The i Paper

Memory can be a tricky beast. Most fans are unlikely to recall the exact position their team finished in any given season – especially years or decades later. Unless it was first, or maybe in the bottom three.

But even as your memory turns hazy, you will always remember the year they won a trophy.

The year 2025 will always be marked as the time of Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur – three teams little known for winning trophies. They delivered the sorts of occasions their fans dreamt might come only once in a lifetime. And football is a little bit better for it.

No one will remember this as the season Tottenham finished 14th, 15th, 16th or even 17th in the Premier League. But it will always be recalled as the season they won the Europa League. The season they lifted a first trophy in 17 years. The season they won a European cup for the first time in 41.

It will be remembered as the season Ange Postecoglou told everyone he always wins something in his second season, and everyone laughed at him. And nine months later he did just that.

The viral clip of Postecoglou hugging his wife and two children on the San Mames pitch after the final will resurface every once in a while, when people need cheering up. Maybe the clip of Postecoglou, standing off to one side of the winners’ stage letting his players bask in the glory, then pulled into the middle by his players, will do the rounds here and there, too.

When Spurs finished second under Mauricio Pochettino, nobody was counting how many years it had been since they had last finished second. But the countdown clock now resets to the last time they won silverware. It always does.

This might, hopefully, be the season the decision makers remember what it means for fans of clubs that rarely win – which applies to most – to taste that glory.

Perhaps they will see the bus parades, the smiling faces, the joy it brings, and realise that’s worth infinitely more than a few extra million in the bank, or a season in the Champions League.

Ruben Amorim repeatedly talked down the importance of the Europa League. Even on the eve of the final, the Manchester United manager said: “When I say that it is not the most important thing for our club, I really mean it. If you win the Europa League at Manchester United, I’m really sorry, it’s not a big thing. You need to go for the Premier League and the Champions League, and we are so far away.”

United were, in fact, pretty close: only one game away from qualifying for the Champions League and an extra £100m-plus for the budget. That game was the Europa League final. And besides, it was the chance to win silverware and add a little light to one of the darkest seasons in Manchester United history.

It was a time-buyer for Amorim, a face-saver. The chance to show he isn’t, contrary to increasingly prevailing opinion, out of his depth.

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Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola talked down the FA Cup, too. Asked if winning it and finishing in the top five would still constitute a good season, he replied: “No. The damage would be minimum. It’s not going to confuse [that] the season has been good.”

Tell that to the young fan at Wembley in a City shirt, caught by one of the television cameras crying his eyes out in the dying minutes.

Palace, twice runners up, from the fans to the players to the staff, wanted it more – that was abundantly clear. For City, it was a vague annoyance in a dismal season.

And if you believe this season will probably be an anomaly and that things will go back to what they were, even the England manager has taken note.

“A lot of players were involved in titles who are not used to winning titles,” Thomas Tuchel said. “This is a big boost for us.”

An season of ecstatic and unparallelled underdog stories. It will not be forgotten by the England manager, nor by millions of fans across the country.

Tottenham 0-2 Crystal Palace (Eze 45′, 48′)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — Once more onto the beach, Djed Spence, once more. On a beautiful day for a terrible game, Tottenham Hotspur were insipid and pathetic, a dire imitation of even their lowest moments in this generational nadir of a Premier League season.

They managed one shot on target to Crystal Palace‘s 10 and completed just 76 per cent of their passes. Captain for the day, Rodrigo Bentancur was taken off at half-time having lost possession four times and only won it once, alongside being booked for cheaply dragging down Ismaila Sarr rather than bother breaking into a light jog.

Someone, somewhere, bought a half-and-half scarf commemorating this game. Someone flew round the world for it. 60,255 people paid to be here, with the cheapest adult tickets £49 and most well over £60. People spent birthdays and anniversaries here. This was someone’s first football match, and it wouldn’t be a great shock if it was also someone’s last.

It’s not financially or morally viable to market games as destination events and your stadium as a tourist attraction and then perform like this. A 20th league defeat is Tottenham’s most since 1991-92, when a season was four matches longer. They have won just one of their past 10 league games, their second such run in 2024-25.

Everyone understands the Europa League final is now Tottenham’s priority, but that does not excuse half-pressing and half-trying. Despite eight changes from Thursday’s supposedly seminal win and places in Bilbao to be fought for, this was a team without pride or purpose in what they were doing. They insulted anyone who invested money or time or emotional bandwidth in them.

All the visitors had to do was start a mostly first-choice XI and strike a functional balance between self-protection and self-respect ahead of their own final next Saturday. Such heady moderation appears a pipe dream for Ange Postecoglou‘s side.

Given the nominal similarities between Palace and Manchester United’s 3-4-3 frameworks, this could even have been an opportunity to dry-run their defensive structure against wing-backs. Instead they took the executive decision not to mark Daniel Munoz at all, to experiment with just what one player can achieve without any form of resistance or opposition.

The answer? A lot. He might only have finished with one assist, but another was ruled out after Jean-Philippe Mateta was offside in the build-up. Had his decision-making or finishing been better, a first-half hat-trick was not infeasible.

United and Spurs have somewhat excused each other as the Dumb and Dumber of this Premier League season, institutional incompetence as performance art only their opponents want to watch. But there really should be no excuse or redemption for Tottenham, the fifth-wealthiest English team, slipping to 17th. Had Ruud van Nistelrooy not totally failed to revive the Leicester corpse, Spurs would have been in a legitimate relegation battle.

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Postecoglou has recently taken to discussing the “parallel worlds” of Tottenham’s Premier League and Europa League campaigns, but that reveals more about his psychology than the reality of this season.

You have to question how much he backed himself into a psychological corner with his pledge to win a second-season trophy, how much he’s been haunted by the spectre of his own hubris. He has so clearly prioritised cup competitions – Spurs have not won any of their six home league games after a European fixture this season, losing four.

Their best performances – and only demonstrations of pragmatism or flexibility – have almost exclusively come in either the Carabao Cup or Europa League. The league has long been an afterthought and inconvenience, ignoring the existence of a paying public, wider club culture or future.

Post-match, Postecoglou claimed confusion at how his side could play this poorly, but also admitted he was never going to bring Richarlison or Dominic Solanke off the bench. This sweeping apathy wasn’t created in a vacuum.

With five minutes to go, the stadium, never quite full in the first place, was emptying at fire-drill pace. “Why the f**k are you lot here?” the away fans asked the miserable few who chose to remain. No one replied.

Fears have been raised that tickets in the away end are being illegally sold to Liverpool fans ahead of Sunday’s title party at Anfield.

Arne Slot’s side need just a point against Tottenham Hotspur to be confirmed as Premier League champions, with tickets circulating on resale sites for as much as £1,290 – including a number in the area designated for Spurs supporters.

Tottenham have warned supporters they risk sanctions on their season-tickets if found guilty of ticket touting for the game.

A Tottenham spokesperson told The i Paper: “We will seek to identify any supporter who has sold their ticket and, once identified, will take the strongest possible action against them, up to and including a ban on their season ticket.”

Fans sitting in the wrong areas at stadiums has been a flashpoint across English football all season, with authorities fearing it jeopardises the safety of supporters and raises security concerns with the clubs unable to identify who is in which seat.

Only Spurs season-ticket holders with 254 or more loyalty points – accrued by attending matches and renewing each season – were able to buy away tickets for the trip to Anfield.

At face value, they cost £30 but prices are being inflated with Liverpool fans desperate to be in attendance to see their side win the league.

Premier League clubs universally advise fans to only buy tickets through official channels to avoid scams, with fake tickets and dynamic pricing fleecing supporters.

The i Paper understands Tottenham are aware of touting in the run-up to this weekend’s game, with tickets also being advertised on social media platforms.

According to Spurs’ official policy on reselling tickets, punishments for reselling tickets range from a ban on accessing future tickets, bans on attending games and in extreme cases, “a permanent ban and cancellation of season tickets and all associated benefits, without refund”.

There has been a long-standing issue of tickets being transferred unofficially to fans that do not qualify via the loyalty points system, with the club warning in 2019 that “as a result, genuine supporters are denied the opportunity to support the team away from home”.

Liverpool are on the brink of sealing a 20th title that will draw them level with Manchester United’s record after Arsenal dropped points in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at the Emirates.

The last time the Reds won the Premier League in 2020, they lifted the trophy in an empty stadium due to Covid restrictions and were unable to host an open top bus parade in the city. That makes the significance of Sunday’s match, should they avoid defeat, all the greater.

Spurs, meanwhile, have little to play for as they head into the weekend 16th in the Premier League but mathematically safe from relegation.

The focus of their season has turned to the Europa League semi-finals against Bodo/Glimt, which take place across 1-8 May.

Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Nottingham Forest (Richarlison 87′; Anderson 5′, Wood 16′)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – Chris Wood kept Nottingham Forest’s Champions League dream very much alive with the winner in a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

But the dreams of European glory that Thursday night’s win over Eintracht Frankfurt had engendered in a downtrodden Spurs fanbase faded in 16 first-half minutes on Monday night which, by everyone’s admission, rather summed up Tottenham’s season.

Ange Postecoglou is convinced that the world is out to get Spurs, and him, and where playing Europe-chasing fairytale protagonists Nottingham Forest is concerned he might have been right. But in fact he is getting far more slack in the rope than previous managers who have fallen foul of Daniel Levy.

At least across the touchline for Postecoglou on Monday night was a ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, proving that there is life for Spurs managers who are sacked. (If there weren’t, there wouldn’t be very many top-flight managers left by now.)

Nuno Espirito Santo lasted just four months in north London before pantomime villain Levy donned his dark cloak and swung his scythe the day after Halloween in 2021.

When Nuno was sacked, he had lost five of his last seven league games: with defeat on Monday, so too has Postecoglou.

Yet this is not even the Australian’s worst run of the season, or even the calendar year. Between 22 December and 26 January, Spurs managed a solitary point in their seven league games, drawing 2-2 with Wolves. In the two weeks following that run, they were knocked out of both domestic cups. Much as it is now, the Europa League was their only hope.

Forest probably saved Tottenham from a proper shoeing by their own pragmatism, taking a two-goal lead in just 16 minutes and opting to protect the lead from a Spurs side who would prefer a basketball-style barnstormer as opposed to a pitched battle against a set defence.

Forest battened down the hatches relatively well, despite Tottenham’s 22 shots. They only really relied on goalkeeper Matz Sels twice in the second half to save their bacon, once from Richarlison after some rare mad-cap defending and once to claw away a curling effort by the excellent Wilson Odobert. Otherwise, Sels would have been eying a 14th clean sheet bonus of his Premier League campaign until Richarlison met Pedro Porro’s perfect cross with a powerful header three minutes from time to give the scoreline a less one-sided appearance.

“It’s another game we’ve lost where we shouldn’t lose, and it’s been a big part of our season,” Postecoglou said.

“We’re just making things really difficult for ourselves in key moments. It’s a little bit of concentration, giving away poor goals. It’s a shame, because our football was outstanding. We totally dominated the game.”

He added: “From our perspective, it’s something we need to accept responsibility [for], that we’ve fallen short of the standards we need to have.

“I don’t think they [the players] lack motivation today, because I thought our football was outstanding and but again, we’ve paid the price for lacking focus and concentration in key moments, and it’s another game we’ve let slip.

“We should learn from these things, but it’s a constant in our make-up at the moment that we something we need to eradicate.”

Standards. Concentration. Responsibility. Focus. “We” should learn. Players themselves have to bear some burden for providing those, but they are also things that are coachable. Is this a manager writing his own death warrant by pointing out his own flaws? It starts to feel that way.

The received wisdom is that Postecoglou will survive the summer if he wins Tottenham the Europa League, earning Spurs Champions League football and a first European trophy since 1984.

But there is a chance even that is not enough. Tottenham need another eight points from five remaining games to beat their worst ever Premier League total of 44. This is already their worst ever season at home in a 38-game campaign, having been beaten eight times at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Can Levy really justify hanging on to Postecoglou if the team reach a 30-year low? Previous incumbents of the Australian’s office will feel he is getting special treatment that they never did if he remains in post.

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A deeply frustrating run continues. Bournemouth beat Fulham on Monday evening, but against Crystal Palace they wholly failed to create anything of note. Andoni Iraola’s team have won one of their last 10 games in all competitions and scored more than once in two of those 10.

Iraola was presumably relieved to see Alex Scott avoid a second yellow card for an incident remarkably similar to the one that saw Palace reduced to 10, but I wonder if he might actually have preferred to play 11 vs 11. Before then, Palace were pushing their full-backs forward and leaving space for Antoine Semenyo and Dango Outtara.

Following Chris Richards’s red card, Palace understandably sat back and looked to preserve some energy. That challenged Bournemouth to break down a deep-lying defence and they completely failed in that task. Iraola’s side produced a total expected goals (xG) of 0.28 from nine shots during the second half. They were largely limited to crosses from deep and shots from distance, all low-percentage plays.

That’s a theme. From the nine league games during which Bournemouth have had their highest possession shares, they have taken 10 points in total. From the nine games during which Bournemouth have had their lowest possession shares, they have taken 20 points.

That is the one question about Iraola and those links to bigger jobs. Last week The i Paper reported that he may well sign a new contract to stay at Bournemouth next season despite interest from Tottenham Hotspur. That might allow him to work on improving his ability to create a style that works when given the impetus to break down deeper-lying opponents. The weakness is no longer a secret.

Bournemouth expect Andoni Iraola to stay for at least another season and resist any overtures from Tottenham Hotspur if they decide to sack Ange Postecoglou.

Iraola is understood to figure prominently in Tottenham’s thinking if they decide to fire Postecoglou, who is relying on the Europa League to save a desperately disappointing season.

But the idea that they will be able to prise Iraola from Bournemouth appears fanciful, given both his nature and the scale of the project that is underway on the south coast.

It is understood that Iraola has already begun planning for next season at the Vitality Stadium and appears “all in” at Bournemouth at the moment, where owner Bill Foley has funded a state-of-the-art training ground that opened last month and is close to bringing a Portuguese side into the multi-club project that he hopes will maintain the impressive progress made over the last 12 months.

The Cherries have been one of the surprise packages of the season, but insiders say there is a determination to prove it is no flash in the pan, and that ambition has been stressed to Iraola in positive recent meetings.

Those who know Iraola also describe him as “uniquely focused” on the role at hand and not a manager prone to keeping one eye on possible job opportunities.

He has a year left on his contract and there is a belief that he will stay for at least that, especially with European qualification a possibility in 2025-26.

Iraola has shown in the past that he will carefully select the right roles, turning down a mid-season move to Leeds United in 2023 because he didn’t believe the timing was right and didn’t want to ruin his reputation at Rayo Vallecano.

Having been appointed and then backed by Bournemouth, there is a feeling that he will remain loyal for another year.

The theory is that at that point he may be able to get his pick of roles – or renew with Bournemouth.

Tottenham would appear to present less of an attractive possibility given the internal conflicts at the club and ownership issues that are rumbling in the background.

The i Paper has been told that interest from Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) has not gone away, with some senior figures in football of the belief that it is undermining future planning at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

They have lost 17 out of 32 games this season, languish in 15th place and appear in dire need of a substantial rebuilding job in the summer.

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It would be a huge surprise if Postecoglou, whose side head to Eintracht Frankfurt for a season-defining game on Thursday, was around to see it.

The kind of uncertainty does not exist at Bournemouth, where planning for the summer is already well underway.

And while there has been furious speculation around the future of the players who have lifted them into contention for a place in Europe, the club are under no pressure to sell and are understood to have placed high prices on all of their top prospects.

The outstanding Dean Huijsen – who has a £50m release clause – is certain to leave after just a season at Bournemouth given there is interest from Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

The club will look to bank a hefty profit to ease any worries around profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and ensure any further sales are on their terms.

Liverpool are advancing their interest in Milos Kerkez but Bournemouth want “at least” £40m for the left-back.

Tottenham 3-1 Southampton (Johnson 13′, 42′, Tel 90+6′ | Fernandes 90′ )

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — Home hasn’t provided much comfort for Tottenham lately, but a win in N17 was welcome ahead of Thursday’s pivotal meeting with Eintracht Frankfurt – even if it did come against Southampton, now relegated with seven games still to play.

Ange Postecoglou has been adamant that one of Spurs’ worst seasons in recent memory could yet have a glorious finish. The cockerel’s eggs have long been placed in the Europa League basket, as Spurs have slipped and slid down the Premier League table like an amateur ice skater.

Nevertheless, if Spurs are to end their trophy drought, they will need to generate momentum from somewhere and fast. That was presumably why Postecoglou selected arguably his strongest side, bar Ben Davies for Micky van de Ven, whose taut hamstrings were given a reprieve.

There were positive signs, albeit with the caveat that they came against one of the worst teams in Premier League history.

Brennan Johnson will feel both delighted and annoyed to score two goals, given Mathys Tel selfishly denied him a chance to claim a first Premier League hat-trick with the penultimate kick of the contest.

Some of the attacking football was enterprising and effective, with James Maddison pulling the strings.

The tenets of Angeball have become increasingly tough to spot, but the opening goal was the perfect projection of the Postecoglou philosophy. It started with Cristian Romero’s press-breaking pass from the back and ended with Johnson finishing first-time from Djed Spence’s cutback.

Johnson’s second of the day and 11th league goal of the campaign owed more to Southampton’s statuesque defending than intricate play, with Maddison nodding into his path for another one-touch finish, but a two-goal lead was no less than the hosts deserved.

Spurs played with as much purpose and intensity in the first-half as they have in months, embodied by the dynamic Lucas Bergvall. He has been a blonde-haired beacon in a season of gloom.

In a statement after the publication of the club’s latest annual accounts at the start of April, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy doubled down on a polarising transfer policy by reiterating a commitment to make “smart purchases within our financial means”.

That certainly applies to Bergvall, who has been an unqualified hit since making an £8.5m move from Swedish side Djurgardens last year. Spurs have squandered millions on high-profile players but have struck gold with the 19-year-old, who plays with an assurance and maturity that belies his years.

It was a testament to the Swede’s growing responsibility in this team that he was one of the players peeled off prematurely with Thursday’s game in mind. He had a great game, first in a box-to-box role and then as a sitter, and was unfortunate not to register his first Premier League goal with an instinctive finish.

Postecoglou has long been a dissenting voice against VAR and another lengthy stoppage for Bergvall’s eventual non-goal – clocked at four minutes and 50 seconds – will have done little to quell his anti-tech standpoint.

Complacency set in after the restart as Spurs minds wandered to midweek. Mateus Fernandes’ 89th-minute strike threatened to set up a humiliating finale before Johnson won the penalty that Tel converted.

This was just Spurs’ second home victory in the Premier League in their last 11 games and with the sun shining, most supporters made their way to the exits contentedly.

The scene was different beforehand as hundreds staged a second protest in as many months. Many wielded yellow scarves and banners bearing anti-Enic and Daniel Levy slogans.

“Can Beyoncé play up front?” was a popular chant. With six tour dates slated in for June, Bey will rival most of Spurs’ defenders for appearances at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season.