And the losing side is...

In a game Spurs didn't even play in, the footballing gods decided that the outcome would mean no Champions League football next season, the holy grail of finishing 4th best club not enough on its own to qualify. Much grinding of teeth and blaming various events through the season, far too much focus on referee decisions against us for my liking - I am sure we must have had some bad decisions in our favour over the past season.

Quite simply Spurs should have been a completely safe third at least in the league, and to lose a 10 point lead and on the last day of the season to still have a possibility of finishing 5th was the end of a disastrous second half to the season. But those are the breaks, we have to pick up and carry on now, plan and look forward to next season and a lot more Sunday games and Europa League games that are already written off by many as not even worth bothering with. 

One hope is that the club are honest long in advance of which games the players and management will be concentrating on so we know not to bother looking at dates of the Carling Cup final or the second stage of the Europa League. Clearly the ticket prices will be the clue, and even the useless infrastructure of Ticketmaster will be able to cope with applications for a Thursday night game against Cefn Druids from Wales or KS Flamutari Vlorë of Albania.. If we are not going to try in one or two of the competitions, just be honest and set expectations.

There are the splits between fans as to whether 4th place means more than a cup (it doesn't) and far too many conversations about how good the balance sheet is at the club. Keeping hold of some players and replacing others is going to be a summer long task for Spurs, as for most other clubs without bottomless pits of money, and that is without what could still turn into a merry go round of managers. As usual the In The Know community will keep us informed by making up rumours, and agents & players alike will be making all sorts of cryptic comments which all translate to "Pay me more money". What happens remains to be seen, and with at least 3 league games before the transfer window closes at the end of August we can only hope the deals are all done in advance of the season starting.

As for the Champions League final itself, not a great game, and Chelsea won, something that was always going to happen one day. A few odd bits and pieces to note though - the PM David Cameron celebrating at a G8 meeting in a very contrived way, more so as he claims to be an Aston Villa fan, and also the Chancellor George Osborne being in the executive box at the ground. I can only assume / hope he was discussing how much tax the Chelsea owner would be paying in the UK this year?

And the oddest of the odd, in what actually strikes as rampant delusion, the images of John Terry on the pitch in full kit celebrating the win, after a game he was banned from playing in. The pic shows the celebrations in full swing, raising the question does he think he actually played in the game?

It also raises the biggest risk for him to be included in the England squad for the European Championships - should England do the unthinkable and win, while he isn't captain he will be in all the pictures like this. Not a problem you think, but the week after the final he is in court and if found guilty of racial abuse, how will that taint the win. 

In real terms it is lucky we don't have a chance.