Tottenham sack Ramos for Redknapp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7691457.stm

Tottenham Hotspur have appointed Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp as their new manager after sacking coach Juande Ramos late on Saturday night.

Spurs have agreed a compensation package of £5m with Portsmouth, according to the 61-year-old Redknapp.

Tottenham also axed sporting director Damien Comolli and first-team coaches Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez following their worst ever start to a season.

"It's a big opportunity to manage a big club before I retire," said Redknapp.

Spurs are four points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League after taking just two points from eight matches this season. They also lost to Udinese in the Uefa Cup on Thursday.

A Tottenham statement on Saturday read: "The club can announce that Damien Comolli, sporting director, Juande Ramos, head coach and first team coaches, Marcos Alvarez and Gus Poyet, have left the club, with immediate effect. We wish them well.

"Clive Allen, development squad coach, and Alex Inglethorpe, youth team manager, will take charge for Sunday's league match against Bolton.

"The club has requested permission to hold discussions with Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth FC has reluctantly agreed."


Pompey couldn't sell a player in the [transfer] window so we sell the manager

Harry Redknapp
Redknapp revealed that Spurs contacted Portsmouth on Friday morning, and after discussions between Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and Pompey chief executive Peter Storrie, it was agreed he could talk to the north London club.

"I've had a great time at Portsmouth and we've had an unbelievable, successful time over the six years I've been here," Redknapp told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"But Tottenham made a fantastic offer to Portsmouth and it was difficult.

"It was a lot of money - I think £5m, crazy money really. Pompey couldn't sell a player in the [transfer] window so we sell the manager."

Redknapp expects the official announcement to come from White Hart Lane on Sunday morning, and he plans to be at White Hart Lane on Sunday to address the players before the Bolton match.


Tottenham is a club that has massively underachieved this year - to be sitting there with two points and, let's be honest, in a real desperate situation, a relegation battle

Harry Redknapp
"I am a big follower of the history of the game and Tottenham have been a great club over the years," Redknapp added on 5 Live.

"I followed Tottenham, I trained there as an 11-year-old, 12-year-old so I know the history of the club. It is a big, big, club.

"It is a club that has massively underachieved this year - to be sitting there with two points and, let's be honest, in a real desperate situation, a relegation battle.

"There's a lot of quality players there that obviously haven't done as well as they should have done. You don't end up with two points from eight games if you're doing what you should be doing.

"So they need to start performing as I know they can. Whether it's confidence or whatever, it's up to me to go in and try to get the best out of them players."

Redknapp said first-team coach Joe Jordan and Tony Adams, the assistant manager, would be in charge of Portsmouth for Sunday's match against Fulham at Fratton Park.