Paul McCarthy told the Sunday Supplement that Martin Jol is fighting a losing battle at Spurs.
Sunday Supplement
Martin Jol may have picked up his first Premier League victory, but according to Paul McCarthy, he can't win.
The 4-0 drubbing of Derby may have had the Spurs boss smiling on Saturday, but come Sunday morning the papers were talking about his replacement at White Hart Lane.
A delegation from the north London club have reportedly met with highly-rated Sevilla coach Juande Ramos, and the News of the World believes "civil war" has broken out and that Jol's position "is untenable".
And as its sports editor, McCarthy has no doubt that whatever happens on the field, off it the Spurs boss heading for the ultimate loss.
"The whole situation at Spurs is set up to work against the manager," he told
The Supplement.
"Daniel Levy, the chairmam has brought in a structure with a sporting director, Damien Comolli, and he is convinced this is the right thing to have in place - the continental approach.
"And it has caused civil war at White Hart Lane because Jol has to answer to Comolli who's got the chairman's ear. The way they see it now is the sporting director will always remain and the coach is replacable.
"There has been questioning of Jol's tactics and selections and Jol in turn has questioned Comolli's buys. He thinks they have not been up the standard of Spurs and while they spent big in the summer, he feels they've brought players in areas they didn't need to.
"They paid an over-inflated price for Darren Bent but they still have that problem down that left-hand side."
The Sunday papers claim that despite the impressive display against Derby, Jol has six games to save himself.
As harsh as it seems, McCarthy believes it is something that Premier League managers will always have to contend with as Premier League clubs adopt the traditional European set-up behind the scenes.
And he says that Jol's precarious position will soon become the norm as directors of football and sporting directors become commonplace.
"The problem for Martin Jol is he will always be the loser in this because Levy has put in place this structure," said McCarthy.
"He's got who he wants in place and it will be Jol, not Comolli, who goes.
"It's the chairman's prerogative. Levy likes to present himself as a forward-thinking guy, he's looked at the continental system that, throughout Europe works a treat.
"But in England we have almost a mental block where the coach must be the manager and he must be in charge of everything. But unfortunately now there's too much for one man to do."
