Crazy...but fourth was never with Tottenham on this one

It was very early in the morning so there were a few long faces awaiting the red-eye back to London from Munich on Sunday but, even so, a particular air of resignation hung around Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Brad Friedel.



Working as a summariser for Fox Television, he had watched with mounting disbelief as Chelsea closed in on the Champions League trophy. After 67 minutes he had asked his station's statistical expert how many times Didier Drogba had touched the ball. Six, came the reply. And yet it happened.



By defeating Bayern Munich, Chelsea claimed the final Champions League berth reserved for an English club next season, condemning fourth-placed Spurs to the dreaded Thursday-night fixture schedule of the Europa League.



No hard feelings: Redknapp congratulates Chelsea fans in Munich

Friedel's manager Harry Redknapp was not in a good place either, and the pair are going to be in a few dodgy ones later this year, too. The Europa League usually throws up an odyssey or three and will seem an ever more worthless reward for a finish that Tottenham believed would re-establish them among Europe's elite.



Chelsea's arrival at the pinnacle of the European game had, to borrow an expression from Sir Alex Ferguson, knocked Tottenham right off that perch, radically altering the short-term future of the club.



It has certainly ruffled Redknapp's feathers at the end of a season that has taken him to extremes of emotion. Yet, as much as one felt for Redknapp, Friedel and his team-mates, there was no robbery committed in the Allianz Arena, no deception, no fraud.



It may seem harsh on Tottenham that they should finish so near yet so far, but they are not victims. They knew the rules from the start.



In 2005, when Everton finished fourth and Liverpool won the Champions League, there was no provision in UEFA's regulations for such an unlikely scenario. UEFA had simply presumed that any team good enough to win its marquee tournament would also have qualified for next season's competition by conventional means too.



Liverpool proved them wrong and the Football Association, wisely, refused to intervene. It was not their job to make UEFA's numbers add up, they insisted.



At the start of that season it had been stated the top four would qualify for the Champions League and that is how it would remain. Faced with the prospect of having no defending champion, UEFA were forced to invite Liverpool as an additional, fifth, English club, starting in the first qualifying round. As a result, the rules were rewritten.

Tough viewing: Redknapp and his son Jamie watch the action unfold in Munich







It was then made clear the Champions League winners would be required to defend their crown and, if the circumstances of 2005 were repeated, their entry would take precedence over the weakest league qualifier, with a maximum of four clubs permitted from a single country.



So, at the beginning of this season, all Premier League clubs knew that to be absolutely guaranteed a Champions League spot next season, a top-three finish was essential. In fourth, there would always be some element of risk.



Quite literally, it was one rule for Liverpool and another for everybody else - but that is nobody's fault. Of course being champions of Europe should count for more than being the fourth best team in England - who could argue otherwise?

If Tottenham feel any emotion this morning, it should be bitter regret. Every other team in the top four won at Aston Villa this season, as did Bolton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Liverpool, Swansea City and Chelsea.



A win at Villa Park on May 6 would have as good as secured third place for Tottenham, but they drew. There is no UEFA, FA or Premier League plot to deny the club their rightful destiny - the four most deserving English clubs will compete in the Champions League next season, after all. Football League play-offs operate on a similar principle.



Big winners: Chelsea celebrate their Champions League triumph in Munich

It may not seem fair to finish 11 points clear of a rival and start a post-season round of matches level, as West Ham United and Blackpool did, but the rules were clearly stated: finish in the top two, or risk the lottery.



In his second season at Millwall, Mick McCarthy took the club into the play-offs in third place and instantly lost to sixth-placed Derby County.



Asked if he felt bitter, McCarthy said he had told the players what they needed to do before the campaign began: top two or start over again. They had come up short and had suffered the predictable consequence. So, yes, Tottenham are unfortunate, but they were never misled.



The ramifications could be huge if key figures including Gareth Bale and Luka Modric now begin agitating for a move, but Tottenham left themselves in a position where anything could happen; and, typically in football's craziest season, anything did.

Hodgson's bizarre choice

Eyebrows have been raised over Roy Hodgson's decision to delay the assembly of England's European Championship squad.



This will not happen until Wednesday, meaning that at the same time as Nigel de Jong was flying to join up with Holland, Wayne Rooney was touching down in Las Vegas for a short holiday.



Mario Balotelli missed Manchester City's championship parade to be with Italy, while Hodgson gave City's celebrations as one of the reasons for England's time out.



Maybe, however, it is not the players that need that rest at all. Maybe it is Hodgson. What thinking time has he had to prepare for Ukraine this summer? He is familiar with only two of his 23-man squad, he hadn't looked at a single scouting report on the opposition as of the middle of last week; and the selection meeting with his coaching staff was a conference call.



Put it there: Hodgson greets former England boss Capello in Munich

The gaping holes in the Football Association's famous parachute now revealed, Hodgson might feel most in need of a breather and the opportunity to plan for a testing summer ahead.



Cancelling a pre-season trip because Manchester City have had a jolly-up, or because the reserve goalkeeper has played in the Football League play-off, or three Chelsea players were involved in the Champions League final seems bizarre.



If Hodgson requires time to clear his head, that is different. No point trying to take the players with you, until you know where you are going.

Diminishing flame



Is there another event in sport, life or reality television programming as sinfully dull as the Olympic torch relay?



The only time it got interesting on its way to Beijing previously was when a gigantic bundle with Free Tibet protesters swallowed up former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.



Torch snatching could be a fun addition to the Olympic schedule, but watching some poor old soul plod 200 yards in the rain is about as captivating as Pudsey the dancing dog will be in six months time (Yeah, I said it - the backlash starts here).

Spectator sport? Watching the torch tour is already becoming a bind

Taken for Grant-ed?



Grant Holt had a good season, but he is not a good summer buy. Holt has submitted a transfer request to Norwich City after scoring 17 goals in his first Premier League campaign.



He wants to improve his current deal, worth £16,000 a week, which has two years to run. Holt, however, is 31. Premier League defenders will know a lot more about him next season, and Norwich are his 11th club.



If he was top quality based on individual ability alone he would not have spent the last 13 years bouncing from Barrow to Singapore, via Rochdale and assorted outposts.



Norwich manager Paul Lambert clearly has a way of playing that gets the best out of Holt, a method it will be hard to replicate elsewhere. What can be guaranteed, though, is that his 17 goals will make him an expensive purchase.



At the age of 27, when he should have been at his peak, Holt moved from Nottingham Forest to Shrewsbury Town for £170,000 - now, four years on, Norwich might ask 40 times that, or more.



He is certainly worth upwards of £16,000 a week, but should be left to extract that from Norwich, not another owner with more money than sense.

On the move: Holt wants out of Norwich... and a wage rise, too

Talking Turkey



Bidding for the 2020 European Championship has gone so well that UEFA have abandoned the process and started again. May 15 was the deadline for submitting an interest, but so few did that UEFA now say any nation can join the ranks of potential hosts during the next 18 months.



The Celtic alliance of Wales, Scotland and Ireland were as good as begged to join the solo tenders of Turkey and Georgia - the only committed parties so far. Why such paucity of interest?



Recession obviously, with much of Europe reluctant to embark on expensive construction and infrastructure projects. Yet could another reason be the fact that UEFA president Michel Platini announced he would be supporting Turkey within days of bidding opening?



Why get involved when such an influential figure has already cast his vote? Now, if Turkey are the only credible hosts, what guarantee is there of quality? UEFA will have to take what they get; much as they have from Ukraine this summer.



Seriously, how early do you think Platini has to rise to achieve this level of incompetence? You would really need to commit to do stupidity this well.

AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT

We can't ignore the facts



Jason Roberts, the Reading striker, took to Twitter last week to decry Roy Hodgson's decision to select John Terry for the European Championship. 'Hodgson's "football decisions" may be about results to him,' he wrote, 'but what this says to society and kids watching is something very different.'



How so? There is a man accused of racist abuse, and a trial that will determine his guilt, or innocence. The only way Hodgson is making a statement to society is if Terry's guilt is presumed and it is considered that Hodgson knows of it, but does not care.



If there is a message in the fall-out around Terry's verbal confrontation with Anton Ferdinand, it is that too many in Britain have tired of legal process and wish to make judgments at the push of a virtual red button.



Twitter ye not: Roberts slated Hodgson for selecting Terry for Euros

On the surface Roberts, and plenty like him, appear to be striking staunchly moral poses, but strip away the rhetoric and what they wish is to judge a court case, based on personal presumptions, without recourse to independently assessed and proven evidence.



If society should reject any concepts while we wait for July 9 and the start of Terry's hearing, the presumption of guilt for purely self-serving purposes might be a good place to start.

Major golf headache



Ian Poulter is correct in his belief that Olympic golf should be rescheduled as a matchplay tournament. At the moment the plan is for a standard 72-hole strokeplay competition, like the majors, except not as important. What would be the point in delivering this pale imitation?



A matchplay Olympic golf competition, played in pairs, with medals awarded to the individuals as part of a team, could one day hold a similar fascination to the Ryder Cup.



An individual strokeplay shootout would be as compelling as Olympic tennis. Who is the current Olympic champion? Who cares?



All change: Poulter believes there should be a change to Olympic golf

Off his Swede



Jack Wilshere is undergoing what Arsenal are calling a minor procedure at a clinic in Sweden. His rehabilitation from an ankle problem is progressing, but there has been a flare-up in a knee.



Nothing to worry about, the club insist. Then again, if it's such a trifle, why go all the way to Sweden?



Tyson's fury



Mike Tyson has been looking back on a colourful career. 'I wanted people who got in the ring with me to think they were dealing with a savage,' he said.



You bit off a bloke's ear, mate.



Beck's diminishing returns



David Beckham wants it all ways. He claims to be only interested in selection for Great Britain's Olympic football team on merit, while doing little to deter the pressure on manager Stuart Pearce to include him for sentimental or commercial reasons.



'I don't want to be picked to sell shirts or as a stadium filler,' Beckham said. 'I want to be in because of what I can bring to the team. I've played for some big teams and managers without sentiment. Men like Sir Alex Ferguson, Fabio Capello and Sven Goran Eriksson don't pick players because they want to fill the stadium or sell shirts.'



No, they don't. And when Beckham was being picked by Ferguson, Capello and Eriksson, he was in for sound football reasons, too. Those days are gone. Clearly, they value his ambassadorial worth as much as his playing contribution.



Sidelined: Beckham's role at the Olympics is far from decided

Beckham has much to offer sport, and his country, but not as an elite footballer. The longer he remains in denial about this, the more difficult he makes life for Pearce.



(Beckham has ruled out being part of Team GB as a coach. Nobody had floated this idea publicly, so was it being talked about behind the scenes as a compromise agreement, a way of trading on Beckham's appeal without committing to the player? Without doubt, there is much going on out of sight.)



Norway it's going to be fun

England's friendly in Norway on Saturday may not be the most scintillating affair.



The 15-minute half-time break, however, is precisely the time needed to appreciate the Patrick Cowley Megamix version of Donna Summer's I Feel Love, rare as a lively game against Scandinavian opposition but available via YouTube.



Donna and Patrick: late and great the pair of them, now alas. Enjoy.



VIDEO: RIP Donna and Patrick...





Sign of the times



Caroline Inglis was on her way to a record-breaking fourth consecutive Oregon state school golf title, when she was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.



Her father, Bill Inglis, had been disqualified for the same offence in the same competition 41 years previously, eliminating his school from contention.



Less swing practice, more mathematics required in that house, one feels.







