In what could’ve been a passing comment from Harry Redknapp regarding the strange twist of fate that see’s Manchester City and Stoke City face each other in the league and FA Cup Final within days, now has people questioning Stoke’s morals and even asking why Spurs are questioning this fixture.
The original league fixture was meant to take place on the day of the cup final. This has now been moved to after the cup final. There seemed to be no problem with that until Redknapp, on behalf of the club I should add, questioned if that fixture should take place before the Cup Final.
The reason for this concern by the club is the possibility of Stoke knowing that they would be better off losing to City in the league game if they lose the FA Cup so they have a better chance of playing European football next season. Confused? Ok, here are the possibilities:
Stoke in Europe
- Stoke win the FA Cup or
- City win the FA Cup and finish in the top 4
Stoke not in Europe
- City win the FA Cup and finish outside the top 4
So the thinking behind the comments are if Stoke lose in the FA Cup they’ll want City to finish in the top 4. If the top 4 race is still on when they meet in mid May it’ll be beneficial for Stoke to let City win their league game because if City win the FA Cup but finish in 5th place the Europa League spot Stoke want will then go to the 6th place finisher in the league (currently Liverpool) and Stoke will miss out on a European adventure and more importantly another revenue income.
The problem with this is it just doesn’t make sense. For starters if we’re now to believe a club will “throw” a match what’s the point in watching football? By suggesting such a thing isn’t Harry Redknapp and the club as a whole breaching some sort of FA rule and bringing the game into disrepute? If not, they should be. I’d hate to think another club would suggest such a thing of Spurs.
Here’s where it really doesn’t make sense. If Liverpool want to play in Europe next season, and I’m presuming they do, if City were to win the cup they’d want them to finish outside of the top 4 so the Europa League place goes to 6th place. Conveniently we play Liverpool at Anfield the day after the Cup Final so they’ll know if they want us to win or not to help with our chances of finishing in the top 4 and therefore their chances of playing in Europe.
There’s absolutely no difference in either situation and suggesting Stoke or Liverpool would be likely to not give 100% to win a game is detrimental to the entire game as well as the reputation of Tottenham Hotspur. Would Bill Nic and the board at the time suggest such a thing?
Of course there’s the chance this is just a ploy to make sure Stoke prove us wrong and go out and win that game. Very much like Fergie did when he was faced with competition from Kevin Keegan and Newcastle or a Mourinho mind game. My problem with this is that’s the game they play, not us. I despise Fergie’s little tricks that question someone else’s morality in the hope they give that little bit extra. If we’re to get into the top 4 we should be doing it on our own merit, with as much style off the pitch as we hopefully show on it.
There’s a saying I’m sure we were all told at some point or another and it goes like this:
If you’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all
I think this is one of those times we should let our football do the talking and stop lining up excuses before they’re even needed.
COYS
Submitted by THFC1882
