Graham Potter got his Spurs wish and now it will forever haunt his West Ham tenure

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Graham Potter has made a rod for his own back with comments about West Ham’s bitter rivals Spurs and it has now piled the pressure on his future.

Tottenham Hotspur fans are waking up realising they’re not dreaming this morning but for West Ham the nightmare is real.

Spurs ended a 17-year trophy drought by winning the Europa League with a 1-0 victory over Man United in Bilbao.

West Ham have found great solace in the fact Tottenham have been even worse than them in the Premier League this season.

It has, in many ways, made a woeful campaign more bearable – and vice versa.

Spurs dream is West Ham nightmare

But Spurs drove a dagger into the hearts of the Hammers and their other rivals by winning a first European trophy in 41 years – simultaneously qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

The ramifications on the pitch are huge as it will allow Tottenham to attract a better calibre of player and increase revenue while West Ham and others struggle with PSR due to having no European football.

Off the pitch it causes issues for the Hammers too.

Fans are already disillusioned with the club, manager and owners and now their bragging rights over one of their fiercest rivals have been taken away too.

West Ham’s Spurs-specific chant: “We’ll be running around Tottenham with our European cup singing I’ve got a trophy haven’t you” has been rendered redundant overnight.

Tottenham will argue their achievement trumps West Ham’s Conference League win given the Europa League is the higher tier competition.

Although the Hammers can justifiably argue the quality of the Europa League during their two recent campaigns – and even some of the sides they faced in the Conference League – was a lot higher than the level of opposition Tottenham have come up against.

It is Tottenham’s name on the trophy, though, and that is all that matters.

Bragging rights are huge in the tribal world of football fandom.

Potter got Spurs wish – now it will forever haunt West Ham tenure

So make no mistake, Tottenham’s win has West Ham fans wincing.

But Graham Potter got his Spurs wish and now West Ham fans won’t forget his bizarre comments.

Both West Ham and Tottenham have bigger traditional rivals in the shape of Millwall and Arsenal.

However, there really is little love lost between the Hammers and Spurs in a rivalry that has grown in intensity throughout the Premier League years.

West Ham fans would be the first to admit they were nauseous at the prospect of Tottenham winning the Europa League.

So they were left feeling sick when their manager Potter rather ill-advisedly said he ‘hopes Tottenham finish the job’ in the Europa League.

After initially being reluctant to talk about Spurs, Potter volunteered the utterly bizarre good luck message to Tottenham while making excuses for Ange Postecoglou’s struggles.

The comments infuriated many Hammers fans, who are already agitated after a terrible 18 months for the club.

And they are being dragged back up on social media now Spurs have indeed gone and finished the job.

What Potter was thinking with those Tottenham comments is anyone’s guess.

It goes down as one of the biggest PR own goals by a Hammers manager, ever.

Only one way Potter can fix biggest West Ham boss blunder

Especially now Tottenham have lifted the trophy.

Whether it stemmed from Potter not fully appreciating the intensity of the rivalry or being disinterested in it is anyone’s guess.

The problem is Potter is under huge pressure at West Ham after a pathetic four wins in 18 matches so far.

Had he signed a six-month deal – which the club originally wanted to offer him – then he almost certainly would not be retained this summer.

Many Hammers fans have given Potter grace until he has his own team in place.

That in itself ramps up the pressure for West Ham to start well next season.

Potter’s Tottenham comments will now be used against him by fed-up fans if he does not turn things around quickly.

He will never live them down.

There is only one way for Potter to get the stain out, by seriously turning West Ham around and getting the club back in Europe himself.