Chelsea deserve to defend their title, even though they were rubbish in the league and played boring, negative and dull football to win.
But Spurs also deserve their chance. The CL is about having the best sides in Europe competing against each other. That being said These teams will have the chance to qualify:
Linfield Belfast
FC Lusitanos
Dudelange
Torshavn
Valletta FC
Shamrock Rovers
FC Basel
BATE Borisov
FC Salzburg
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona
Dinamo Zagreb
Molde FK
MSK Zilina
Zeljeznicar Sarajevo
Partizan Belgrade
KR Reykjavik
Helsingborg IF
The New Saints
Sheriff Tiraspol
DVSC Debrecen
NK Maribor
FK Ventspils
Slovan Liberec
Flora Tallinn
Slask Wroclaw
Neftchi Baku
HJK Helsinki
Shakhtyor Karaganda
AEL Limassol
Skënderbeu Korçë
Ekranas Panevezys
Vardar Skopje
Ulisses Yerevan
How many of these sides are a better footballing side than Spurs? How many of these sides have beaten Milan etc.? Yet we will not be there because UEFA have not thought through its policy for these situations.
If I had my way the CL would only have the champions from the top european sides getting autmatic qualification, with the champions from the lesser sides having to go through a seeded qualification system, similar to the present based on how far their country has progressed in the past.
Then actually have a league of 11-15 sides each having to play each other once, half of their games at home decided by a draw. Thereby the champion league champion will apply their league capabilities rather than their knockout (bore dull stay in it for the penalties) style.
This would then make the Europa a credible knock out competition to run alongside it. Which would always have sides like real madrid or Barca, A manc side, a milan side etc. the revenue brought in for both competitions would increase. some weeks you could have Man City v Juventus, Real Madrid V Dortmand (in the champions league) and at the same time (Barca V Bayern, Man utd v AC Milan (Europa) And this would not be a one off week.
Just a thought.