The Manager: Juande Ramos
With a playing career stretching through 6 different clubs across Spain, Ramos' career began as a midfielder in 1973 at Elche C.F. He retired from his playing career at the early age of 28 due to a serious knee injury.
Juande Ramos' first managerial position of note was with Spanish side Espanyol in 2002, where he managed only 5 games, 4 of which were defeats.
Following the disappointment of Espanyol, Juande Ramos continued his voyage through Spain; next stop Second Division side Malaga. This time the results were a little bit more pleasing, with 15 wins, 14 draws and 9 defeats in the one season stint he served with Malaga.
In 2005 Juande Ramos was named the new manager of Sevilla. This was to kick start his managerial career, beating Middlesbrough in the UEFA Cup Final and thrashing European Champions and reigning La Liga Champions Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup final 3-0 in only his first season at the club.
Ramos' third season in charge at Sevilla was to be filled with rife and speculation, being linked to both positions at Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in close succession. Speculation with Manchester City was quickly denied, with Sven-Goran Eriksson eventually taking the hot-seat in June 2007.
In August 2007, press rumours surfaced that Ramos had turned down a “dizzying” offer from Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, and later told press that he wouldn’t leave Sevilla, seemingly ending rumours of Juande Ramos taking over the Spurs post.
25 October 2007, and Tottenham had just been on the wrong side of a 3-2 defeat at the hands, ironically, of Spanish side Getafe in the UEFA Cup, after being 2-0 up at half-time. As a result, Jol was sacked as manager and Juande Ramos became firm favourite to take over.
Merely hours after the sacking of Martin Jol, Spurs bound Juande Ramos resigned as Sevilla boss on the 26th October, and took the reigns at White Hart Lane soon after.
The job could not have been harder for Juande Ramos, having to rebuild team morale after finding themselves sitting in the dangerous depths of the relegation zone. This was going to be no easy task.
Ramos started well, slowly dragging Tottenham back up the table, and subsequently reaching the semi-final of the Carling Cup where they ended a nine-year voodoo over fierce rivals Arsenal, with a 6-2 aggregate thrashing.
The fun wasn’t over yet for Ramos, fellow Londoners Chelsea where the only thing standing between Tottenham and silverware. Juande Ramos got the taste of voodoo-breaking and helped himself to more, and ended Tottenham’s 9 year silverware drought with a 2-1 win in extra time which saw defender Jonathan Woodgate score his first goal for the club.
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