Ex-Tottenham Hotspur chairman Lord Sugar believes he would have witnessed Champions League football during his era, if ex-manager Christian Gross was given the same transfer budget that Spurs had last summer. Following last night’s humiliating 4-0 defeat at title-chasing Chelsea, the 66-year-old heavily criticised the way in which Spurs spent almost 100million in pre-season.
The north London club had the significant amount of money to spend after selling winger Gareth Bale to La Liga giants Real Madrid for a world record fee in excess of 85m and made a string of foreign purchases.
However, the likes of 30m club record signing Erik Lamela and 26m striker Roberto Soldado have failed to impress in their first season in English football, while other summer arrivals have struggled to integrate. Sugar’s comments on social media site Twitter were met with a mixed response, but he took exception to one follower who claimed his judgement could not be trusted because he appointed much-maligned Swiss manager Christian Gross as Spurs boss in 1997.
He was viewed as a failure after leading Tottenham to 14th place in the Premier League table and losing his job after nine months.
However, Sugar said: “If Gross had 100m to spend sensibly we would be in the Champions League. ”
Read more Tottenham Hotspur transfer news.
