March 16 – George’s White Hart Pain
BASED purely on the facts it would seem like a strange thing to do for a club to sack the manager who had won them their first trophy in the best part of a decade; but in football, facts are only ever half the story.
Today in 2001 George Graham was given the boot as Tottenham Hotspur manager after two and a half years in charge, bringing an end to a marriage that never looked a good fit.
Graham was a talented manager but after spending 16 years at Spurs’ hated rivals Arsenal as a player and then manager he was seen as a Gunner through and through – especially because he had brought trophies aplenty to Highbury and laid the foundations for the club’s future success under Arsene Wenger.
Graham’s Gunners reign was not brought to an end by on-field matters and it only ended when he was sacked after it was revealed he had taken a bung – the feeling remained that although his official ties with the Highbury club had been severed, his emotional ones never would be.
He was appointed as Spurs boss by Sir Alan Sugar in 1998 after the disastrous reign of Swiss London Underground enthusiast Christian Gross and George quickly stabilised the club, banishing any relegation fears that lingered during Gross’s tenure.
In his first season it looked like his old Midas touch for trophy accumulation that had served him so well at Arsenal might have followed him across London when he led the team to a League Cup triumph over Leicester City. It was Spurs first silverware since they won the FA Cup in 1991.
Despite his impressive previous record, winning a trophy and generally steadying the good ship White Hart Lane, the supporters just could not bring themselves to like Graham, always distrusting him because of his Arsenal connections.
While he was doing fairly well with the team an uneasy truce allowed the relationship to continue but by 2001, and with Spurs now under new ownership and Daniel Levy’s control, things began to unravel.
Graham had a meeting with with club’s new owners where he was told he would be getting pretty much naff-all to spend in the transfer market at the end of the season. Being a seasoned operator George decided to use that old trick of whining about this to the media in the hope of forcing the board’s tight-fisted hands to loosen up a bit.
This was seemingly just the excuse the new regime had been looking for to give Graham the the old heave-ho and they sacked him for breach of contract.
Despite being linked with a host of jobs since leaving Spurs Graham has probably decided he can’t be bothered with all the hassle and now spends his Sunday afternoons offering dull tactical insights into the less important matches Sky choose to cover.
Meanwhile Tottenham, as if to expunge any memory of having an Arsenal man as their manager, appointed proper, bona fide Lilywhites through and through legend Glenn Hoddle as their new man in charge. During his two and a half years in charge he won one less trophy than Graham (i.e. none) and never finished higher than ninth in the league. Ah progress.
More managerial merry go-round madness tomorrow folks so come back then to check it out.
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