Wembley has not been a particularly happy hunting ground for Tottenham Hotspur this season.
Defeats by Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen at England’s national stadium contributed to their early exit from the Uefa Champions League, with a 3-1 win over CSKA Moscow on Matchday 6 only serving to highlight what might have been.
Mauricio Pochettino has already confirmed that his side will play their Europa League fixtures at the same venue in the coming months, starting with the second leg of their round-of-32 tie with Gent in February.
The building of a new stadium on the same site as White Hart Lane means their 19 Premier League home matches could also be fulfilled nearly 20 kilometres across north London in 2017/18.
But above all else, Tottenham fans will hope to see their team take to the Wembley turf on May 27 — the date of the FA Cup final.
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A place in the top four may be Pochettino’s principal target this season, but bringing the club’s nine-year trophy drought to an end — and winning the first piece of silverware of his managerial career — will also rank high up on the Argentine’s list of priorities.
There is much to admire about the way Tottenham have gone about their business in the past few years.
Last season may ultimately have ended in disappointment, with dropped points against West Bromwich Albion, Chelsea, Southampton and Newcastle United bringing their title chances to an end and allowing rivals Arsenal to finish ahead of them in second.
But challenging for the championship in Pochettino’s second season was proof that Tottenham were operating ahead of schedule.
Of even more significance is the fact that their title tilt was built on a stable and sustainable footing.
Only two members of the club’s squad — goalkeepers Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm — are aged 30 or over, with Mousa Dembele, 29, the oldest outfielder in the Tottenham ranks.
Lloris, Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, Jan Vertonghen, Harry Winks and Christian Eriksen have all signed new contracts this season, extending their deals to 2020 at the earliest.
Six of those players were acquired for a combined fee of just £42 million (Dh191m), while the remaining pair — Kane and Winks — are products of the academy.
Each would fetch a large profit were they to be sold in the transfer window, although Tottenham’s excellent work in tying many of their key men down to long-term deals would put them in an enviable bargaining position in any negotiations with suitors.
Elsewhere, their 61,000-capacity home ground will be the second-largest in the league upon its re-opening in around 18 months, with Tottenham set to significantly boost their matchday revenue to a level more in line with that of their rivals at the top of the table.
Tying everything together is Pochettino, 44, the perfect manager to lead their development on and off the field.
He has finished higher up the Premier League table year on year since he first arrived in England as Southampton manager in January 2013, while he has also succeeded in providing this Tottenham team with a well-defined identity.
While the club’s project does not require a trophy for validation, success in a competition such as the FA Cup would provide a tangible reward for the positive steps they have taken in the past few years.
It would also act as an important event for both players and supporters to rally around, particularly as Tottenham are aspiring to become a side that claim silverware on a regular basis.
Sunday’s third-round meeting with Aston Villa should therefore not be treated as an inconvenient distraction, but rather a chance to start something special.
Stam’s eventual return to Old Trafford
“In playing terms it was a mistake,” Alex Ferguson said six years after he sanctioned the departure of Jaap Stam to Lazio in 2001.
“I thought we could get Laurent Blanc for a year or so and bring the young ones through – like Wes Brown and John O’Shea – but it backfired,” he added in 2010.
“Obviously [it] was always a disappointment to me … I made a bad decision there,” the Scot then told MUTV in 2013.
And in his most recent book Leading, released 16 months ago, Ferguson conceded that “his sale was premature”.
“Well of course it was a mistake,” Stam himself told the Daily Mail ahead of his return to Old Trafford as manager of Reading on Saturday.
“I’m not going to deny that. I knew myself how I felt as a player at the time.”
Ferguson insisted that footballing considerations were his sole motivation for moving the Dutchman on, although many believed comments Stam made in his autobiography – which included an allegation that United made an illegal approach for him while he was at PSV – contributed to his exit.
The defender went on to shine for Lazio, AC Milan and Ajax before hanging up his boots in 2007.
He is now leading Reading’s promotion charge in the English Championship. Stam has been hugely impressive in his first few months as a manager, with just six points currently separating his side from the top two in the second tier.
Reading’s attention now turns to the third round of the FA Cup, with an upset at Old Trafford in their manager’s sights.
Stam will receive a warm reception from United supporters, the majority of whom presumably agree with Ferguson that the imposing centre-half should have spent more than three years at the heart of the club’s backline.
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