October 25 – Jol’s Last Stand | On This Football Day

October 25 – Jol’s Last Stand

FANTASTICALLY wide ranging and descriptive though the English language can be, there are occasions when it falls short and emotions it cannot quite express succinctly.

Today I am forced to turn to the German language for the emotion Martin Jol must surely be feeling at present: Shardenfreude. It means to delight in the misfortune of others, with a hint of the ‘others’ getting their just desserts.

After being sacked as Spurs boss because of a poor start to the season in favour Juande Ramos, his successor has clocked up the worst start to a season for the club ever. Meanwhile Jol’s new team Hamburg are top of the Bundesliga.

After two very good seasons and consecutive fifth-placed finishes in the Premier League, Martin Jol’s Spurs side started the 2007/08 season in wretched form, despite heavy spending over the summer, and the tag of favourites to break into the top four monopoly.

They picked up just seven points from their opening ten games and rumours began to surface that the club were not happy and were making eyes at other potential coaches. Ramos was touted as the man the board had identified as the man to replace Jol.

In August Ramos let the cat out of the bag and said he had been offered the job over the summer but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy denied it and offered the dreaded vote of confidence to Jol.

Still the rumours persisted however, and things all came to a dramatic head on this day, when Getafe were in town to play a Uefa Cup tie at White Hart Lane.

Jol led the team out on to the pitch with the Star Wars theme tune accompanying their arrival and the game got underway in promising fashion for Spurs when Jermaine Defoe scored just 18 minutes in. Getafe equalised through Ruben de la Red just three minutes later and the teams went in all square at half time.

It was about this point in the night that rumours began to sweep around the ground that Jol had been sacked before the game had kicked off. As the match went on, with Getafe taking a lead they would not surrender, the news spread like wildfire that Jol had been given the boot by Levy and then taken charge of his team for one final hurrah.

Incredulous Spurs fans sang chorus after chorus of “Stand up for Martin Jol” to show their support for the popular Dutchman who stood on the touch line for the last time.

Many had thought the club had already treated Jol badly by sneaking off behind his back to court Ramos, but the way he was sacked and how it came out – right in the middle of a big European tie – was a new low for the board. It was reminiscent of when another great Tottenham manager, Keith Burkinshaw, left the club over disagreements with the board. As he left White Hart Lane he pointed over his shoulder to the stadium and said: “There used to be a football club there.”

Also on this day in football history, an unlikely figure was restoring Saturday night highlights to their proper time. We will be back tomorrow with a tale of a famous Manchester United defeat. Happy days.