Statement from Levy...

These days all the clubs make provisions for the termination of key staff - they learn't their lesson after it cost Liverpool near on $40 million of those British Pounds to get shut of Houllier and the rest of his back team staff.

Talking of Houllier - he is available you know

LONDON EVENING STANDARD headline......
Shameful Spurs climbdown sees Jol safe for now as Ramos rejects overtures
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Headlines and articles like these in the coming days and weeks prompted me to think of the other Board members who are probably neutral or pro-Jol. What will they be thinking now? I believe these guys are Keith Mills, David Buchler and Mervyn Davies. Have these guys had their noses put out of place? Do they feel disenfranchised? What do thet make of this whole fiasco and our good name being dragged through the mud?

Sorry to carry on about this issue, but it's gnawing away at me for the last 48 hours. I can't help thinking that Levy has done irreparable damage to his and the club's reputation and may well soon be feeling huge pressure himself.

Please tell me to shut the feck up on this whole matter and I will. I think I need a drink!

You keep firing of as much as you like mate, that's what forums like this are for. You speak a lot more sense than the people sat in the hot seats at WHL.

Ezza - the Daily Mail is reporting that the 3 board members you mentioned are all pro-Jol and didn't want him sacked.

However, as Levy (through ENIC) now owns 80% of the shares after buying Sugar out completely, I don't think it particularly matters what they think.

Maybe I'm succumbing to the tabloids, but I see Kelmsley (sp?) as the villain in all this. He has Levy's ear and he's obviously pouring anti-Jol poison into it.

It's been an emotional 48 hours. I need a drink or two tonight.

ezza wrote:

If you were one of the Board members who disapprove of BMJ (the press would have us believe it's Comoli, Kemsley and Alexander), what would your next move be? You've probably told Levy in no uncertain terms that you have no confidence in BMJ and he should go. You've been caught on camera courting an alternative manager (effectively laid your cards on the table and made your intentions crystal clear). That alternative has now decided to stay put. In addition, your Chairman of the Board has failed to sack the person you disapprove of and publicly supported that person (albeit with a condition to deliver CL football this season) against your collective advise.

What would you do? Would you be fuming with Levy for not taking on board your recommendations? I know many Board directors would be well pissed off.

And in circumstances like these, Board room splits become wider not narrower (I know from experience). Don't be surprised if the above mentioned Directors start making moves behind the scenes to have Levy removed in the long run, irrespective of CL being delivered or not. We're talking about guys with massive egos at this level. And if you're slighted at board room level you either resign or you take over.

This saga has a LONG way to run.

Except that Levy / ENIC now control 80% of shares ! He can pretty much do what he likes. If you are a Board Director you don't cut off your nose...

Janek wrote:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/tottenham/article2303091.ece

Interesting point made in the Times article that the club accountants have already made provision for Jol's GBP4m pay off. Also states that if they can't get Ramos, they'll go for Mark Hughes. Further, talk about rifts over Mido, which explains the odd events last January when he was all set to move to Man City before he scored at the Emirates in the League Cup Semi. The board obviously backed Jol on that occasion.

It is an extraordinary turn of events. Spurs have been caught chatting up another manager, who has turned them down, so they have to go back to Jol and back him, for the time being. So humiliating. Remember this is the same board that spent most of 2003/4 courting various managers when Pleat was caretaker. I've read in many places that they had agreed a deal with Trappatoni to be manager and Hughes to be his assistant, but Trap's wife decided at the last minute that she didn't want to live in England, so he went to Benfica instead (I think). So they got the disastrous Santini instead.

Make no mistake, Jol will be out by the Arsenal home game unless he gets 4 points from the next two games. If he doesn't get that number of points, CL football looks beyond us and last night in the club statement he said that this was the aim (albeit he said this with a gun to his head).

Levy is a ruthless b*stard. Also a clever b*stard, as he has a first class degree from Cambridge University, in economics. He doesn't seem to have any qualifications in decency mind.

My box holder friend told me over the weekend that Levy had demanded at least a top 4 finish this season (now kind of confirmed by the official statement), but i'm thinking the same as you Jane K, if the team don't perform against Man U or Arsenal, its likely he might go earlier, the statement almost seems like a justification in advance. "well we did say we were ambitious and jol wasn't performing" so now we can sack him..

GDG, i also agree with your boardroom split theory, but I think it was more about the handling of the whole affair and the timing of the sacking rather than whether Jol should go. All the leaks seem to suggest that Jol does not have much boardroom support.

I think it hasn't been handled well, but to me it hasn't damaged our Club's rep long term. In fact I see it as Levy and the board being ruthless but meaning business..ok 3 games in seems early, but i think doubts were cast last season so they opted to make a move early on in the season.....

we are tabloid fodder at the mo, but they will move on..........I feel for Jol, lets hope the team pull out 2 great performances to buy him some time.......

COYS!!!!