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On This Day: Tottenham Hotspur appoint Jacques Santini as head coach

On This Day: Tottenham appoint Jacques Santini as head coach
© Reuters
Spurs announced the appointment of France boss Jacques Santini before Euro 2004.

On June 3, 2004 Tottenham announced that France coach Jacques Santini would become their new manager after the Euros that summer.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at his appointment and what happened next.

Pioneer of French football

Santini had been France manager between 2002 and 2004
Santini had been France manager between 2002 and 2004 (Nick Potts/PA)

Santini was little known in England, but he had a great reputation in France after helping to turn Lyon into the country's best team. He took over from Roger Lemerre as manager of the national team in 2002, given the task of rebuilding after the golden generation that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 had broken up. However, before Euro 2004, where France lost in the quarter-finals to Greece, Santini had already quit his post, with Spurs enticing him to the Premier League.

Spurs' search for success

Santini was the man Spurs chose to take them to the next leve
Santini was the man Spurs chose to take them to the next level (Sean Dempsey/PA)

Spurs had been in the doldrums for the best part of 15 years as a host of managers had failed to finish higher than seventh in the Premier League. They had big ambitions under Daniel Levy and looked abroad for the man to replace Glenn Hoddle. They tried to get Claudio Ranieri, who instead chose Valencia after his Chelsea sacking, so turned to Santini in a bid to earn a seat at the top table of English football.

155 days of chaos

Martin Jol took over at Spurs after Santini's hasty departur
Martin Jol took over at Spurs after Santini's hasty departure (Joel Ryan/PA)

Just 155 days later and after only 13 games, Spurs' Santini's experiment was over. The Frenchman quit on November 6 citing personal reasons, but it was widely understood that disagreements with sporting director Frank Arnesen led to his departure. In his short stay he still managed to create something of a legacy, though, as Spurs' tactics in a 0-0 draw at Chelsea led Jose Mourinho to coin the now famous phrase "parking the bus" phrase. Santini went on to manage Auxerre but has not worked since 2006, while Spurs appointed Martin Jol as his replacement and their climb up the Premier League began in earnest.

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CManchester CityMan City38275683325186
2Manchester UnitedMan Utd382111673442974
3Liverpool38209968422669
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5Leicester CityLeicester382061268501866
6West Ham UnitedWest Ham381981162471565
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs381881268452362
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12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle38129174662-1645
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14Crystal Palace38128184166-2544
15Southampton38127194768-2143
16Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton38914154046-641
17Burnley38109193355-2239
RFulham38513202753-2628
RWest Bromwich AlbionWest Brom38511223576-4126
RSheffield UnitedSheff Utd3872292063-4323

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