With the early qualifying rounds over it looks like sp*rs will face one from Dynamo Kiev, Braga, Sampdoria, Auxerre or Young Boys from Switzerland. All us Gooners will obviously be cheering for whoever comes out the hat to face them. Bragging rights and the chance to sing “Champions League, you’re having a laugh” in November and February are the obvious benefits, but there is also a financial windfall if they fail.

English clubs are entitled to a 21% share of the Champions League Television pot, which should be around £80m this year. That is then split between the teams that play in the group stage. If the Totts don’t make it through then the pot would be split three ways, earning us an extra £6.5m – the equivalent of £125k a week – enough to easily fund the wages of the top quality goalkeeper and centre back that we are all crying out for. We had a similar bonus in 2003 when Newcastle lost their qualifier, although the numbers were a lot smaller then.

There are some difficult ties in there. Dynamo Kiev are in the middle of their domestic season and won their qualifier 6-1 with Shevchenko apparently playing well. Braga knocked out Celtic, while Sampdoria and Auxerre did very well in their leagues last season. Young Boys look like the easy tie, but they went to Fenerbahce and won in their prior qualifier.

They’re always keen to remind us how many players they have in the England squad so no doubt they are on a high after their summer’s work. Being in New York for a while I went to see Thierry Henry score against them last week and they looked pretty ropey. Mr. Twitch is already getting his excuses in.

Whoever Sp*rs get be sure to cheer loudly for the opposition!