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FourFourTwo
FourFourTwo
Sport
Ryan Dabbs

'Alan Sugar said, ‘Ring Alex Ferguson – he knows everyone’. He didn’t know much about him, either. I told Sugar, but he went ahead and hired him anyway': Ex-Tottenham executive on mistake of appointing Christian Gross

15 Aug 1998: Christian Gross the manager of Spurs watching the action against Wimbledon in the FA Carling Premiership at Selhurst Park in Tottenham, England.. \ The score was Wimbledon 3-1 Spurs. \ Mandatory Credit: Laurence Griffiths /Allsport.

Tottenham Hotspur had just 13 points from their first 14 games of the 1997/98 Premier League season when Gerry Francis was sacked, and chairman Alan Sugar wanted to make a left-field appointment to turn the club's fortunes around.

Seeking the advice of Tottenham's former manager David Pleat, Sugar wanted to learn more about two-time Swiss Super League winner Christian Gross. Pleat, though, knew little of the Swiss manager who had had success with Grasshopper in 1995 and 1996.

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