Spurred to succeed
Last updated: 23rd January 2008
Ramos: culture shock at Spurs
Everyone involved with the club has to convince themselves that we deserve more, we have to be ambitious and say: 'We are going to take that step forward.'
Juande Ramos
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New Tottenham boss Juande Ramos told Revista de la Liga he wants to change the mentality at White Hart Lane.
In an exclusive interview with Revista's Guillem Balague, the former Sevilla coach explained he wants the club to become more ambitious because Spurs have the potential to be a top team.
He admits his short-term aims are to finish as high up the Premier League table as possible and he also has eyes on winning the Carling Cup, Uefa Cup and FA Cup - but he feels staff and supporters need to realise that they "deserve more".
He said: "Our short-term objective is to save the season because the situation we encountered upon arrival at the club was very complicated with the club in the relegation zone following a poor run.
"We seem to have overcome the period of anxiety that we were going through and we are situated in mid table. We still have roughly half a season left to try and climb up the league table.
Goals
"We are fighting for three cups and want to progress as far as possible. Those are our short-term goals.
"In the medium term I think a club like Tottenham has tremendous potential. My decision to come to England was motivated by the fact that I was convinced that I was joing a club that had potential.
"Everyone involved with the club has to convince themselves that we deserve more, we have to be ambitious and say: 'We are going to take that step forward.'
"The club has potential to achieve this. Once this mindset has been achieved we can look to the long term."
Guillem also asked Ramos whether he felt like a manager or a coach since his arrival in the Premier League.
Ramos replied: "I feel like a coach because when I arrived here decisions had already been made. The squad had been assembled and the structure of the club was totally established.
"The season was already underway. I was very happy with the squad that we have here and we have to move forward with that group of players and try to get the best level of performance out of the players."
Culture shock
Ramos also explained he had experienced a culture shock since his arrival in England, particularly in terms of training methods, which are very different to what he was used to in Spain.
"What surprised me was the culture at the club," he said.
"I knew of Tottenham as a big club with great traditions, and being at the club has confirmed those expectations, but like I say the culture was a surprise - the timetables, the training sessions and the meals.
"Only being part of the club have I come to realise the huge cultural differences that there are between one country and another.
"It's more to do with the way things are done. For example in Spain, and not just at Sevilla, when we had a double training session we would have one in the morning like we do here, then we would eat, rest and return for the second training session at four or five o'clock in the evening.
"It was a surprise to me that just after finishing their lunch at one or two o'clock the players wanted to go straight out to train but that's what we did.
"We took the second training session at 2pm. I could not understand how an athlete who had just eaten with a full stomach could be in the right condition to work."
