Former assistant and player Gus Poyet has told that Tottenham’s decision to keep hold of star Dimitar Berbatov until the final hours of the 2008 transfer window didn’t help him or manager Juande Ramos.
The Bulgarian striker was highly sought after in the summer of 2008 after returning a fine 23 goals and 14 assists in 52 matches in all competitions during the 2007-08 campaign.
However, Spurs managed to retain his services throughout June, July and even August and the new Premier League season was already three matches in before Berbatov left for Manchester United in a £30.75million deal on September 1.
Tottenham themselves had just splashed out £14million to bring in Roman Pavlyuchenko two days beforehand and while Poyet now accepts it was the right decision to sack both himself and Ramos he has told that the club didn’t help with their handling of the Berbatov situation.
“It was a tough time for me, it was the first time I was sacked and it wasn’t nice, but you learn from it and I think it was the right decision,” told Poyet in an interview with FourFourTwo.
“Seeing where Spurs are now, you have to believe that. Why try to make excuses? The only problem is, they need to win another trophy, because their last one was won by Ramos, and until they do, Ramos is in the history of the club.
“I must say, though, the Berbatov situation didn’t help us. He wanted to leave Spurs in May but the club refused to let him go until the last day of the transfer window. [Shrugs] What can you do?”
Tottenham started the 2008-09 season in dire form under both Ramos and Poyet, failing to win any of their first eight league matches.
It wasn’t until both Ramos and Poyet were sacked that the team finally won a game and they went on a run of three wins a draw following the pairs departure.
Since then Tottenham have undergone huge progression under each of Harry Redknapp and Muaricio Pochettino and finished as Premier League runners-up last season, while Poyet is now managing in China with Ramos out of work following his resignation from Malaga in December.