TEAMtalk considers the ramifications of Chelsea's Champions League final victory for Tottenham and their manager Harry Redknapp.
It has not been a great few weeks for Harry Redknapp.
At the beginning of April, it is fair to assume he did not expect he would spend this summer contemplating international combat that might involve Helsingborg.
The only reason Lech Poznan would come into his thoughts would be as a team from the country in which his England would be plotting a path through a Euro 2012 minefield.
It has all nosedived rather suddenly.
First, Spurs' form disintegrated, taking away the automatic Champions League berth they looked certain to claim for so long.
Then the Football Association decided he was not their man, and went for Roy Hodgson instead.
And on Saturday night, as Chelsea climbed the Allianz Arena to collect the "trophy with big ears" as Patrice Evra once put it, and cement their status among Europe's elite, Redknapp probably wore a similar expression to Arjen Robben, staring blankly into space, numb in the moment and trying to comprehend the misery to come.
When Didier Drogba drove that last spot-kick past Manuel Neuer, he did many things.
Most obviously, the Ivorian won the competition Roman Abramovich invested so much money for.
In addition, he was completing an amazing journey for a club on its knees when Roberto Di Matteo was asked to rescue them three months ago.
He sparked lots of questions, chiefly about his own future and that of his interim boss.
He condemned Bayern to their second crushing final defeat in three years and was placing Chelsea amongst that select group of English clubs, now five, who have won the greatest prize the game has to offer them.
However, the tremors from the celebrations that had Stamford Bridge bouncing with joy may have caused major cracks to appear at White Hart Lane.
When Liverpool overcame AC Milan in that 2005 epic in Istanbul, they did so as the fifth-placed team in the Premier League.
UEFA had never considered the possibility of any country having more than four representatives in the Champions League before and, after much arguing, eventually allowed England five, mainly because Everton refused to countenance their biggest rivals snatching away an honour they felt had been earned through a brutal 38-game domestic campaign.
As it turned out, Liverpool entered in the first qualifying round and reached the Champions League. Everton went in at the last, and were promptly beaten.
UEFA, having learned a very painful lesson, immediately altered their rules.
No country could ever have more than four representatives and if a situation existed where the winners had not already qualified through their own domestic league, they would go to the head of the queue, shunt everyone else down and, as when the little one says roll over, one falls out.
The ruling affects only three leagues but in practice has an impact on only one, because England are the only ones who could supply more than four realistic contenders - as proved last night, when the sixth best team in England and number three in London proved themselves to be top dogs in Europe.
Chelsea rolled over, Tottenham fell out of bed with a thud and no amount of crying will trigger UEFA into adopting a more sympathetic stance.
As the Blues cavorted around the Allianz Arena, European Cup in hand, celebrating one of the more astounding achievements of a season littered with the unexpected, the spectacular and the frankly mystifying, at White Hart Lane a glum realisation dawned.
And now Redknapp and chairman Daniel Levy are left to limit the damage.
Gareth Bale and Luka Modric are the most obvious examples of players whose heads might be turned by rival clubs offering the lure of Champions League combat.
Rafael van der Vaart and Emmanuel Adebayor are others.
The whole ethos of a club could be turned on its head.
None of this matters to Chelsea of course.
Abramovich completed his Champions League quest, John Terry got to lift the trophy, Drogba extended a remarkable record to nine goals in nine finals and quite possibly ended his glittering Chelsea career with the single most important kick of a ball in the club's entire history.
Petr Cech joined him as a penalty shoot-out hero and Ashley Cole turned in the type of performance that confirms his status as a key man for Hodgson this summer.
Bayern Munich spurned so many massive advantages last night, it would be hard for even the most anti-Chelsea observer not to conclude Roberto Di Matteo's players deserved their triumph and should rejoice in it.
But one corner of London will not be joining in the fun - Redknapp is going to be occupied on Thursday nights until Christmas.
© 2013 - British Sky Broadcasting Ltd
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