Life Is Good Before Spurs But Even Better Once You Leave

Once upon a time, Tottenham Hotspur had a foreign boss, well Spurs have had five bosses and it hasn’t always been a fairytale, at least not until they leave.

Believe me, I have looked at the facts, life after White Hart Lane tends to be pretty good for foreign bosses but it is the end of the road for English managers.

Well only because Blackburn Rovers aren’t a bigger club than Tottenham, otherwise let’s face it, Spurs fans would be wetting themselves.

According to Harry Redknapp, this will be the last job of his career? I don’t know about that but it will be the best as no Spurs boss has gone on to bigger things since Terry Venable’s in 1991.

Anyway, back to these five foreign managers.

Osvaldo Ardiles became Spurs first foreign manager in 1993 but it wasn’t his first spell with the club as he played for them for a decade. Ossie as he is more fondly known, never hit the right note as boss of the London club and had his contract terminated after only 14 months.

The Argentine did however go on to be a cult hero in Japan winning various trophies with Shimizu S-Pulse and Tokyo Verdy 1969. In 1998, he was named J-League manager of the year after leading Shimizu to glory in the Tokai Cup.

So a fairytale career after Tottenham that also took in Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Tottenham’s next attempt at a foreign manager came three years later when the now infamous Christian Gross was appointed after success with Grasshoppers in his native Switzerland.

Now this was a dream for Gross but unfortunately for one reason or another, it never quite worked out and he was sacked after a year. He returned to Switzerland with a bruised ego but all of skill that made him a top manager and has led FC Basel to four Swiss title’s and four Swiss cups. In 1998, he was voted Swiss Coach of the year.

This year, Gross led FC Basel into the Champions League, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about facing Spurs.

Tottenham waited another six years before trying a foreign manager, this time it was Jacques Santini. Santini is however, the only exception to rule that Spurs leads to better things. Santini lasted just 13 games at Spurs but will always be remembered for his work before London at Olympique Lyonnais, rather than his time after Spurs which has been well, awful.

The Frenchman was sacked by AJ Auxerre.

Let’s move on, we do not want to dwell on these things as there is always one bad apple. Isn’t there Gordon?

Martin Jol was actually quite good, easily the best foreign manager Spurs have ever had. Spurs were so shocked that they sacked him before he could snatch that 4^th place in the Barclay’s Premier League.

Now I wonder how many of you can guess what position in the Bundesliga his new club Hamburg are in now?

You guessed it, fourth.

That leads us onto Juande Ramos, the most sought after coach in Europe when he joined Spurs. He promptly won the Carling Cup (thanks to Jol’s work) and set about building a side to attack those Champions League positions.

Step 1: Sell best players

Step 2: Sign a solid goalkeeper for £9 (or was that a wooden plank for £9 million?)

Step 3: Confuzel the squad with my Spanish

Step 4: Watch Spurs have the worst start to a season in their entire history

Step 5: Get the most glamorous job in the world (Real Madrid)

Sorry, I think I might have missed something but you have to hand it to him, it is a step up from White Hart Lane.

Amazingly, Ramos has had a worse run in his career. He never won a SINGLE game in charge of Espanyol and won less than 20 percent of his games in charge of Barcelona B. Isn’t that the Barca Reserves?

In total it is 12 trophies and counting for former Spurs bosses since 1994, with only two for Tottenham Hotspur.

So there you have it, it is all good until you join Spurs and even better once you leave.