Ajax rumours are just Jol-ly japes says Spurs manager
First Published: Feb 28, 2005
Martin Jol has moved to allay Spurs fans fears he might leave for the managerial post at struggling Dutch giants Ajax by saying his future belonged with the Premiership club.
Martin Jol has moved to allay Spurs fans fears he might leave for the managerial post at struggling Dutch giants Ajax by saying his future belonged with the Premiership club.
The Dutchman has turned Spurs season round since replacing former France coach Jacques Santini earlier this season and insisted he would be staying at Spurs instead of moving to Amsterdam to fill the void left by Ronald Koeman's resignation last Friday.
"It's not a big issue, my future is at Spurs, I'm satisfied here," said 48-year-old Jol, who was originally hired as Santini's assistant before taking over after the Frenchman resigned just 13 Premiership matches into the campaign.
"I might get sacked in two weeks' time and I would have to change my mind but the whole question of joining Ajax is just hypothetical," added the two-time Dutch coach of the year.
Jol was linked with the Ajax job after Johann Cruyff, who has been hired to find a new handler, said he had been impressed by the job Jol had done at Spurs in a short time.
Koeman opted to resign after Ajax was knocked out of the UEFA Cup last Thursday by French outfit Auxerre, they are also in a real dogfight for the second automatic Champions League spot as they are four points behind AZ Alkmaar.
Other candidates for probably the most glamorous but high risk jobs in Dutch football are Henk Ten Cate, Frank Rijkaard's assistant at Barcelona, and former Ajax favourite, Danny Blind.
Jol, who played in England with West Brom and Coventry, proved his ability in the Netherlands by guiding Roda JC to their first trophy in 30 years before moving to RKC Waalwijk, whom he transformed from relegation contenders in 1999 to challengers for European qualification.
He won Dutch coach of the year awards in both 2000 and 2001 and then spurned managerial positions in Holland to join Tottenham last summer.
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