SOCCER Uefa Cup Group stage/Tottenham Hotspur 1 Getafe 2:Martin Jol and Tottenham Hotspur's torturous divorce was finally confirmed last night with the Dutchman agreeing a severance package at the club. He is to be replaced by the man courted by the Spurs board so brazenly in August, Sevilla's Juande Ramos, with the Premiership club hopeful the Sevilla coach can be unveiled here as early as next week.
The announcement came as Spurs lost tamely to Spanish outfit Getafe last night. Confirmation drifted through to the home support early in the second half here, those in the Park Lane stand bellowing Jol's name one final time and demanding a wave.
When it came, it was one of farewell as well as appreciation. The Dutchman's near three-year reign had seen two fifth-placed finishes but a dismal start to the new campaign and the chairman Daniel Levy's clear decision that he was no longer the man to lead Tottenham into the Champions League had undermined his position.
He will depart with a pay-off approaching €5.8 million given he had almost two years to run on his contract at the club and with one of the most impressive records of Spurs managers over the last 20 years. Yet Levy has been convinced to act by a pitiful opening to the domestic league campaign. They languish third bottom with a solitary win to their name.
Spurs hope to unveil Ramos alongside their former midfielder Gus Poyet, currently assisting Dennis Wise at Leeds United in League One, next week with indications from Spain suggesting progress was being made in negotiations between the clubs.
There had been an unease amid the murky evening drizzle prior to kick-off borne of Spurs' dire league predicament, their worst start to a season in 19 years, with the trepidation gripping the hosts' back-line from off-set.
Getafe, a side struggling as pitifully in their own domestic league, had fizzed passes around the slippery surface with glee. They might have led through both Braulio or Esteban Granero in the opening six minutes yet when they did pluck reward, it was to equalise rather than edge ahead.
The manner of their goal was suitably farcical. Granero's free-kick veered into the area with Ruben de la Red darting across the six-yard box and distracting Radek Cerny. The ball dribbled through with the midfielder claiming a touch and Jol, aghast on the touchline, was deflated.
That the concession had come just 90 seconds after Pascal Chimbonda and Dimitar Berbatov had combined to set up Jermain Defoe rather summed up Tottenham's predicament. Jol had embraced his goalkeeping coach Hans Segers and Chris Hughton, yet the brief ecstasy was merely cruel.
Steed Malbranque and Berbatov should have restored a lead as the Spaniards sat deeper thereafter though, increasingly, Spurs looked prone on the break. Braulio duly side-footed home David Cortes' centre and the hosts had been condemned to a first European defeat here in 22 years.
Coach Clive Allen is likely to pick the side for Sunday's visit of Blackburn Rovers should Ramos not be in place by then. That will hardly strike fear into one of the Premiership's form sides and this arena was echoing to abuse of Levy before the end.
TOTTENHAM:Cerny, Chimbonda, Kaboul, Gardner, Lee, Lennon, Huddlestone, Zokora, Malbranque, Berbatov, Defoe. Subs: Forecast, Tainio, Stalteri, Keane, Boateng, Dawson, Bent.
GETAFE:Ustari, Diaz, Belenguer, Signorino, Cortes, Granero, Nacho, Albin, Casquero, De la Red, Braulio. Subs: Abbondanzieri, Mario Cotelo, Sousa, Licht, Manu, Kepa, Juanfran.
Referee:Knut Kircher (Germany).
