Jol sacked as Tottenham manager

Interview: Former England boss Graham Taylor

Report: BBC football correspondent Jonathan Legard

News conference: Blackburn boss Mark Hughes

Martin Jol has been sacked as manager of Spurs after three years in the job.

Reports swept around White Hart Lane as Jol presided over Tottenham's 2-1 Uefa Cup defeat by Getafe, but the club only confirmed the news after the match.

"I shall never forget the Spurs fans," Jol said in a statement. Assistant Chris Hughton was also dismissed.

Clive Allen and Alex Inglethorpe take charge for Sunday's game with Blackburn while Sevilla coach Juande Ramos is favourite to take over.

Report: BBC football correspondent Jonathan Legard

Former Spurs player Allen is the club's development coach, while Inglethorpe is youth team manager.

"For me, Martin and Chris's departure is regrettable," said chairman Daniel Levy.

"Our greatest wish was to see results turn in our favour and for there to be no need for change."

It was claimed Spurs met Ramos in August with a "dizzying" offer to replace the 51-year-old Jol at White Hart Lane.

BBC Sport football correspondent Jonathan Legard said Jol's eventual departure was unavoidable from that moment on.

"It was inevitable ever since Spurs' representatives were caught red-handed in Seville talking to Juande Ramos," said Legard.

"For all the denials from Spurs that nothing untoward was going on, and that it was a meeting about a matter completely unrelated, clearly Jol was a dead man walking and has been ever since."

Ramos is regarded as one of the most promising coaches in European football after guiding Sevilla to back-to-back Uefa Cup titles.

Sevilla beat Spurs on the way to their success in last season's Uefa Cup, while Ramos also led his side to third in La Liga and victory in the Copa del Rey - Spain's top domestic cup competition.

But with Sevilla in the Champions League Ramos opted to see out his contract with the Spanish club which expires next summer.

However Sevilla director of football Ramon Monchi was pictured in the stands as Spurs lost to Getafe and it is thought he was at White Hart Lane to negotiate Ramos's switch to Tottenham.

Gus Poyet has been linked with the assistant manager position under Ramos, but the former Tottenham and Chelsea midfield player has told BBC Sport he has had no contact with Spurs.

During the defeat to Getafe Spurs fans gave vocal support to the Dutchman, singing "Stand up for Martin Jol".

Jol took charge of Spurs in November 2004, replacing the unpopular Frenchman Jacques Santini, and under him the club twice qualified for the Uefa Cup.

Having recruited the likes of Darren Bent, who cost £16.5m, Gareth Bale and French defender Younes Kaboul during the summer, Tottenham had high hopes of challenging for a Champions League place.

But Spurs suffered a disastrous start, recording just one victory - the 4-0 win over Derby in August - in 10 league games and since the reported meeting with Ramos, Jol has faced constant questioning over his future.

Jol's agent is currently in Brazil and was unavailable for comment late on Thursday as regards the terms of the Dutchman's severance package.

"Given what he did last season I don't think he will have a problem finding a new job," said Getafe boss Michael Laudrup after his side's win.

Jol has been linked with Dutch club Ajax who are without a permanent coach following Henk Ten Cate's departure to Chelsea.

Dimitar Berbatov is no.25th of The world's top 50 footballers

25. Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur)

He has the body of a bruiser and the touch of a virtuoso. And he looks like he’ll only get better. One of the more athletic big men on this list.

The world's top 50 footballers of Times

Berbatov 's 2 Goals on Euro2008 Qualify 2/6/2007

Euro 2008 - Group G (qualifiers)

Belarus 0 - 2 Bulgaria

28' [0 - 1] D. Berbatov

47' [0 - 2] D. Berbatov

Highlight

credit to sportal

The jokes between Berbatov and Martin

Picture

Completed the transfer of Gareth Bale

Gareth Bale
Personal information
Full name	Gareth Frank Bale
Date of birth	July 16, 1989 (1989-07-16) (age 17)
Place of birth	Cardiff, Wales
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Left-back
Club information
Current club	Tottenham Hotspur
Number	TBA
Youth clubs
	Southampton
Senior clubs
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2005-2007 2007-	Southampton Tottenham Hotspur	40 (5) 00 (0)
National team
2006-	Wales	05 (2)

Tottenham have finally completed the transfer of Southampton left-back Gareth Bale, after initially attempting to secure the player’s services back in the January transfer window. With fees likely to rise to £10m, this video shows Spurs fans exactly why they have reason to be excited.



Youtube / 4shared

credit to thfcdomid

Mido braced for Spurs exit

By Mark Buckingham

Mido admits he may have to leave Tottenham Hotspur in the summer in search of regular first-team football.

The Egyptian striker joined Spurs on a permanent deal last August after spending the previous 18 months on loan from Roma.

However, Mido has started just six Premiership games and his only league goal proved to be the winner against West Ham United back in October.

Dimitar Berbatov's impressive form has kept Mido on the fringes, with the forward feeling injuries have also played a part in his inability to make an impact.

"I was unfortunate with the injuries I had," Mido told Dream TV.

"Every time I play and put in a good display an injury strikes me to halt my progress with Spurs.

"The form of Berbatov has also been impressive and that's another reason for my limited appearances."

Mido was close to joining Manchester City during January's transfer window and he claims Stuart Pearce remains interested.

Celta Vigo, where the burly striker spent time on loan in 2003, are also in the hunt, along with Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven.

He added: "I will sit down with Martin Jol at the end of the season to discuss all possibilities.

"I'm not that sort of player who wants to just receive money no matter if he is playing or not, I'm keen on participating on a regular basis.

"I have two good offers from Manchester City and Celta Vigo. PSV Eindhoven coach Ronald Koeman phoned me and expressed his interest as well."

skysports.com

UEFA Cup trophy handover in Glasgow

Road to Glasgow becomes clear

The holders Sevilla FC will have to overcome Tottenham Hotspur FC in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals if they are to keep alive their dream of becoming the first team since Real Madrid CF in 1986 to successfully defend the trophy.

Big names
The duel between the sides was the highlight of a draw carried out by ad intermin UEFA Chief Executive Gianni Infantino, former Celtic FC captain Billy McNeill and David Taylor, chief executive of the Scottish Football Association. The quarter-finals will also see AZ Alkmaar taking on Werder Bremen, Bayer 04 Leverkusen meeting CA Osasuna and RCD Espanyol up against SL Benfica, with matches scheduled for 5 and 12 April.

'Values of sport'
Mr Infantino also made a statement on behalf of UEFA, saying: "So far this season we have seen many thrilling matches which have been followed by increasing levels of TV viewers and spectators across Europe. Paramount to maintaining such levels of interest is preserving and promoting the values of sport. Unfortunately we have lately witnessed unacceptable scenes both inside and around the stadiums. We would like to make a plea to all of you – clubs, players, officials and fans - to promote the core values of our games in the spirit of fair play, loyalty and respect, thus setting the right example for future generations."

Final route
Today's proceedings in Glasgow involved a straight draw including all eight clubs without seedings or country protection. As well as the quarter-finals, the draw was also made for the semi-finals, meaning teams know whom they will face over two legs on 26 April and 3 May should they progress. The final will take place at Hampden Park on 16 May.

Handover
Prior to the draw in the Old Fruitmarket at the City Halls, Mr Infantino presided over the ceremonial UEFA Cup handover in which Sevilla representatives, including coach Juande Ramos and Enzo Maresca, who scored twice in last year's 4-0 final victory against Middlesbrough FC, handed the trophy won in Eindhoven last May back to Mr Infantino, who accepted it on belhaf of UEFA. Mr Infantino subsequently presented the trophy to the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Liz Cameron, after the draw.

'Historic moment'
"We're happy to have got through last night and to have the chance to defend our trophy," said Maresca. "To be honest, we were a bit lucky with Andrés Palop's late equaliser but we deserved to score before then. For us, winning this trophy was a historic moment, our first European win and a great achievement for the club. We're here to leave the trophy for two months and then take it back to Seville! We know it will be difficult to win it again, but we will try and you never know what will happen."

download :

mms://vod.video.uefa.com/download/archive1/Other/644140_UEFACupTrophyHandover.wmv

official Uefa.com

Spurs handed Sevilla test

By Alex Livie

Tottenham have been paired with holders Sevilla in the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup.

Martin Jol's charges have made good progress through the competition and proved too good for Braga in the last round and their reward is a meeting with the holders.

Sevilla survived a real scare against Shakhtar Donetsk to progress and will prove tough nuts for Spurs to crack.

AZ Alkmaar sent Newcastle packing on Thursday and they were paired with Werder Bremen at Friday's draw in Glasgow.

Bayer Leverkusen proved too good for Lens in the last round and will tackle Osasuna for a place in the last four, while Espanyol will face Benfica as the three Spanish sides were kept apart.

Quarter-final draw:
AZ Alkmaar v Werder Bremen
Bayer Leverkusen v Osasuna
Sevilla v Tottenham
Espanyol v Benfica

Ties to be played 5th April and 12th April.

The semi-final draw was also made and should Spurs progress past Sevilla they will face either Bayer Leverkusen or Osasuna in the last four.

Semi-final draw:
Quarter-final four v quarter-final one
Quarter-final two v quarter-final three

Ties to be played 26th April and 3rd May.

The draw for the final was made for administrative purposes and is below:

Winners of semi-final one v Winners of semi-final two

skysports.com

download :

mms://vod.video.uefa.com/download/archive0/Other/644147_UEFACupQ-F,S-FandFinaldraw.wmv

Interviews & Analysis
Tottenham sporting director Damian Comolli talks to uefa.com after the draw

download :

mms://vod.video.uefa.com/download/archive1/Other/644192_(EN)DamianComolli(Tottenham)_en-UK.wmv

uefa.com

Berbatov thanks for fans

By Mark Buckingham

Dimitar Berbatov has offered his gratitude to Tottenham Hotspur fans for their support during his first season at White Hart Lane.

The striker has scored 15 goals since arriving for over £10million from Bayer Leverkusen last summer and has looked a class act.

He has quickly become a fans' favourite in North London and produced a superb centre-forward display in Sunday's 4-1 win at home to Bolton Wanderers.

Berbatov is now hoping to reward the home support by scoring the goals which could propel Spurs to a trophy.

"I hope I can score for them in the future and entertain them because, although football is business, I try to do good things," said Berbatov.

"It's really enjoyable having support from the fans and they have been behind me from the first minute."

The Bulgarian's previous outing against Bolton was his first appearance in the Premiership and he feels he has progressed significantly since the 2-0 defeat in August.

He added: "My first game was an experience I'll never forget.

"It was not good and we lost, but it was a long time ago and things are different now, I've learnt a lot.

"Against Bolton this time, not only me, but everyone, showed that we are a great club with a great future and, if we carry on like that, we can achieve a lot."

Skysports.com

INTERVIEW: LEDLEY KING

28/02/2007 10:52:26

Watching Ledley King galloping around the perimeter of the pitches at the training ground with considerable purpose, it is clear that he has the finishing line of his injury pain firmly in sight.

The skipper, absent since the Boxing Day encounter with Aston Villa with a case of bone stress in his left foot, is in the midst of a running programme to test the injury before hopefully very soon taking the next step and returning to the full training fold.

"At the moment I am just running every other day and in between that I'm doing bike work and swimming," reported the England international last week. "It is about building up my fitness without overloading the foot. It seems to be going well at this point, but I thought that last time as well, I was ready to come back then had a bad reaction. I'm taking it quite slowly now and hoping that my foot withstands it this time.

"I realise that after two months or so of being out that it is not going to be so easy for me to just jump back into training. I tried to come back last time after three or four weeks so this time I am that much further behind and have to do a bit more to build myself back up to the level of full training.

“We've spoken about it and I will spend next week running to pick up my fitness and, depending on how that goes, we will take it from there (see if I can step back into training from there)," he continued, before placing a tentative time frame on his return.

"If all goes well I hope to be back at some time in March (they think I could be back training in three or four weeks, but it could be quicker - or a little bit longer. We'll see)."

Ledley then went on to block a suggestion from the medics that his efforts in the swimming pool could well be worth a slot in front of the THTV camera...

"If the camera was coming there is no way I would be in the water! To be honest, I have surprised myself and have done better than I thought I would. One of the youngsters tried to do it the other day and got cramp after two lengths and had to jump out!

"I am sticking in there, I find it tough, but it is good fitness work. I can't say I enjoy it, but there are not too many black swimmers that I know so maybe there is hope for me..."

Ledley stepping out of the matchday tunnel again is likely to coincide with the business end of the season, hopefully timed with a push up the Premiership pecking order and progress in the UEFA and FA Cups.

"All the work we did earlier in the season is paying off now. We are getting closer to the prizes now and there are still big games to come. It will be a great time to be involved, unfortunately we lost to Arsenal in the Carling Cup semi-final, but we've still got the FA and UEFA Cup to look forward to and we are desperate to win one of them.

"To win something would ease the pain of missing out on a chunk of this season, to get some silverware is mine and everyone else's goal at the Club and we believe we can do it."

On the FA Cup front, last Monday saw our allocated No.8 ball drawn third last out of the pot and paired away to Chelsea - a tie that Ledley acknowledges as probably the toughest out there, but the sort of occasion players want to be involved in.

"I suppose you can't complain, it could have gone either way, but to get the champions makes it very difficult. The thing is with Chelsea, we have beaten them this season and there is a belief that we can do it again.

"It will be a great game to be involved in and hopefully we can get the right outcome.

"As a player you want to play against the best players, test yourself in the big games and produce the goods. They don't come much bigger than this, it will be a great spectacle and our fans will travel in their thousands. The atmosphere will be brilliant and we feel that whoever we play in the cup we can win against."

Ledley concedes that continued participation in all the cup competitions did take its toll on the bid to repeat and build on last season's improved league performance. It has been something of a step into the unknown for this group of players in battling on all fronts, but the 26-year-old does believe it has provided a valuable experience that the squad will be better for in forthcoming seasons.

"If you look back over the years Tottenham have traditionally been a cup team and there has not been too many times when we've been in the top five in recent times. I think the expectations from last season were rightly high and we all wanted to be involved heavily in everything this season.

"Our league form has been dented from that but it is a learning process for our young squad and I am confident that what we have learned from this season will stand us in good stead for the next. I am sure we will be better at juggling if we can stay in the UEFA Cup next season.

"It does take a bit of adapting to and it is a new thing for us. While we've tried our best, our league displays were not as good as we would have liked, but there are still games in the season for us to pick up points and finish as high as we can.”

"I am sure it can still be a great season."

by tottenhamhotspur.com

Mido says he’s ‘very proud’ to be part

28/02/2007 11:26:46

Mido says he’s ‘very proud’ to be part of what he describes as ‘one of the best forward lines in the league’ here at Spurs.

The Egyptian hitman agrees that our fantastic four – Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Mido himself – are in as good form both as a unit and individually as they have been all season.

Mido, hit recently by a nagging groin problem, has two goals in his last four appearances and set-up Robbie’s fantastic volleys in the FA Cup win at Fulham. In addition to those goals, Robbie bagged two against Bolton to make it four in three while Dimitar’s performance on his own following Robbie’s red card against Bolton won plaudits all-round. He has three in three and 15 this term. Jermain has 14 and enjoyed a spell of nine goals in nine starts earlier this season.

“I think we’ve done very well,” commented Mido on his fellow strikers. “It’s about ups and downs and it’s very emotional.

“I’m working very hard in training to try and prove that I deserve to play and every time I come on or start the game, I try to prove my point and it's the same with the other lads. We are all coping well and at the end of the day, the winner is Spurs.

“Here, if I’m not playing and Berba and Keano are playing, or Berba and Jermain, they will do the same job and if Berba isn’t playing, I will do the same job.

“Not many teams in England have strikers who can do that job to the same level.

“Bolton was one of Berba’s best games for Spurs. Robbie was fantastic before he was sent off and believe me, if Jermain is playing instead of Robbie, he will do the same. But it’s not just about goals and assists, it’s about how well we play.”

After a stop-start season, Mido is pleased with his form. “Yes, especially in training – I haven’t been training like I’m training at the moment, not since the start of the season. I feel fit as never before and that’s a good sign.

“The last couple of games have gone well for me, I scored against Southend, Arsenal and helped set up the goals against Fulham.

“My groin injury was very frustrating but it’s not a big problem and we still have plenty of games to go. I’m pleased with my form and I think the manager is happy as well - hopefully I will score more goals.”

by tottenhamhotspur.com

DAWS ON BOLTON

28/02/2007 12:16:08

Michael Dawson sat back and thought 'cheers lads' as we stormed into a 3-0 lead against Bolton - only for it all to change in an instant.

Our Mr Consistent in defence admired what was unfolding in front of him as Robbie Keane’s double and a goal from Jermaine Jenas put us three up with only 21 minutes on the clock.

However, Robbie was soon sent off for handball, Gary Speed reduced arrears from the penalty spot and suddenly it was 3-1 and down to 10 men with an hour to play against the team in fifth in the Premiership.

“I was watching from the back thinking ‘cheers lads’ as we went 3-0 up,” reflected Michael. “Robbo had one great save to make in that opening spell but we played some great stuff and importantly scored the goals as well.

“The thing with Bolton is that you know they will continue to give everything, even at 3-0 down when a lot of teams might have folded.

“They got themselves back into the game and when we lost Robbie we all knew we were in for a tough test, especially with the scoreline then at 3-1.

“At half-time we regrouped and we knew what it was going to be like. We couldn't press as much and they had more of the ball but the lads worked their socks off.

“It wasn't quite as pretty in the second half - although Berba made it pretty with how he was plucking the ball out the air - and it was a pure team performance. Aaron’s goal just capped it off.

“As a defender, sometimes you don't have to be pretty. If you keep the ball out of the net you've done your job and that was the case in the second half.”

by tottenhamhotspur.com