfica ahead of a crucial premier league fixture at home to Southampton....

 

[billyiddo]

No, I don't care personally about the money and I wish it was still £3.50 to stand on the shelf. But it's becoming a money business. You need money to be able to buy and pay the best players. I hate this fact but it's not gonna change radically any time soon. And we need to generate as much money as possible to do that. The CL is seen as the pinnacle, it's where the football glory is, and where the money is as well, which, in turn, helps you to achieve that football glory.

The monster the CL has become has in turn devalued the Uefa/Europa League as a result. It used to be a brilliant competition. Not far of par with the old European Cup. But that was when league runners up were playing in it, now it's 5th and 6th placed clubs trying to win it.

only from a couple of the strongest leagues in Europe - for the most part the teams that compete in the Europa League are the top few teams from their domestic leagues and once you get down to the quarters what you are left with is usually a group of very strong teams and well established clubs.

i traveled Latin America a couple of years back, when Porto won the Europa League under AVB - every game was shown on TV and every town i was in you could find a bar which was showing the game - we watched the final in Venezuela in a packed bar at about 4 in the afternoon - and that's in a country where they hold Baseball higher than Football :lol:, so i think you greatly underestimate the appeal of the competition on a worldwide basis

 

[Bonsaiboy]

I will tell you my dream.

My dream is to win the Champions League.

If we could manage this, the sunlight will return to Tottenham. 20 years of living in the shade will be gone in that moment.

Winning the Europa League would be nice, but it won't cause Arsenal fans to feel much pain. A slight nausea that will last a day or two at most.

I want them to suffer mental anguish. A crushing mental anguish that reduces them to tears. So much so that they can never face watching another football match again.

The Emirates stadium will become a desolate ruined monument to a time when a foreign power once ruled over the people of North London, and the shadow of Tottenham Hotspur will forever shroud it in darkness, until it crumbles in to the abyss forever.

 

[Spursalot]

I will tell you my dream.

My dream is to win the Champions League.

If we could manage this, the sunlight will return to Tottenham. 20 years of living in the shade will be gone in that moment.

Winning the Europa League would be nice, but it won't cause Arsenal fans to feel much pain. A slight nausea that will last a day or two at most.

I want them to suffer mental anguish. A crushing mental anguish that reduces them to tears. So much so that they can never face watching another football match again.

The Emirates stadium will become a desolate ruined monument to a time when a foreign power once ruled over the people of North London, and the shadow of Tottenham Hotspur will forever shroud it in darkness, until it crumbles in to the abyss forever.

8-[


I'm going to edge away slowly and go and sit in another thread..

 

[funster]

I will tell you my dream.

My dream is to win the Champions League.

If we could manage this, the sunlight will return to Tottenham. 20 years of living in the shade will be gone in that moment.

Winning the Europa League would be nice, but it won't cause Arsenal fans to feel much pain. A slight nausea that will last a day or two at most.

I want them to suffer mental anguish. A crushing mental anguish that reduces them to tears. So much so that they can never face watching another football match again.

The Emirates stadium will become a desolate ruined monument to a time when a foreign power once ruled over the people of North London, and the shadow of Tottenham Hotspur will forever shroud it in darkness, until it crumbles in to the abyss forever.

Do you write copy for a living? First some headlines of impending doom for the papers and now writing that would be more at home in the Literary Review! Nothing wrong with that. Just an observation.

 

[billyiddo]

I will tell you my dream.

My dream is to win the Champions League.

If we could manage this, the sunlight will return to Tottenham. 20 years of living in the shade will be gone in that moment.

Winning the Europa League would be nice, but it won't cause Arsenal fans to feel much pain. A slight nausea that will last a day or two at most.

I want them to suffer mental anguish. A crushing mental anguish that reduces them to tears. So much so that they can never face watching another football match again.

The Emirates stadium will become a desolate ruined monument to a time when a foreign power once ruled over the people of North London, and the shadow of Tottenham Hotspur will forever shroud it in darkness, until it crumbles in to the abyss forever.

winning the Europa League and making it our 4th European trophy, to their 1 (which is on a par with West Ham), would cause Arsenal fans more than a couple of days of pain mate - especially those that are becoming ever more disillusioned with the club putting more stock in qualifying for the CL as their only goal each season (a goal which you seem to want to emulate. . . )

 

[Armchair Expert]

I will tell you my dream.

My dream is to win the Champions League.

If we could manage this, the sunlight will return to Tottenham. 20 years of living in the shade will be gone in that moment.

Winning the Europa League would be nice, but it won't cause Arsenal fans to feel much pain. A slight nausea that will last a day or two at most.

I want them to suffer mental anguish. A crushing mental anguish that reduces them to tears. So much so that they can never face watching another football match again.

The Emirates stadium will become a desolate ruined monument to a time when a foreign power once ruled over the people of North London, and the shadow of Tottenham Hotspur will forever shroud it in darkness, until it crumbles in to the abyss forever.

8-[

erm, okaaaaay then..

 

[Spurs7891]

I will tell you my dream.

My dream is to win the Champions League.

If we could manage this, the sunlight will return to Tottenham. 20 years of living in the shade will be gone in that moment.

Winning the Europa League would be nice, but it won't cause Arsenal fans to feel much pain. A slight nausea that will last a day or two at most.

I want them to suffer mental anguish. A crushing mental anguish that reduces them to tears. So much so that they can never face watching another football match again.

The Emirates stadium will become a desolate ruined monument to a time when a foreign power once ruled over the people of North London, and the shadow of Tottenham Hotspur will forever shroud it in darkness, until it crumbles in to the abyss forever.

Want us to win the league title before even dreaming about the CL. Just don't want us to win the CL before that. It will feel incomplete and lack the glory if we are to win the CL without winning the league title since 1961.

 

[Bonsaiboy]

I'm just giving my honest opinion, that's all football - and life - is all about, opinions. None are right. None are wrong. Just different. If they weren't, nobody would need to talk to each other or discuss anything, and we'd never have evolved from apes and we'd all still have those strange little pointy white penises that apes have.

I'll watch the game on Thursday, with my feet up, without nerves. I hope we win, but I hope more that we don't suffer any injuries, and that game is played at a slow pace.

 

[SubZero]

Why don't they just support Barcelona or Emirates Marketing Project? THey could go to the Etihad, easily get a ticket and sit next to their fellow south Korean die hard tourist fans?!

Perhaps it's about availability, and while you may not have respect or even want to have fans travelling half way around the globe to once in their lifetime be able to watch their team live, I certainly have. If you still haven't realized that football has a worldwide attraction not limited to class, location or race, well... it has.

Or maybe you should choose who's worthy of supporting Spurs or not?

 

[Armchair Expert]

Perhaps it's about availability, and while you may not have respect or even want to have fans travelling half way around the globe to once in their lifetime be able to watch their team live, I certainly have. If you still haven't realized that football has a worldwide attraction not limited to class, location or race, well... it has.

Or maybe you should choose who's worthy of supporting Spurs or not?

Maybe you should look at the comment in context: matey was arguing that Asian expansion is more important than winning trophies. He said prioritising Asian/African fan base growth should be prioritised over competing and attempting to win the Europa League.

But if you want to post nonsensical twaddle without reading a thread then you crack on son.

Or maybe you should choose who is entitled to have what opinions?

 

[SubZero]

Maybe you should look at the comment in context: matey was arguing that Asian expansion is more important than winning trophies. He said prioritising Asian/African fan base growth should be prioritised over competing and attempting to win the Europa League.

But if you want to post nonsensical twaddle without reading a thread then you crack on son.

Or maybe you should choose who is entitled to have what opinions?

I certainly would not have any interest in that. But some of your comments could come across as somewhat - hating. Anyway, I stand firmly in the win-a-trophy camp too, and the prioritizing should be dealt with in the transfer windows by proper squad building.

 

[Bonsaiboy]

Maybe you should look at the comment in context: matey was arguing that Asian expansion is more important than winning trophies. He said prioritising Asian/African fan base growth should be prioritised over competing and attempting to win the Europa League.

But if you want to post nonsensical twaddle without reading a thread then you crack on son.

Or maybe you should choose who is entitled to have what opinions?

I honestly think you're stuck in the 1980's.

Much has happened since then, let me tell you. A group of people met in a room one day and they made a decision about some things.

After deciding it was time to knock down the Berlin Wall, they decided that the FA Cup would no longer be considered as important as it used to be. I was at Wembley in 87 and 91. One of the worst and best days of my life. Despair and glory.

But since those men met in that secret place and decided to devalue the meaning of the FA Cup - and the UEFA Cup as well - Things have changed. ITV can hype it up all they want. But these competitions just don't have the same amount of value they used to have.

If you can find these men who made this decision, you can ask them to reinstate the meaning, value and glory to the FA Cup and Europa League. But no-one knows who they are, because it's a secret. Even Abramovich, with all his riches, could not trace them when he wanted to give Chelsea due credit for the winning the Zenith Data Systems Cup and increase it's meaning and value to be on a par with the World Cup.

It's all about the League and the Champions League now - that's the reality of modern football.

 

[Rossi22]

We'd have a what, 1 or 2% chance of winning the CL if we got into it? I don't see getting into the CL and losing to Barcelona or Real Madrid as glory. Winning the Europa League goes on the honours list and into the trophy cabinet. Spurs need to win something. I hate the modern fan attitude, I hope those who don't care about the EL don't watch on Thursday.

 

[Armchair Expert]

I honestly think you're stuck in the 1980's.

Much has happened since then, let me tell you. A group of people met in a room one day and they made a decision about some things.

After deciding it was time to knock down the Berlin Wall, they decided that the FA Cup would no longer be considered as important as it used to be. I was at Wembley in 87 and 91. One of the worst and best days of my life. Despair and glory.

But since those men met in that secret place and decided to devalue the meaning of the FA Cup - and the UEFA Cup as well - Things have changed. ITV can hype it up all they want. But these competitions just don't have the same amount of value they used to have.

If you can find these men who made this decision, you can ask them to reinstate the meaning, value and glory to the FA Cup and Europa League. But no-one knows who they are, because it's a secret. Even Abramovich, with all his riches, could not trace them when he wanted to give Chelsea due credit for the winning the Zenith Data Systems Cup and increase it's meaning and value to be on a par with the World Cup.

It's all about the League and the Champions League now - that's the reality of modern football.

But that's where your wrong. That's the reality they choose to make you believe. No-one can tell me what I think about football and what I personally place value on. My Southampton supporting mate said his best season supporting the club was when they won league one. He loved that season, much more than the years they just about survived in the prem.

The day we beat Chelsea to win the league cup was phenomenal. Who gives a brick what people say about it being devalued, I fudging loved it.
How much pleasure are Arsenal fans getting out of having qualified for the Champions League season after season and getting nowhere near. Its ludicrous. For me winning the UEFA Cup in Amsterdam would be the pinnacle of my Spurs supporting years (since about 90). I couldn't give a brick what Platini, Blatter or plastic Man U fans in China think. gonad*s to all that.

I'll absolutely love it if we lif- the UEFA, and no=one will convince me otherwise: it'll certainly be a better momeory than getting trounced 4-0 by Real.

We are football fans - if we come 12th or 2nd when the next season kicks off its all irrelevant. Football is all about tomorrow anyway and I want Spurs to be as successful as possible but really in the scheme of things it doesn't matter. We all lived the dross of the 90's, and if it was to return we would all go through it again.

Its not all about Champions League and top four. That's a load of gonad*s. Its just about supporting your club, and where better to follow them than to a European final? I really cant comprehend the attitude of football fans these days.

Maybe I am stuck in the 80's or whatever but this champions league fixation crap is just pure nonsense. The fact that people buy into and subscribe to the marketing efforts of people at mastercard, coca cola and sky rather than just supporting a team and hoping to beat the opposition, whoever they might be, is a trend that I simply cant get my head around.

 

[Spursalot]

I honestly think you're stuck in the 1980's.

Much has happened since then, let me tell you. A group of people met in a room one day and they made a decision about some things.

After deciding it was time to knock down the Berlin Wall, they decided that the FA Cup would no longer be considered as important as it used to be. I was at Wembley in 87 and 91. One of the worst and best days of my life. Despair and glory.

But since those men met in that secret place and decided to devalue the meaning of the FA Cup - and the UEFA Cup as well - Things have changed. ITV can hype it up all they want. But these competitions just don't have the same amount of value they used to have.

If you can find these men who made this decision, you can ask them to reinstate the meaning, value and glory to the FA Cup and Europa League. But no-one knows who they are, because it's a secret. Even Abramovich, with all his riches, could not trace them when he wanted to give Chelsea due credit for the winning the Zenith Data Systems Cup and increase it's meaning and value to be on a par with the World Cup.

It's all about the League and the Champions League now - that's the reality of modern football.

I think you've read far too many conspiracy theories.


You find the fans that have won the trophies and ask them if they have been devalued.

Go ask the fans of Arsenal or Everton if they would prefer to win a trophy or compete in the CL.


A trophy is for life, the Champions League is for one year.

 

[parklane1]

I honestly think you're stuck in the 1980's.

Much has happened since then, let me tell you. A group of people met in a room one day and they made a decision about some things.

After deciding it was time to knock down the Berlin Wall, they decided that the FA Cup would no longer be considered as important as it used to be. I was at Wembley in 87 and 91. One of the worst and best days of my life. Despair and glory.

But since those men met in that secret place and decided to devalue the meaning of the FA Cup - and the UEFA Cup as well - Things have changed. ITV can hype it up all they want. But these competitions just don't have the same amount of value they used to have.

If you can find these men who made this decision, you can ask them to reinstate the meaning, value and glory to the FA Cup and Europa League. But no-one knows who they are, because it's a secret. Even Abramovich, with all his riches, could not trace them when he wanted to give Chelsea due credit for the winning the Zenith Data Systems Cup and increase it's meaning and value to be on a par with the World Cup.

It's all about the League and the Champions League now - that's the reality of modern football.

What a lot of tosh that is.

 

[paxtonwolf]

[/B]

But that's where your wrong. That's the reality they choose to make you believe. No-one can tell me what I think about football and what I personally place value on. My Southampton supporting mate said his best season supporting the club was when they won league one. He loved that season, much more than the years they just about survived in the prem.

The day we beat Chelsea to win the league cup was phenomenal. Who gives a brick what people say about it being devalued, I fudging loved it.
How much pleasure are Arsenal fans getting out of having qualified for the Champions League season after season and getting nowhere near. Its ludicrous. For me winning the UEFA Cup in Amsterdam would be the pinnacle of my Spurs supporting years (since about 90). I couldn't give a brick what Platini, Blatter or plastic Man U fans in China think. gonad*s to all that.
I'll absolutely love it if we lif- the UEFA, and no=one will convince me otherwise: it'll certainly be a better momeory than getting trounced 4-0 by Real.

We are football fans - if we come 12th or 2nd when the next season kicks off its all irrelevant. Football is all about tomorrow anyway and I want Spurs to be as successful as possible but really in the scheme of things it doesn't matter. We all lived the dross of the 90's, and if it was to return we would all go through it again.

Its not all about Champions League and top four. That's a load of gonad*s. Its just about supporting your club, and where better to follow them than to a European final? I really cant comprehend the attitude of football fans these days.

Maybe I am stuck in the 80's or whatever but this champions league fixation crap is just pure nonsense. The fact that people buy into and subscribe to the marketing efforts of people at mastercard, coca cola and sky rather than just supporting a team and hoping to beat the opposition, whoever they might be, is a trend that I simply cant get my head around.

I'm in your camp. I would absolutely love to see us win the Europa League this season.

We have a great oppurtunity to reach our first European semi-final for donkeys years and I personally cannot wait for Thursday night. In fact I'm actually looking forward to that game more than the Everton one right now.