When Bodo/Glimpse prepares for a game like Tottenham Hotspur, a policy is to try not to look at the names. The small Norwegian club has plenty of experience there, after being exposed to Lazio, Arsenal, Manchester United and Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic during their recent climb.
The goal is just to see players as devices and their different strengths and weaknesses. It is a very rational way of looking at something that could otherwise involve a lot of emotions, especially for an Arctic circular city that has a population of only 55,000 – almost 8,000 less than 62,850 capacity in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“We only think it’s fun to show that we can be as good as any name in the world,” says Defender Odin Bjortuft.
The general view of these four Europa League semi-finalists and how they watch football will huge huge the prospects of these ties.
On each side of both semi-finals-Bodo/Glimpse V Tottenham Hotspur and the Athletic Club against Manchester United-there are two fan-owned clubs that organically built on what they have.
Bodo is authentic one of the great stories of modern football. Their run to become the first Norwegian club to reach a semi -final is not just something that should not be possible. It is all the more impressive as it has been achieved after years of sustained progress. This is no one once. They are a model of diligent to build on what you have and be “smarter” about it.
“If you go back 10 years, the club was almost bankrupt,” says director of Football Havard Sakariassen. “No one has given us money outside of prize money or us who are doing well. There is no owner here. Nothing similar.”
Athletic has meanwhile had a rebirth as their famous recruitment policy feels like it is now providing even greater value in the modern game. By choosing only players associated with the Basque country, they have benefited from the area’s budding talent production. Club legend Ernesto Valverde is meanwhile a coach who fits, and last year’s Spanish Cup victory is seen as having given the club a hard need for new confidence as they lifted their first trophy of 40 years. They now go for a moment on two as well as a first European trophy, all in their own stadium. There is considerable romance for all this.
On the other hand, there are two billion-owned clubs that have burned through billions of the Premier League and Champions League money in the last few years alone. And yet here is united, strengthened by the return of Amad Diallo and Matthijs de Ligt and Spurs, probably without son Heung my is, desperate for a Europa League to save their seasons – and maybe more.
Although there are obviously pure football and emotional reasons why both want to win this trophy, there is also an inevitable economic reality. They both need the victory and the Champions League qualification to satisfy profit and sustainability rules (PSR) and future growth. That’s not what the great honor of European football should be about.
These two semi -finals have nevertheless come about admirable diligence against extreme waste; HUGE OVERPRESS AGAINABLE AGAINST CABLY UNDERPRATION.
It’s hard to know what should be more unlikely: Bodo is coming so far, or both United and Spurs are so low in the Premier League. The English two disgust somehow the true point of the Sakariassen that “it is easier if you have money, it is for sure”.
Although none of this is to claim that it would be better for two Premier League clubs to go out, many in European football are only too eager to talk about potential moral lessons.
It followed last season’s Europa League final that Gian Piero Gasperini described his Atalanta’s victory as a victory for “Meritocracy”.
“There is still the opportunity for ideas and football do not have to come down to cool, hard money,” he said.
While so much of the modern game seems to go in the opposite direction, especially with the extended Champions League, there are characters in UEFA that were aware of this. These semi -finals show why seemingly innocent rules are so important.
Had the original idea for the extended Champions League been in place where two positions would have been absurdly assigned based on previous performance, clubs like United and Spurs could well have had a safety net. Senior votes like Theo Theodoridis worried that this could go too far. Fan pressure was crucial.
Now, both Spurs and United may be forced to more calculated thought of what next, like their semi -final resistance.
That is why Bodo can be “an inspiration”, as the Sakariassen puts it, for even clubs much larger than those in Norway. They may also show how football is going. Like Liverpool on another scale of this season’s Premier League, Bodo has made a virtue of “performance culture”. It is really so simple in terms of explanation if it is obviously difficult to perform. They began to think about how they could maximize all areas of the club.
“They have used their limitations as benefits,” says Jens Haugland, CEO of the Norwegian League. “We have to be driven by a very strong performance culture because we can never compete with regard to money. Bodo is a clear example. They have been doing it for many years and are also able to repeat the service. You can never buy a performance culture from money, you can never buy an attitude of money, you can never buy a collective from money.
Athletic, famous, has an identity that you can’t buy with money either. Similarly, when Michel Platini first tried to get financially fair play through 18 years ago, he turned to a prominent athletic fan. The then UEFA president received crucial legal support from the EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia. This was not out of any club bases, but really about which football culture should encourage.
It is impossible not to wonder what some of the Premier League leaders can do from being forced to Athletics Recruitment Policy, considering that there is now votes at United who wants PSR to be loosened. Bodo is pursuing a strategy that looks like athletic almost per. Definition, by having mostly Norwegian players because it is just the market they are in. “Their most important pitch for me was that they could help me make me better.” Bjortuft says. “Bodo/Glimt has been really good at choosing players who can give EVERYTHING for the team.”
Praise is of course not universal. There has been some criticism of how Bodo has benefited from the same UEFA prize money mechanism, with the Sakariassen, which admits “Many Norwegian clubs probably see it as a major obstacle”.
Some rivals around the Basque region “despise” athletic to “poacher” their players. Euro 2024 star Nico Williams was picked up from nearby rivals Osasuna at. 11. On the other hand, both Arsenal and Chelsea look at him in the summer. Rich English clubs want Bodo -Manager Kjetil Knutsen.
Money has a tendency to win out. The likelihood is that one of United or Spurs wins to reach the final. However, if they do, there are still significant lessons to take from their resistance. Neither Bilbao nor Bodo see it that way. They have full faith. It is the belief that comes from commitment to a unique identity. They are convinced that they can give the best possible lesson.