To whom the greater spoils?

Later on today two teams will face off in a final on which millions of pounds is available to the winner, as well as a place in history. Oh, and Inter Milan play Bayern Munich in the Champions League final…

It’s an interesting question – which team will feel the greatest achievement and benefit most, the winner of the Champions League or the winner of the Coca-Cola Championship play off final?

The Champions League winners will receive around £30m in prize money, topped up by TV revenue. It’s been estimated that promotion to the Premiership is worth around £90m – three times more.

£30m for Inter Milan or Bayern Munich would be welcome, of course, but not essential. £90m for the likes of Cardiff City or Blackpool, however, will be, as both managers have said, life-changing. Cardiff, especially, would welcome the money – they are in serious trouble with Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs over an unpaid tax bill.

Both Inter Milan and Bayern Munich have enjoyed success at home and in Europe in the recent past. It’s been 39 years since Blackpool were in the top flight of English football. For Cardiff it’s been 49 years.

Yes, the Champions League is the pinnacle of European club football and winning it gives you the right to say you’re the best team on the continent. Whoever wins will receive all the credit they deserve. The telling factor is that whoever loses will go on as normal. Being a losing finalist in the Champions League final does not damage your future. If anything, it strengthens it, albeit less than winning.

It’s clear what the benefits of promotion to the English Premier League are. An immediate cash injection the likes of which Blackpool and Cardiff have never seen, of course, but more than that. Continuous coverage in the media, a growing profile in the minds of the country’s football supporters, bigger gates, perhaps a new generation of supporters, the ability to attract a better class of player, TV revenue…the list is almost endless.

Losing the play off final is completely different to losing the Champions League final. Lose here and you run the very real risk of never having the opportunity to challenge for promotion again. This is especially true for the likes of Blackpool and Cardiff, neither can boast huge incomes. The likely outcome for these two clubs should they fail to win the play off final is, at best, a mid table finish next season. Blackpool, remember, were one of the favourites to get relegated this year.

The psychological blow to the players will also play a part in that. So close to the promised land, only to have it snatched away in the final 90 minutes? Devastating.

Whoever does win will give their manager a chance to keep them up. But such is the achievement in reaching the play off final for these two clubs that the losing manager may well be in demand. You couldn’t blame Holloway or Jones if, faced with another season in the Championship, they are tempted by an offer from a better positioned club or, perhaps, a Premiership team.

Prestige and pocket money await the winner of the Champions League. It wouldn’t be too dramatic to suggest the very future of Blackpool and Cardiff rests on the Championship play off final. We’re looking forward to both.

Predictions? We think Mourinho’s Inter will overcome van Gaal’s Munich – and it won’t be pretty. Back in England we’ve already said we’d love to see Blackpool in the Premiership, but in reality we think Cardiff City will be too strong.

What are your predictions for these two matches? And who do you think it will mean more to? Let us know in the comments.

In the end the better team won the match and deservedly claimed the final Champions League spot by finishing fourth in the Premier League.

Crouch goal enough to beat Man City

Tottenham Hotspur, under Harry Redknapp, have looked a quality side this season and this is just reward for their – and his – hard work. At the risk of coming over all hypocritical following yesterday’s article lambasting clubs for targeting a fourth place finish, Sporting Fare is well pleased for Spurs and Harry. And at the bigger risk of angering Manchester City supporters, we’re equally pleased they didn’t qualify for the Champions League.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way. As we said in yesterday’s piece, the fact that a club with the amount of money City have aimed only for fourth grated on us. You aim low, you get low. City, as many Manchester United fans will take great joy in telling you, consistently find a way to fail, so it beggars belief that targeting anything but the title is deemed worth the risk.

Mark Hughes was sacked because the club’s billionaire owners felt he wouldn’t take the club up to fourth. Mancini was then presumably hired to deliver just that. He’s failed – will he get the boot too? Time will tell, though it would be harsh on the Italian. At the end of the day, the squad put together by Hughes wasn’t good enough and Mancini could only work with what he had. He certainly hasn’t had enough time or opportunity to put his own mark on it.

But stop for a moment. Was the appointment of a relatively green coach in Mancini all that ambitious in itself? Surely a club with the riches of Manchester City could have attracted a bigger, more successful and more experienced manager? It smacks of settling for second best.

Spurs, on the other hand, are aiming high. Their sights are now firmly set on grabbing third from bitter rivals Arsenal and you can bet next season Harry will have his men shooting for the stars – the Premier League title and the Champions League. So let’s leave Spurs to celebrate for now.

Where does this leave City? With no Champions League football they will be hard pressed to attract football’s biggest names. No matter how much money you offer, that fact will always be a consideration – except for the real mercenaries in the game, and they are unlikely to be the sort you want to sign to help you achieve your aims (see Robinho for example).

Spurs will now have the money – and the appeal – to strengthen their squad. Manchester United, Arsenal and without doubt Chelsea will all add players after the World Cup to increase their grip on the top three spots. City will find it difficult to match them in the transfer market.

Yes, they will no doubt spend big again in the summer but will the quality of players they are able to bring in be good enough to overhaul the likes of Tottenham et al? The evidence so far suggests not and they are going to find it more and more difficult each season.

Their Arab owners may begin to question the wisdom of their investment as well and if they decide to pull out City will find themselves sliding to the wrong end of the table.

Last night’s result was a bitter blow for a club aiming to become one of England and Europe’s best – but we can’t help feeling they didn’t aim high enough when it mattered. They will pay a heavy price for that lack of ambition. Around £200m so far and counting in fact. It may take another £200m based on what we’ve seen this season.

Back to Harry Redknapp. Sporting Fare are huge fans of his. It’s great to see an ‘old school’ manager doing well and Harry, at 62, has waited a long time to pit his not inconsiderable managerial skills against the best in Europe.  As he said himself:

“I know I’m good at my job. You don’t last 1,100 games in management if you’re a mug. People didn’t keep me just because the chairman liked me. Most of them actually probably didn’t like me.”

Thumbs up for Redknapp

Very true, and many don’t like him. But you can’t dismiss his achievements. We’re looking forward to seeing how he does in the Champions League.

Redknapp, along with Wenger, Ferguson and Hodgson, is a good example to young up and coming managers. Managers like Mancini for example. They would do well take note of how these managers go about their business, there’s a lot to learn.

Not least that if you don’t aim for the very top you’ll never reach it.

Remember when you were a kid, kicking a ball about with your mates on the park, using jumpers for goalposts, playing fly keeper if you were a few ‘men’ short and not worrying too much about sidelines? Of course you do.

Remember pretending to be your footballing hero and dreaming of lifting the FA Cup or the First Division title? Of course you do.

Remember thinking you weren’t quite good enough for that, but were happily consoled by the fact you’d probably finish fourth in the League and claim a lucrative place in the European Cup? Of course you don’t!

Aim higher or prepare to fail!

Yet as Manchester City prepare to face Tottenham Hotspur at home tonight in what is effectively a play off for that now coveted fourth spot the anticipation and excitement is palpable amongst both sets of fans. Sporting Fare sees that as the most telling sign that football has lost its way.

That a fourth place finish in the Premier League is a target for clubs is a horrible situation. That the only real reason for it is money is even more horrible. Sure, the supporters of whichever club finishes fourth will tell you there is pride in breaking the near decade long monopoly held by Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, but that isn’t really true.

Everton did it most recently, for one brief season. They entered the Champions League qualifying round, earned a small fortune and, presumably, basked in the glory of it all briefly. But in the end, it hasn’t actually helped them progress. David Moyes has done a wonderful job at Goodison and long may he reign there, but surely the target has to be winning the League, not just qualifying for the Champions League and earning a mint?

The argument, we’re sure, will go that most clubs cannot compete with the financial might of Chelsea and to a lesser extent Manchester United and that is undoubtedly true. But that shouldn’t stop you trying! And if, at the end of a long hard season, you HAVE qualified for the Champions League and are set to earn a wedge that may help you compete better the following season then that’s the icing.

It shouldn’t be the cake.

Manchester City, of course, don’t need Champions League qualification for money. They are the richest club in the world and suffer in the transfer market only due to their lack of success over the last few decades. The ability to offer Champions League football next season will help them no end in that regard. Yet they have publicly stated that this was their aim from the start of the season. What, that’s it?

The richest club in the world is aiming to finish fourth in their league? What’s up with that? They, like everyone else, should be going for the title, even if it does appear out of reach.

We’re willing to bet that if you asked Harry Redknapp, who himself has done a fantastic job at White Hart Lane, if finishing fourth was his target he’d say no. He’d say winning the League was his target – but it’s a building job, and while he may not think it’s likely, it will be his aim, because you have to aim high to achieve.

Fourth place and July football in the Champions League is not, in our opinion, high. It’s adequate. The very reason that Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have been the top four for so long is that they all aim to win the League (and the Champions League). None of them would have been or are satisfied with fourth.

Except, of course, Liverpool recently. And look what’s happened to them.

So…as City and Spurs do battle tonight for that less than impressive achievement we hope they begin to realise that you need to aim higher to achieve real success. Settle for second best (or fourth best) and that is all you’re ever likely to get.

So it comes down to this weekend to decide who will win the Premier League and it throws up some interesting questions.

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What happened on the San Siro pitch last night was very entertaining and in the end the better side won. However, it’s what happened off the pitch that had Sporting Fare laughing with glee.

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