The story of Martin Jol’s sacking at Tottenham is remembered perhaps more widely than any memory of his popular three-year tenure, sadly.
The Dutchman was sacked before a UEFA Cup match against Getafe and yet was marched out at White Hart Lane that night. Fans chanted his name and aimed protests at Daniel Levy as the news circled around the stadium.
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According to a 2008 article in The Guardian, Levy had courted Jol’s eventual replacement Juande Ramos several months before the change was made, and a new story from the man who succeeded the Spaniard details another occasion when the Spurs chairman tried to stick a knife in the back of Jol.
Speaking to BBC Sport’s Peter Crouch podcast, Harry Redknapp revealed that Levy offered him the Spurs job in the midst of Jol’s reign, two years before the 73-year-old left Portsmouth to clean up the mess left by Ramos.
“Everything’s done behind closed doors,” he told the Peter Crouch podcast. “I was offered the job at Tottenham two years before I took it.
“Martin Jol was the manager. I said it wasn’t the right time, I didn’t want to take it. The second time, the day I went to meet Daniel Levy I wasn’t going to take it.
“I was so happy at Portsmouth, loved my time there. But then I spoke to my chief executive at Portsmouth who said we were getting £5m in compensation and the Russian owner was well pleased. It made my mind up for me.”
Jol did oversee our worst start to a league campaign in 19 years but his demise was being plotted long before this. He deserved better.
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