Arnesen tells Spurs to pick Jol as manager

Tottenham's new sporting director, Frank Arnesen, has recommended his Dutch compatriot Martin Jol for the managerial vacancy at White Hart Lane.

Tottenham's new sporting director, Frank Arnesen, has recommended his Dutch compatriot Martin Jol for the managerial vacancy at White Hart Lane.

Arnesen is pushing the claims of the RKC Waalwijk coach as the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, waits to find out if the Celtic manager, Martin O'Neill, is willing to take on the challenge. Jol is highly respected in the Netherlands, but ambitious to return to England, where he was a player with West Bromwich and Coventry. Only a few months ago he was interviewed for the No 2 job at Manchester United.

Arnesen, who is moving from PSV Eindhoven, knows Jol well as RKC are based close to his own club. Their defiant performances in the last few years have been put down to Jol's tactical and motivational skills.

Spurs are still hoping that O'Neill, their first choice to replace David Pleat, will leave Celtic after the Scottish Cup final on Saturday. However, there have been false dawns with him before and the Irishman is notoriously elusive.

Arnesen has good contacts in Europe and is capable of reeling off the names of the best up and coming coaches in the business. The fact that he favours Jol is a recommendation in itself, and RKC are anxiously awaiting an official call from Spurs.

Arnesen said yesterday that he was not daunted by the challenge of trying to make a Continental-style management structure work successfully in the Premiership.

"I have been doing a similar role at PSV for 10 years," he said. "I worked with Sir Bobby Robson in a similar structure at PSV. But even when I was a player and then a coach and general manager, I realised you have to work as a team to be successful. Such a structure can work in the Premiership. The challenge will be to make it a success."

b>THE LINK TO TOTTENHAM RUMOURED MANAGERS

2003

9 Sep Graeme Souness

12 Dec Alan Curbishley

2004

6 Feb Roberto Mancini

6 Feb Giovanni Trappatoni

22 Feb Raddy Antic

25 Feb Gordon Strachan

17 May Peter Taylor

Claudio Ranieri

18 May Martin O'Neill

19 May Martin Jol