Tottenham Managers During Daniel Levy’s Time as Chairman
By Logan Holmes
Juande Ramos (October, 2007 – October, 2008)
Cup Win but Lost his Way
Ramos had taken Sevilla to two consecutive UEFA Cup triumphs, defeating Spurs and Martin Jol at the quarter-final stage in the previous season. He brought a trophy to the club with the Carling Cup win over Chelsea having inflicted a 5 – 1 over Arsenal at the semi-final stage. After winning the Cup, Spurs season went into free-fall and showed little improvement the following season. Bottom of the Premier League, Tottenham took 2 points from the opening 8 games and Ramos was removed.
Harry Redknapp (October, 2008 – May, 2012)
The Best of them all!
Harry Redknapp made an immediate impact at Spurs. They defeated Bolton on the day he was appointed and followed that with two goals in the final minute at the Emirates to salvage a 4 – 4 draw and then recovered from going a goal down against undefeated Liverpool to win with a late goal from Roman Pavlyuchenko. Ensuring Premier League survival was the priority in that first season even though they reached the Carling Cup Final only to lose on penalties to Manchester United.
The following season Spurs finished in the top-4 to make their first appearance in the Champions League. The 2010-11 season produced many memorable moments from that Champions League campaign including a Gareth Bale hat-trick against Inter Milan as Spurs recovered from being 4 down in the first half against the reigning champions. Taking confidence from their single goal defeat in Italy, Bale again inspired Tottenham in the return game, winning 3 – 1. A single goal success in the San Siro against AC Milan was a classic European away performance but Real Madrid proved too experienced for Spurs in the quarter-finals.
In the League Spurs end of season results meant they finished 5th and a similar problem the following season, with Redknapp favourite to manage England, saw them finish 4th when they could have headed Arsenal. Chelsea’s Champions League triumph against all the odds denied Spurs their place in the following season’s competition. By the start of the next season, however, Redknapp had gone.