Levy: Some truth in Jol rumours

Spurs chairman still backing manager

By Lewis Rutledge   Last updated: 28th September 2007

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Jol: Levy support

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Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has admitted there may have been an 'element of truth' behind the speculation over Martin Jol's future, but has backed the Dutchman to cope with the pressure and turn around the club's flagging fortunes.

Spurs' poor start to the season led to reports that Sevilla coach Juande Ramos was being lined up to replace Jol in the White Hart Lane hotseat.

Levy has come out on more than one occasion to publicly back his manager, and has once again stressed that most of the stories about Jol's future were nonsense.

"Obviously with any speculation sometimes there's an element of truth, but there has been a lot of stuff that's been written in the papers which has just been completely untrue," Levy told the Friday Football Show on Setanta Sports.

Pressure

Tottenham were expected to challenge for a UEFA Champions League spot this term, having finished fifth for the past two years.

They are currently in the bottom three but Levy remains hungry for success and claims it would be wrong to lower his sights to take the strain off Jol.

"I think it's inevitable with the quality of players we have in this squad that when we're not performing on the pitch there's bound to be speculation," he said.

"I've made it very clear that I very much want Martin to succeed, Martin is fully aware of our ambition, he also has got ambition - he just needs to get the results.

"I think we're all fairly thick-skinned if I'm honest, I just think Martin and the players need to ignore the outside pressure and just win, and that's what it's all about."

Jol won't rush King

Ledley King's absence following knee surgery has not helped Tottenham, but Jol refuses to rush his skipper back.

He does not want to set a comeback date for the defender after last season, when his foot problems dragged on for longer than expected.

"He is progressing," said Jol. "I cannot push him.

"He is not doing everything (in training). He is not doing the overloading, the one-v-ones, the sprints. He is doing the normal work."