ExcellentDude
Banned
- Jul 21, 2008
- 60
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The Sevilla president, José María del Nido, has accused the Tottenham Hotspur hierarchy of being "hypocrisy personified" over their complaints against Liverpool and Manchester United for what the London club perceive to have been a public and illegal courting of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.
Spurs submitted a complaint to the Premier League with their chairman, Daniel Levy, claiming that the behaviour of both clubs had been "disgraceful" in their pursuit of the players.
But Del Nido was outraged to learn of Tottenham's sense of grievance as Sevilla are still smarting after losing their manager, Juande Ramos, to Spurs in controversial circumstances last autumn. "I think it is hypocrisy personified that Spurs are complaining about things they themselves have done," said Del Nido."They took away our manager. I think Tottenham's style is demonstrated by the way they contracted Juande Ramos."
Ramos was photographed at a Sevilla hotel visited by a delegation of Tottenham officials last August. He denied meeting the group from the London club at the time but, after being shown the photographs, claimed he had been meeting friends. Spurs denied that they were looking to replace their manager Martin Jol at the time, though the Dutchman was sacked in October and replaced by Ramos. Relations between Sevilla and Ramos are strained, with each suing the other. "Sevilla have a claim against Juande and Juande has a claim against us and it is being dealt with in the courts of our city," said Del Nido. "It is not a case for Fifa, only for the normal courts. It has nothing to do with Tottenham - just Sevilla and Juande."
Levy expressed his frustration last month at the prospect of losing both Keane and Berbatov. Tottenham have since accepted an apology from Rafael Benítez, with a donation also made to charity, and sanctioned Keane's move to Liverpool for an initial £19m, though their dispute with United remains ongoing.
The legacy of Sevilla's anger at losing Ramos is frustrating Tottenham's attempts to sign their highly rated winger Diego Capel - a £12.5m offer has been rejected, despite meeting a buy-out clause in the player's contract - with the Spanish club suggesting that they would have accepted such an offer from any club apart from Spurs.
Martin Jol, meanwhile, cranked up the pressure on Ramos last night by suggesting that his replacement should be expected to secure a top-four finish after spending heavily in the transfer market this summer. With David Bentley and Luca Modric already recruited at a combined cost of £33.5m, Jol believes there can be no excuses for Ramos failing to achieve success next season. "It's a different philosophy. I think they have to break into the top four now," he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/02/tottenhamhotspur.premierleague
Spurs submitted a complaint to the Premier League with their chairman, Daniel Levy, claiming that the behaviour of both clubs had been "disgraceful" in their pursuit of the players.
But Del Nido was outraged to learn of Tottenham's sense of grievance as Sevilla are still smarting after losing their manager, Juande Ramos, to Spurs in controversial circumstances last autumn. "I think it is hypocrisy personified that Spurs are complaining about things they themselves have done," said Del Nido."They took away our manager. I think Tottenham's style is demonstrated by the way they contracted Juande Ramos."
Ramos was photographed at a Sevilla hotel visited by a delegation of Tottenham officials last August. He denied meeting the group from the London club at the time but, after being shown the photographs, claimed he had been meeting friends. Spurs denied that they were looking to replace their manager Martin Jol at the time, though the Dutchman was sacked in October and replaced by Ramos. Relations between Sevilla and Ramos are strained, with each suing the other. "Sevilla have a claim against Juande and Juande has a claim against us and it is being dealt with in the courts of our city," said Del Nido. "It is not a case for Fifa, only for the normal courts. It has nothing to do with Tottenham - just Sevilla and Juande."
Levy expressed his frustration last month at the prospect of losing both Keane and Berbatov. Tottenham have since accepted an apology from Rafael Benítez, with a donation also made to charity, and sanctioned Keane's move to Liverpool for an initial £19m, though their dispute with United remains ongoing.
The legacy of Sevilla's anger at losing Ramos is frustrating Tottenham's attempts to sign their highly rated winger Diego Capel - a £12.5m offer has been rejected, despite meeting a buy-out clause in the player's contract - with the Spanish club suggesting that they would have accepted such an offer from any club apart from Spurs.
Martin Jol, meanwhile, cranked up the pressure on Ramos last night by suggesting that his replacement should be expected to secure a top-four finish after spending heavily in the transfer market this summer. With David Bentley and Luca Modric already recruited at a combined cost of £33.5m, Jol believes there can be no excuses for Ramos failing to achieve success next season. "It's a different philosophy. I think they have to break into the top four now," he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/02/tottenhamhotspur.premierleague
