Published: 17 May, 2012
by DAN CARRIER

SPURS fans face an anxious couple of days as they wait to see if Bayern Munich can beat Chelsea in Saturday night’s Champions League final – and save the Lilywhite’s spot at the top table next term.

And the future of the squad very much depends on the match in Munich, with Tottenham’s attempts to keep hold of their top players and make big signings depending on appearing in Europe’s premier club competition.

Speaking after his side beat Fulham 2-0 on Sunday to secure fourth spot, manager Harry Redknapp said that next year the Premier League would only get tougher and the club needed European nights to keep up with big- spending rivals.

“It is only going to get more difficult to get into the top four,” he said.

“Manchester United won’t stand still and neither will Manchester City. The same goes for Liverpool and Arsenal – while I can’t imagine Mr Abramovich will stand for not finishing in the top four next term.

“That means we need to improve, and that means Bayern Munich winning and us getting into the Champions League.”

Spurs finished fourth, a point behind north London rivals Arsenal, and with Chelsea only managing sixth spot, the west Londoners will take Tottenham’s place if they win the European Cup.

On Sunday, Redknapp revealed he had already booked tickets to go to watch the final in Germany. “Suddenly we have all become Bayern Munich fans,” he chirped.

While many fans had expressed disappointment at a spring run that saw Tottenham fritter away a 13-point advantage and lose third position, Redknapp said he was delighted with how the season panned out.

“We would have loved to have finished third.

The players have given all they had and there has been some great performances and some fantastic games.

“We wanted to get into the Champions League spots at the start of the season and I couldn’t have asked for more than that. If you’d asked us at the start if we would be happy to get into the top four, we’d have said we were delighted.”

He added he felt finishing fourth this term was a better achievement than two years ago.

“This is a tough league and gets tougher,” he said. “After all, Manchester City had ‘only’ spent £300million two years ago.”