BAFANA Bafana skipper Steven Pienaar may have talked himself out of a place at Tottenham Hotspur next season with what would have seemed to him an innocent enough tweet over the weekend.

"Schillo" sent congratulations to Chelsea on their Uefa Champions League victory over Bayern Munich on Saturday night, but in doing so set off a storm among Spurs fans.

The reason is that Chelsea's win meant their London rivals will not be playing in the Champions League next season.

Only four English sides can compete in the competition, and though Spurs finished fourth in the Premiership, Chelsea take their place in 2012-13 as the defending champions.

They will be joined by Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal.

It is a bitter pill for the Spurs faithful to swallow because the club will lose around £20m (about R240m) in revenue. And so Pienaar's sporting congratulations towards the Blues have sparked anger among the Spurs faithful.

Much of the response from Spurs fans to Pienaar's tweet - and his teammate Louis Saha, who said something similar - is unprintable. But the general gist was that neither would be welcomed back by supporters next season.

"You two don't belong at Spurs with your 'well done Chelsea' tweets. You're a disgrace to our club," said one Spurs fan.

"You're not fit to wear the Spurs shirt. Remember who pays your wages," added another.

"How the hell can you congratulate Chelsea when you play for Spurs!!? Don't come back next season if that's the way you feel," said another fan.

Pienaar has already expressed his desire to leave White Hart Lane next season, and is hoping for a return to Everton where he excelled on loan in the second half of last season.

That move might have edged just a bit closer to happening with the Spurs management likely to take as dim a view as their supporters on what was an innocent, albeit poorly timed, public statement.