How Man United and Tottenham can thrive again thanks to a Europa League lesson
When Bodo/Glimt prepare for a game like Tottenham Hotspur, one policy is to try and not look at the names. The tiny Norwegian club has plenty of experience there, having faced Lazio, Arsenal, Manchester United and Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic during their recent rise.
The aim is to just see players as units, and their various strengths and weaknesses. It is a very rational way to look at something that could otherwise involve a lot of emotion, particularly for an Arctic Circle town that has a population of just 55,000 - almost 8,000 less than the 62,850 capacity of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“We only think it’s funny to show we can be as good as any name in the world,” says defender Odin Bjortuft.
The general perception of these four Europa League semi-finalists, and how they view football, is going to hugely frame the outlook of these ties.
On either side of both semi-finals - Bodo/Glimt v Tottenham Hotspur and Athletic Club v Manchester United - there are two fan-owned clubs who organically built on what they’ve got.
Bodo are authentically one of the great stories of modern football. Their run to become the first Norwegian club to reach a semi-final is not just something that shouldn't be possible. It is all the more impressive since it has been achieved after years of sustained progress. This is no one-off. They are a model of diligently building on what you have, and being "smarter" about it.
“If you go back 10 years, the club was nearly bankrupt,” says director of football Havard Sakariassen. “Nobody has given us money outside of prize money or us doing well. There is no owner here. Nothing like that.”
Athletic have meanwhile enjoyed a rebirth, as their famous recruitment policy feels like it now offers even greater value in the modern game. By only selecting players who are connected to the Basque Country, they have benefited from the area’s burgeoning talent production. Club legend Ernesto Valverde is meanwhile a coach who just fits, and last year’s Spanish Cup win is seen as having given the club a badly-needed new confidence, as they lifted their first trophy in 40 years. They’re now going for a second in two as well as a first European trophy, all in their own stadium. There’s considerable romance to all this.
On the other side, there are two billionaire-owned clubs that have burnt through billions of Premier League and Champions League money in the last few years alone. And yet here are United, boosted by the return of Amad Diallo and Matthijs de Ligt, and Spurs, likely without Son Heung Min are, desperate for a Europa League to save their seasons - and maybe more.
While there are obviously pure football and emotional reasons for both to want to win this trophy, there’s also an inescapable financial reality. They both need the victory, and Champions League qualification, to satisfy PSR rules and future growth. It isn’t quite what the great glory of European football is supposed to be about.
These two semi-finals have nevertheless become about admirable diligence against extreme waste; immense over-performance against jaw-dropping under-performance.
It’s hard to know what should be more unlikely: Bodo getting this far, or both United and Spurs being so low in the Premier League. The English two are somehow disproving Sakariassen’s true point that “it’s easier if you have money, that’s for sure”.
While none of this is to argue that it would be better for two Premier League clubs to go out, many in European football are only too keen to talk about potential moral lessons.
It was following last season’s Europa League final, after all, that Gian Piero Gasperini described his Atalanta’s win as a victory for “meritocracy”.
“There is still scope for ideas and football doesn’t have to come down to cool, hard money,” he said.
While so much of the modern game seems to be going in the opposite direction, especially with the expanded Champions League, there are figures in Uefa who were conscious of this. These semi-finals show why seemingly innocuous regulations are so important.
Had the original idea for the expanded Champions League been in place, where two positions would have absurdly been awarded based on past performance, clubs like United and Spurs could well have had a safety net. Senior voices like Theo Theodoridis worried this might be going too far. Fan pressure was crucial.
Now, both Spurs and United might be forced into more calculated thought about what next, just like their semi-final opposition.
It is why Bodo can be “an inspiration”, as Sakariassen puts it, for even clubs much bigger than those in Norway. They might also show the way football is going. Much like Liverpool on a different scale in this season’s Premier League, Bodo have made a virtue of “performance culture”. It really is that simple in terms of explanation, if obviously difficult to execute. They began to think about how they could maximise every area of the club.
“They have used their limitations as advantages,” says Jens Haugland, chief executive of the Norwegian league. “We need to be driven by very strong performance culture, because we can never compete in terms of money. Bodo is a clear example. They have done it for many years and are also able to repeat the performance. You can never buy a performance culture from money, you can never buy an attitude from money, you can never buy a collective from money. You need to work in a very detailed and systematic way for many years.”
Athletic, famously, have an identity you can’t buy with money, either. It is similarly instructive that, when Michel Platini first tried to get Financial Fair Play through 18 years ago, he turned to a prominent Athletic fan. The then Uefa president received crucial legal support from European Union Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. This wasn’t out of any club bias, but really about what football culture should encourage.
It is impossible not to wonder what some of the Premier League executives might make of being forced into Athletic’s recruitment policy, given that there are now voices at United who want PSR loosened. Bodo pursue a strategy that is similar to Athletic almost by definition, in having mostly Norwegian players, because that’s just the market they’re in. "Their main pitch to me was they could help make me better.” Bjortuft says. “Bodo/Glimt have been really good at picking players who can give everything for the team.”
Praise isn’t universal, of course. There has been some criticism for how Bodo have benefited from that same Uefa prize money mechanism, with Sakariassen admitting “a lot of Norwegian clubs probably see it as a big obstacle”.
Some rivals around the Basque region meanwhile "despise" Athletic for "poaching" their players. Euro 2024 star Nico Williams was taken from nearby rivals Osasuna at 11. On the other side, both Arsenal and Chelsea are looking at him for the summer. Wealthy English clubs want Bodo manager Kjetil Knutsen.
Money does tend to win out. The likelihood is that one of United or Spurs will win to reach the final. If they do, however, there are still considerable lessons to take from their opposition. Neither Bilbao nor Bodo see it that way. They have full belief. It’s the conviction that comes from commitment to a unique identity. They are convinced they can give the best lesson possible.
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