So today is a great day and a miserable one at the same time. My friends know I eat, sleep and breathe Tottenham Hotspur football club. So, today we finished 5th in the Premeirship, out best finish since the league was formed back when I was at college. It's been a tremendous season - we've qualified for the UEFA Cup, for the first time through the league in something like 17 years. All reasons to celebrate and be happy, right?

Except since December 3rd we have been 4th in the Prem, half the season in fourth place. Four is the magic number in British football, top four qualify for the Champions League, taking on the best of Europe in next years contest - and it is worth millions of pounds - probably around 50 million dollars difference in revenues, which can go to attracted some of the biggest names in world football, it is a self-perpetuating dynasty builder. Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have had a stranglehold on this revenue for several years now, with Newcastle occassionally nipping in to sneak a fwe quid... it creates a schism in the league, the super rich moving ahead all the time. When I was growing up watching Spurs we had nothing like this in terms of money. The old European Cup was a mighty tournament, when literally the top club from each nation played off against the top clubs of other nations, knock-out style. Cup winners went into the Cup Winners Cup. Now it is all change...

So what happened? Le Arse, Arsene Wenger's French founded dynasty over at Highbury did what we all knew they would, hammering a spirited Wigan. Spurs however had one of those bizarre days, which started at 7:30 the night before. 10, count them, 10 members of the first team were struck down with a mysterious bout of food poisoning. The FA and Police offered a 2 hr delay to help players recover, but as it was it wouldn't have made a big difference. Looking grey and listless an entire season's good work was undone in 90 mins. West Ham 2 Spurs 1.

Destiny can be a bitch eh?