Atlanta United’s Eales discusses Spurs and Champions League

The plan seems to have worked for both clubs.

Atlanta United won the MLS Cup last season, led the league in attendance the past two seasons and likely will do so again this season, and has set records for transfers in, and (most important) out, since beginning play in 2017.

Tottenham has posted four consecutive top-four finishes for only the second time in a history that dates to 1896. It has developed and sold players for then-record sums.

Eales discussed Saturday’s game, gave a prediction, and discussed similarities between Tottenham and Atlanta United in an eight-minute interview Friday at the team’s training ground in Marietta. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity.

Q: There has to be a paternal sense of pride for you to see Spurs playing for the European championship of club football.

A: It's pretty incredible when you think what they've managed to achieve this season with the new stadium finally getting built and opened as well as getting to the Champions League final.

It’s great credit to Daniel Levy, the owner, because when he first took over he got quite a bit of stick, just generally, from fans for showing a lack of ambition. What Spurs did a great job of was building within their means with the end-goal in sight of a new stadium. I think you can’t argue with what’s been achieved now with the team.

It’s funny how it’s changed from a perennial top four and finishing above Arsenal when it used to be exactly the opposite.

They talk about the day of the year when Arsenal have committed St. Totteringham's Day.

I think it’s great credit to Daniel that he’s got there now, and it’s great credit to the Premier League, the strength that’s there now.

Q: You’re a modest guy, but you’ve had a hand in this. This isn’t a one-year plan. This has been at least a 10-year plan, so to speak, that you had a hand in.

A: What Tottenham did well, and I was privileged to be a part of that was we had a vision. I'll take the academy as a good example.

We had a very medium- to long-term view of the plan. Initially, when the changes were made, there wasn’t instant success because you don’t get that. With development, it takes time for the measures to be put into place and to bear fruit.

If I think back on that time with the academy and you look now at the team, obviously Harry Kane is the poster boy of that academy. Even if it’s players like Andros Townsend, who plays for England and got sold for big money, you’ve got a Harry Winks now who is part of the squad, continually it’s been churning out players.

I think that’s been really important to the success.

It’s always easier in retrospect.

I can remember, personally, one of the busier teams was when Gareth Bale was sold. In circumstances where we didn't want the player to leave, but you have to be realistic. The player wanted to go. It was a great opportunity.

At the time, there was a lot of stick for the players we brought in. If you now look at this team, Christian Eriksen is front and center. Erik Lamela is there.

You’ve got players as well around that time like Erik Dier through to Jan Vertonghen, Hugo Lloris, from when I was at the club who really are the spine of the team.

We live in this world that everybody wants success now and instantly. Tottenham is a good example of the process where right from the very top with Daniel Levy and his vision for the club, through to the academy, I think they do things right.

Liverpool is another example where they’ve got things right over time. You look back through some off the issues they had. Coutinho for example. They got criticized but it looks like a great deal now when you look back with the benefit of hindsight.

I'm really proud. For me, it was a great club to work for. They've got the European history and the pedigree from a while ago. That was always the criticism of Spurts: it was a team that was too based on the '61 double and the Bill Nicholson era. But they've always been a club that plays football the right way and now they are in a Champions League final. It's a coin toss. It's one game. They might be the champions of Europe. It's pretty great.

Credit: Alyssa Pointer

Credit: Alyssa Pointer

Q: Y’all reference Ajax a lot, obviously because of Frank de Boer, as a model for Atlanta United’s development of youth. But Tottenham did that, as you were just referencing. It seems that investing in the players is a smart way to do things, particularly for clubs that have financial responsibility.

A: Absolutely. I'll go back to my time at Tottenham. The view we took was we'll never be able to compete with Chelsea and the Abramovich dollars, or Man City and the Country funding, in effect, it's a country-state pouring in. We will never be able to compete with that.

But what we felt we could do was really focus on the youth and be the dominant academy in the London area, which is obviously great in terms of the talent pool.

We built the training ground and put our investments in the academy. That’s bore fruit. It’s bore fruit in a number of ways. One, obviously you want to get players through who are going to play for your team. If I look at Tottenham and look at the players there we had players who made the first team like a Harry Kane, Harry Winks. You’ve then got players that you are able to sell on. From Tottenham, everyone from Steven Caldwell to Andros Townsend, who I mentioned, there was continually these players that were going in and you were bringing in revenue to help facilitate things.

Thirdly, what you get out of it is a player like a Harry Kane who is part of the very fabric of Tottenham, and it gives you a talisman. It gives you a core to the squad that the fans can rally behind and actually gives a culture of the club.

It’s what we want to do at Atlanta United, but impossible to do from the start because we were a brand new club. The reality is it’s why we started the Academy a year before the first team. It’s why I’m really excited about our Under 14s. That is the first generation that we had to work with right from Day 1 as Under 12s. They will be our first complete squad that goes through to hopefully some of them making it into the first team. They become Homegrown Players that fans can identify with. The other great thing about it is you don’t have the risk of a foreign signing or a signing from outside the club. You’ve had them in your system. They understand the culture of the club. You get to know their personalities, their foibles. You aren’t surprised by anything. That’s where it makes sense.

You’re not going to get a Harry Kane with every player coming through. If you can get enough of them that can fill your squad it lets you focus on bringing in the best players to surround them.

Credit: Alyssa Pointer

Credit: Alyssa Pointer

Q: What’s the prediction on Saturday?

A: It's going to be a tough one. Liverpool have had a great season. If you look at just the Premier League, Liverpool are very unlucky not to win the title with the points they got. They beat Spurs home and away. But the thing here is it's a one-off game. It's been three weeks. Harry Kane has had time and a chance to get fit.

I think there’s pressure on both teams. Spurs, it’s been a long, long time since they were in a European final. Liverpool did get pipped at the post. They are the favorites. There’s a little bit of pressure on them just from them being the favorites.

I think it’s going to be a cracking game. Both teams have great managers. They have an exciting, attacking style.

I’m hoping that Tottenham wins because of the friends I’ve still got at the club and the players that were there. The manager, Mauricio, he’s a great manager but he’s also a great bloke. For him, I’d like for them to win just because Mauricio and his coaching staff deserve that.

I think it’s going to be a coin toss.

Q: That’s weak.

A: I'll give a score. 3-2.

Q: In regulation?

A: In regulation. Kane off the bench and scores the winner.