• Premier League

'Tottenham care more about money than titles'

Juande Ramos is angry that he took the blame for Damien Comolli's mistakes © Getty Images

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Tottenham have been accused of being more interested in making money than winning trophies by their former manager Juande Ramos.

Ramos, now in charge of Ukrainian side Dnipro, led Spurs to their first major trophy since 1999 when he claimed League Cup glory over Chelsea in 2008, but claims his tenure was blighted by the approach of club chairman Daniel Levy.

He told the Daily Mail: "Spurs sold Gareth Bale in the summer and with the £86 million they have signed five or six players. They will see if any of those players take off and then maybe sell them on and reinvest: that's the business plan.

"It works well but you have to ask the question: what are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to win money or titles? The sporting side is the priority at Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea.

"City sign Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo. They don't look at the age of the player, they look at the performances. Spurs look at the age, thinking of a future sale.

"I advised them to sign Luka Modric. He spent a couple of years developing and started performing well and they sold him.

"Why aren't Spurs going to win the league? Because they are always a small step below those three or four teams. Economically it works well but in sporting terms it needs a slight tuning. What are you chasing? Titles or economic success?"

Ramos was appointed Tottenham manager in October 2007 but was replaced by Harry Redknapp 12 months later.

He will be reunited with the club when Dnipro face Spurs in the Europa League in a two-legged last-32 tie this month and has reopened old wounds in advance.

Ramos says the former technical director, Damien Comolli, should have shouldered the blame for what were seen as his failures and claims the influence of poor diet and mischievous agents were major problems.

"The two strikers that I asked for were Samuel Eto'o and David Villa. But we were left with Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko," Ramos said.

"We started the league and we couldn't beat anyone; we couldn't score a goal under a rainbow and in the eighth week I'm gone.

"The only honourable thing Levy did was that he knew Comolli had made the signings and so he sacked him, too. If he had blamed the signings on me, Comolli would have carried on."

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail also reports Tottenham are keen to tie Hugo Lloris and Jan Vertonghen down with new deals, although agreeing extensions could depend on Spurs qualifying for the Champions League; the club currently fifth in the table.

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