Why ‘shambolic’ Tottenham v Manchester United final is entirely by Uefa’s design | OneFootball

While some rival executives have literally been laughing at this “shambolic” Europa League final between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, elements of it are by their own design.

The two English sides might have found it much more difficult to get to Bilbao had Juventus and Manchester City dropped down from the Champions League in the way those outside the top 16 used to, but this was one of the subjects discussed in the major negotiations between 2019 and 2021 that ultimately led to the Super League crisis.

The wealthiest clubs wanted more guarantees about qualifying for the Champions League, especially if they endured crisis seasons like United and Spurs have. Insiders insist that one reason they consequently removed the drop into the Europa League was specifically to give such clubs a clearer route back to the top.

This is now precisely what’s happening, in the first season after the changes. In other words, this is the biggest safety net possible. “It was an insurance policy,” as one prominent source puts it. “They’ve considerably weakened the Europa League.”

It is consequently not an exaggeration to describe this as perhaps the most desperate final in European history. The numbers illustrate it.

There has never been any final, in any of Uefa’s competitions, where both clubs have been so low in their domestic leagues. There’s never even been one when a club has been just above the relegation zone, like Spurs now. West Ham United were 18th when reaching the 1975-76 Cup Winners Cup final but that was in a 24-team league. The image now is even worse in how both finalists sit there, in 16th and 17th in the Premier League. Peering down at the Championship but somehow looking at the Champions League.

The Europa League/Uefa Cup finalists with the lowest final league positions

1995-96 Bordeaux 16 of 20

1987-88 Espanyol 15 of 20

2005-06 Middlesbrough 14 of 20

1993-94 Inter Milan 13 of 18

1985-86 Koln 13 of 20

It’s certainly a far cry from the 1975-76 Uefa Cup final, when English champions Liverpool faced Belgian champions Brugge, a year before they met again in the European Cup final.

And yet it somehow feels even further from just last year. After that Europa League final in Dublin, when Atalanta beat Bayern Leverkusen in a grand meeting of overachievers who greatly valued the competition, Gian Piero Gasperini stirred emotions with the following.

"Winning with Atalanta is one of those footballing fairytales that rarely crop up. It gives scope for meritocracy: there is still scope for ideas and it doesn't have to come down to cold, hard money.”

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Atalanta winning the Europa League showed the scope for meritocracy, said Gian Piero Gasperini (AFP via Getty Images)

This final is the total opposite.

United and Spurs have really only got here because of cold, hard money. They've been facing oppositions with mere fractions of their wage bills. Bodo/Glimt’s was estimated to be less than 1 per cent of Spurs’. Even Athletic's was around 20 per cent of United’s.

Worse than the money the two English clubs spend now is how much they've spent over the last half-decade, to even get to this point, where they somehow need even more money to try and get back to the top. We are talking about billions in Premier League revenue, even in that short a time.

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Man United and Tottenham have spent billions to get to this point and will spend even more to try and get back to the top (PA Wire)

As has been said on these pages before, their respective positions at fourth and ninth on the Deloitte money list mean it shouldn't actually be possible for both United and Spurs to be this bad. They might have switched off in the league, but the lights shouldn't be out altogether. In a world where there is a 90 per cent correlation between wage bill and league position, they are not just the 10% who represent aberrations but the 0.1 per cent almost representing reverse alchemy.

That sheer waste has now created this desperation, that frames this entire game. It actually looks the total opposite of what continental football should be about, let alone to Gasperini’s thoughts about “meritocracy”.

Such talk also brings another dimension, that represents a more troubling development in football. It is the extent of the game’s “financialisation”. So much is now put in terms of money; what it might mean for what next rather than just the moment. That’s exactly why Crystal Palace's FA Cup victory felt so joyfully pure.

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Crystal Palace’s FA Cup victory went against the “financalisation” of the game (PA Wire)

It shouldn’t be overlooked that Spurs would value this Europa League in a comparable way, especially given all the frustration at how they haven’t won anything since 2008. Manchester United fans naturally relish the glory of still consistently winning trophies despite their trouble, and it would clearly be psychologically important for Ruben Amorim’s era. As long as it might last.

United have still won this competition as recently as 2017, though, and the dysfunction since means this is really all about the resources. It similarly can’t be overlooked that Spurs are a club where the message about Champions League finances was so deep that former manager Mauricio Pochettino became strikingly open about how he was greatly prioritising the Premier League over any cups.

Such priorities have only been deepened in the PSR era. So much of this still comes down to the potential £100m from Champions League qualification. The latter was of course only included because Uefa needed to make the competition more attractive for the most commercially powerful clubs. The grand old Uefa Cup trophy apparently wasn't enough any more.

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So much more than silverware is at stakes for these financial powerhouses - the prospect of £100m from Champions League qualification is a major incentive (PA Wire)

Chris Hughton, who was the right-back for Spurs’ last Uefa Cup win in 1983-84, can’t help but remark on the difference.

“Back then, there wasn’t even a thought about money. There would have been bonuses, sure, but it was solely about the glory of it; of winning a European trophy.”

The financial gaps of the time were too small. Now, they’re immense, to the point the Europa League final is arguably the most pronounced illustration of this “financalisation” of the sport. It has probably gone beyond the Championship play-off as “the richest game in football", given the gaps in England, as well as the importance attached to the Champions League.

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The San Mames will host the Europa League final between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United (Getty)

It is football as financial instrument, to the point that clubs now decide not to buy in January because they are looking at things in terms of differences in potential prize money rather than season ambition.

There is likely even further effect on the actual play.

Throughout this season, United’s run has seemed to show how European atmospheres can still cause teams to emotionally raise it in vintage fashion. But has that actually happened? Is it possible that United and Spurs have just played a series of clubs well below Premier League level, as illustrated in the wage gaps?

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The level of opposition in the Europa League is often far below that of the Premier League, as demonstrated in the wage gaps (Getty Images)

Bruno Fernandes recently revealed that Amorim expressed surprise at how competitive Ipswich Town were in his first game. The Europa League may have been well below that.

Many in Europe will respond to that by pointing to how there are again no English side in the Champions League final, but that is a competition that features most of the super clubs. Many of them utterly dominate their domestic leagues. That is just this same problem extended.

Instead, the Europa League might well display deeper strength. That is a problem for Uefa, especially with how many English clubs are going to be in Europe next season.

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This Europa League final could represent a sliding doors moment for both sides (Getty)

It may also be profoundly influential for the Premier League. This match could represent a sliding doors moment. If United win, the income could help propel them back towards the top, after so much waste. If they don’t, there could be ructions.

There are such immense stakes. It also has a considerable irony. So much comes down to the unpredictability of one football match, and that is entirely by design.