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Jamie Redknapp has issued an apology to Lord Sugar after The Apprentice star sensationally threatened to sue over comments made by the Sky Sports pundit about his tenure as Spurs chairman.
Redknapp, once an England international, claimed during coverage of his former club Tottenham's trip to West Ham last month that Sugar, who spent 10 years in north London ending in 2001, left the club 'in a mess'.
'Whoever takes over,' he said at the time, when Sky Sports' experts were discussing Daniel Levy's departure from the club.
'You think back to how Alan Sugar left the club, it was a complete mess - Daniel Levy has left this club in a really good way and Vinai will know that and the people in charge now can look at this club and really believe that this can go forward.'
His comments sparked an incredibly angry response from Sugar, who threatened to sue both the pundit and Sky Sports in a series of posts on X, as well as dubbing Redknapp 'a double barrel idiot'.
'He talks a load of rubbish,' Sugar's response added, 'He said when Daniel Levy took over Spurs Alan Sugar left the club in a right mess. He and SKY will be hearing from my lawyers Monday @redknapp'
Now, almost a month after his claims about about Sugar, Redknapp has issued a formal apology. Speaking on Friday Night Football live on Sky Sports tonight, the 52-year-old 'set the record straight'.
'I mentioned that Lord Sugar had the left the club in a mess,' Redknapp said during coverage of Bournemouth's clash with Fulham.
'I just want to make clear that he stabilised the club and invested heavily during his time as chairman.
'When he took over in 1991, Spurs were close to bankruptcy and by the time he stepped away the financial position had been turned around.
'He also put significant money into the team and facilities. I apologise to Lord Sugar and his family for any misunderstanding and for any distress caused, and am happy to set the record straight.'
Having seen the apology, The Apprentice star Sugar took to X once again.
He posted: 'On 13th September Jamie Redknapp stated on Sky Sports that I left Tottenham 'in a mess' when I sold the club to Daniel Levy.
'Tonight during Sky's Bournemouth v Fulham coverage, Redknapp has made a full apology and retracted this false allegation. Also, by way of a further apology, a donation of £10,000 has been made to Great Ormond Street Hospital.'
Former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has reportedly been targeted by two European giants as he seeks a return to management.
Postecoglou was sacked by Tottenham at the end of last season despite winning the Europa League, ending the club's 17-year trophy drought.
The Australian, however, had presided over a dismal domestic campaign which saw the club finish 17th in the Premier League.
Postecoglou, according to Fabrizio Romano, could soon be in line for a return to the dugout.
He has reportedly been discussed by both Bayer Leverkusen and Fenerbahce as the two clubs search for a new head coach.
Leverkusen sacked former Man United boss Erik ten Hag on Monday, after just two Bundesliga matches in charge.
The German giants had lost their opening match of the season 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim, before throwing away a 3-1 lead against 10-man Werder Bremen to draw 3-3 on Saturday.
Ten Hag did lead the club a 4-0 win over fourth tier side SG in the German Cup, but it proved to be his sole competitive victory in charge.
Postecoglou would have the chance to coach in the Champions League again should he be offered the Leverkusen job, with the club set to face FC Copenhagen, PSV, PSG, Benfica, Man City and Newcastle in the league phase.
Fenerbahce are also searching for a new head coach following their decision to part ways with another former Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho was sacked last week after Fenerbache's failure to qualify for the Champions League, with his side losing to Benfica in the playoffs.
Fenerbahce will compete in the Europa League this season, offering Postecoglou the chance to win the competition for the second successive campaign.
Postecoglou has previously been linked with a move to to the MLS to manage Los Angeles FC, while he was reportedly approached by Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli, who won the AFC Champions League in May.
Last month, Postecoglou was seen relaxing on the Greek island of Paros with a clip showing him dining at Sta Kala Kathoumena, which is owned by celebrity chef Stefanos Saratsis.
Follow Mail Sport's live blog of Tottenham against Bayern Munich as Harry Kane could make a return to face his former club.
Tottenham have agreed a deal worth around £55million for West Ham winger Mohammed Kudus, Mail Sport understands.
The 24-year-old is expected to have his medical at Spurs on Thursday ahead of signing a long-term contract.
West Ham initially rejected a £50m bid for the Ghana international last week before talks continued.
Spurs identified Kudus as a top target for new boss Thomas Frank and have secured a deal for well below the winger’s £85m release clause that ran for the first 10 days of July.
Kudus’ move will see the breaking of an informal transfer embargo between the two sides who have not sold a player to each other in more than 10 years.
Once the deal goes through, he would become the first to transfer from one to the other since Scott Parker joined Spurs from West Ham in 2011.
Kudus, who joined West Ham from Ajax for £38m two years ago, scored five goals in the Premier League last season.
Spurs have shown interest in Brentford winger Bryan Mbeumo in a potential reunion with former Bees boss Frank, though it is believed the player would prefer a move to Manchester United.
The deal is expected to trigger West Ham’s activity in the transfer market to help fund Graham Potter’s desired rebuild.
Potter wants to lower the age of the West Ham squad, one of the oldest in the Premier League last season, and is prioritising a new striker, left-winger, a goalkeeper and extra legs in midfield.
The New York Red Bulls are in the process of negotiating a deal for German striker Timo Werner from sister club RB Leipzig.
Multiple sources confirmed to DailyMail.com that RBNY is in ongoing discussions with the 29-year-old striker, who has spent the last two seasons on loan with Tottenham Hotspur.
However, nothing has yet been finalized to secure a move stateside for the Stuttgart native just yet.
Werner is the all-time leading scorer for Die Roten Bullen. However, with the club currently possessing strikers like Benjamin Sesko (linked with various Premier League moves) and Lois Openda, Leipzig can afford to move on from the former Chelsea man.
As for New York, the club currently sits 7th in MLS’s Eastern Conference and 11th overall under the tutelage of head coach Sandro Schwarz.
The club has done well on the attacking end - bagging 30 goals (good for 7th in the league overall) behind a forward group featuring former Bayern striker Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting.
This potential move for Werner, first reported by Tom Boger, mirrors a similar move made before the 2024 season, when RBNY transferred attacking midfielder Emil Forsberg from Germany.
After moving to the Saxony-based club from VfB Stuttgart in 2016, Werner became a deadly force in Leipzig’s first years of top-flight German football - bagging 95 goals across 159 appearances in his first stint at the club.
He then made a big-money move to Chelsea - scoring 23 goals in 89 appearances over a period of instability at Stamford Bridge.
Werner returned to Leipzig in the 2022-23 season and played there for part of the 2023-24 season (adding 18 goals in 54 appearances to his total) before embarking on an 18-month loan spell at Tottenham. He scored three goals in 41 appearances for the north London club.
Ange Postecoglou secured Spurs' first trophy in 17 years on Wednesday night
But his future remains uncertain and Daniel Levy could still decide to sack him
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Ange Postecoglou appeared to hint he believes he will remain in charge of Tottenham next season after leading the club to Europa League glory.
Postecoglou delivered Spurs' first trophy in 17 years after the 1-0 victory against Manchester United in the tense final in Bilbao on Wednesday night.
However, his future remains mired in uncertainty and chairman Daniel Levy could still decide to sack the Australian despite him securing his place in Spurs folklore.
While delivering a speech during the open-top bus trophy parade on Friday, Postecoglou indicated he was hopeful of being given a third campaign at the helm.
Addressing the thousands of supporters outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the 59-year-old said: 'I told them and they laughed. I told them and they didn't believe.
'But here we are and we're here because of the unbelievable group of people, staff, heroes, led by the legend Son Heung-Min, Romero, Maddison and Vicario. All of them [are] heroes. They did it all for you. You deserve it. This club deserves it.
'I'll tell you something. All the best TV series, season three is better than season two.'
His message was greeted with a huge cheer from supporters and the players stood beside him - but the nervy wait for clarity over his position is set to go on.
Mail Sport revealed that Postecoglou's squad do not expect him to keep his job.
Postecoglou has one year remaining on his contract but Levy is thought to have already starting exploring alternatives, including Fulham boss Marco Silva.
Levy may decide to pull the trigger due to Spurs' woes in the Premier League.
Spurs are languishing in 17th in the table ahead of the final round of matches this Sunday, having taken just 38 points from their 37 games.
Damningly, only the three relegated top-flight sides - Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester - have lost more games than Postecoglou's side this season.
Many of Postecoglou's players appeared resigned to the head coach's fate despite beating United after Brennan Johnson's 42nd-minute strike. Indeed, most opted to dodge the issue, insisting it was a time to celebrate and not focus on the future.
Captain Son Heung-min came closest to saying Postecoglou deserved to stay.
'He won the trophy,' said Son in Spain. 'Nobody did it, so… Look, it's not up to me or the players, but we just have to look at the fact we haven't won anything in 17 years, and today is the day we have finally won it. It's the manager who wins the trophy.
'So we see what's going to happen.'
Sir Alex Ferguson looked disgusted with Manchester United after their abject loss to Tottenham in the Europa League final, new footage shows.
Ruben Amorim's side put in a limp performance on Wednesday to compound an already miserable season.
The Red Devils sit in a lowly 16th place with just one Premier League fixture remaining and they won't compete in any European competition next season for just the second time in 35 years.
Tens of thousands of United fans travelled to Bilbao in the hope of ending their season with some silverware but they were left disappointed as Brennan Johnson's effort gave Spurs their first trophy in 17 years.
Sir Alex Ferguson was also in attendance at the San Mames Stadium in the directors' box and was sat next to co-owner Jim Ratcliffe and Avram Glazer.
United's most succesful manager ever, who famously said 'Lads it's Tottenham' to motivate his side against the north Londoners, appeared appalled after the full-time whistle.
Footage posted on Instagram shows the 83-year-old grimacing as Tottenham's post-match celebrations continued.
Social media users were quick to react. One wrote: 'Sir Alex Ferguson looking absolutely disgusted with what he was witnessing last night.'
Others expressed sympathy for the Scot.
Another fan said: 'I honestly feel bad for him, he built up this club, took it to the top of the world all for it to come crashing down the moment he leaves.'
'He's seen enough,' another added, accompanied by laughing emojis.
The trouble for United extends far beyond the pitch, with Ratcliffe in the midst of a ruthless cost-cutting process.
Ferguson, who won 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, and two Champions League titles during 26 years in the Old Trafford hot seat, became the highest profile victim after he lost his £2million-a-year contract as a global club ambassador in October.
A further 200 United staff members could lose their jobs following extra financial cutbacks, with MailOnline reporting that United began the process of telling staff they have lost their jobs just hours after the team’s defeat in the Europa League final.
Around 250 employees were made redundant in a first round of job cuts, which is believed to have saved the club between £8million and £10m.
United chief executive Omar Berrada previously said another 150 to 200 redundancies could follow.
The Europa League final loss, which means United won't compete in next season's Champions League, has left a £100m hole in the club's finances.
United host Aston Villa on Sunday in the final game of a wholly disappointing campaign.
If they fail to win they could end the season in 17th, while a victory could only push them as high as 14th.
As parting shots go, Keith Burkinshaw's was an absolute zinger. 'There used to be a football club over there,' was the show-stopping quote coined to mark his exit from Tottenham Hotspur, fired despite winning the UEFA Cup.
There has been conjecture in the 41 years since about whether this is exactly what was said, or if something along those lines was put to him by a journalist and he nodded his approval or picked it up and ran with it and the headlines made an impact.
Either way, he is prepared to own it. 'That's how I felt,' says Burkinshaw, on an afternoon of reminiscence with his former captain Steve Perryman in the aptly named White Hart Inn, in deepest Somerset. 'There used to be a football club over there.'
Spurs were two up at the halfway stage of the UEFA Cup quarter-final when a knock on his door in the team hotel on the afternoon of the second leg of the tie against Austria Vienna informed Burkinshaw he would be required to leave at the end of the season.
When he asked if there might have been a better time to let him know, he was told there was no such thing as a good time.
'I was forced out,' recalls Burkinshaw, 89. 'They didn't want me there. I was too strong for them. The way I ran the club was to push the directors aside and say, "Look, we'll talk once a month but I'm going to be doing everything". They couldn't stand it. They wanted to be doing it when they'd no bloody idea how to do it.
'I knew if I carried on looking after the players without interference then we'd be a lot more successful. But they wouldn't accept that. That's why they got rid of me. We weren't doing too badly.'
'They' were Irving Scholar and Paul Bobroff. New investors on to the board, who became majority owners and made Spurs the first club to float on the London Stock Exchange. Scholar stepped into the role of chairman and was one of the prime movers in the formation of the Premier League.
These were changing times in football, anathema for someone like Burkinshaw, a no-frills Yorkshireman, who worked the pits, moved from non-League Denaby United to Liverpool and spent most of his playing career with Workington and Scunthorpe.
As a manager, although their tenures were separated by Terry Neill, he turned out to be a natural successor to Bill Nicholson, legendary manager of the Spurs Double winners in 1960-61 and much more, and another no-frills Yorkshireman who features regularly in the conversation inside the White Hart.
'From the boot room to the boardroom, Keith decided what went on, just like Bill Nick,' says Perryman, 73, the club's record appearance maker with 866 games who spent seven years under Nicholson and never calls him anything other than 'Bill Nick'. 'You need somebody to set the tone. Players need to know who is setting the tone.
'Now, with more levels, who is making decisions? At Tottenham, who signed Tanguy Ndombele? No one is putting their hand up. In Bill Nick's day there was no way of spreading the blame.He was the man just as Keith was the man.'
Tottenham go into Wednesday's Europa League final against Manchester United searching for their first European title since 1984. The future of Ange Postecoglou is uncertain. The Spurs boss could follow in the footsteps of Burkinshaw, ousted with his hands on the same trophy. And it is not the only parallel at play.
That campaign, like this, saw Tottenham hit by injuries and grateful to see a crop of youngsters, fringe players and unsung heroes seizing their chances. Glenn Hoddle, Garth Crooks and Ray Clemence had all been injured. Ossie Ardiles made the bench for the second leg (the final was over two legs in those days).
'We had a load of kids out there,' says Burkinshaw. Teenager Micky Hazard was the hero of the semi-final against Hajduk Split. Centre halves Paul Miller and Graham Roberts scored the goals in the final against Anderlecht. Tony Parks was the hero of a penalty shootout. 'It's the overriding thing about that victory, the people who came in and the way they carried it through,' agrees Perryman, ruled out of the second leg of the final after a yellow card in Brussels.
'The ball came, and I wedged it into the floor (with my studs up). The referee couldn't wait to get his card out and the Anderlecht players were running around like idiots, like they'd won the cup. I remember thinking, "Why are you doing that? I'm not that good". A few of them apologised after the second game.'
Anderlecht were later found to have bribed the referee against Nottingham Forest in their semi-final and, although it was a different referee in the final, it created doubts. 'When it was proven they bunged the referee against Forest — which may have done us a favour by the way — I thought maybe there was something going on with that yellow card. And maybe that was a bit of karma when we beat them.'
Perryman took a seat in the dug-out for the second leg at White Hart Lane and saw Anderlecht go ahead before Roberts scrambled a late equaliser and drama unfolded into penalties.
'We'd practised a little bit and handled it not too bad,' says Burkinshaw, who was among the first coaches in the country to embrace sports psychology, at the behest of physio Mike Varney. Morten Olsen missed Anderlecht's first and Danny Thomas stepped up with the chance to win it with Tottenham's fifth. His kick was saved and, as he made his way back to his team-mates, the Spurs crowd rose up and chanted his name.
'It was a very special night and an example of the whole club pulling in the same direction,' says Perryman. Another penalty taker was not required, however, as Parks saved from Arnor Gudjohnsen and Spurs, the first British club to win in Europe, had their third European trophy.
This was Perryman's third UEFA Cup final. The first two came under Nicholson, a win and a defeat. Victory came in 1972 against Wolves, a final secured with the help of two Perryman goals in a semi-final against AC Milan, after which he found himself the last person in the dressing room, feeling on top of the world when the club doctor walked in.
'He doesn't look at me, goes over to wash his hands, dries his hands, adjusts his tie and says to the mirror, "Bill Nicholson is an absolute genius". There's no one else in that room, he must be talking to me, so I said, "Why's that doc?" and he said, "because he nearly left you out tonight".
'Bill Nick was no flannel, no spin, no mind games, but I do wonder if, on that night, the doctor was sent in to bring me down off the ceiling.' Defeat two years later in a final against Feyenoord as Tottenham fans rioted in Rotterdam marked the beginning of the end for Nicholson. 'Some people think that finished Bill Nick,' says Perryman.
'That this great game he loved and put his life into had turned into this monster with people fighting. He didn't come into the dressing room at half-time, he was on the microphone appealing to the supporters trying to stop what was happening.'
Nicholson quit four months later. It was Burkinshaw who brought him back to the club from West Ham where he was scouting and made him a consultant. They became close. After every home game, he would call in at the Nicholson's family home, near White Hart Lane. 'He had an influence on me,' says Burkinshaw. 'I was there at Wembley when they won the Double and I thought, "Christ, if I can have a team playing like that, that's what I want". I knew then that was the way I wanted to play. A passing game. In those days, it could be physical.'
Tottenham went down in Burkinshaw's first season in charge. 'The spectators wanted me away when I was first there,' he admits, but he hung on to the job and they bounced straight back up, beating Bristol Rovers 9-0 along the way, a game when Nicholson was back in charge. 'My mother died the day before,' says Burkinshaw. 'I was up in Yorkshire, sat on my own in the middle of the hills. I didn't want to talk to anybody when that match was being played.'
Once back in the top flight, Spurs set about reinforcing with ambitious signings like Ardiles and Ricky Villa from Argentina in 1978 and Steve Archibald and Crooks two years later, integrating with homegrown stars such as Perryman, Hoddle and Chris Hughton.
In 1981-82, Tottenham went hard at everything. They won the FA Cup, lost the League Cup final to Liverpool in extra time, reached the last four of the European Cup Winners' Cup, losing to eventual winners Barcelona and finished fourth in the league, above Arsenal on goal difference.
'We had a fair side, and I was always pretty confident we were going to win something,' says Burkinshaw. 'I often think about if we'd had somebody there backing me rather than being against me, where could we have finished up because we had some bloody good players.'
The UEFA Cup winners of 1984 were brought back together to mark the 40th anniversary, last year, a reunion organised by Spurs at their training ground. 'Brooksy has since departed,' notes Perryman with sadness. Garry Brooke, who featured in early rounds of the campaign, died in January at the age of 64.
Burkinshaw has met Postecoglou. 'Seems like a decent fella,' he says, and has been a guest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The decades have eased the bitterness of his exit, and he will be wishing his old club well in Bilbao.
'We haven't won anything for a while so to do that is terrific if it happens and the manager should be kept on and hopefully will be a success in the future.'
Burkinshaw and Perryman donated their fees for the interview to The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust.
Tottenham will face Man United in the Europa League final on Wednesday night
Spurs have not won a trophy since 2008 and not triumphed in Europe since 1984
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Ange Postecoglou and his Tottenham players are using online taunts about their empty trophy cabinet to fuel their quest to win the Europa League.
Spurs arrived in Bilbao on Monday with centre half Micky van de Ven promising the team are ready to banish the club's unwanted reputation for failure in Wednesday's final against Manchester United.
'Everybody knows that when you join Tottenham, you get the words through that you're not going to win a trophy, and that you will be trophyless the rest of your career,' said Van de Ven. 'It's these people on social media, you know. Banter people that you don't really take seriously.
'All the guys that came here were like, "We're going to change something about this club". The gaffer and the whole squad, we said, "We're going to come here and change something". For us, it's the job now to make this happen in Bilbao. It will be a big thing.'
Tottenham have not won silverware since the League Cup in 2008, have picked up only three major trophies in more than 40 years and the first British club to claim a European prize have not won in Europe since the UEFA Cup in 1984.
'We all know we play for a big club,' said Van de Ven. 'This club deserves trophies, that's the truth. If you look at the quality in the squad, we deserve a trophy. It has been a tough season but we can end this perfectly by winning a prize.'
Van den Ven has made a habit of proving people wrong in his career. As a teenager in his native Netherlands, he was almost released by his first club, Volendam. There was a time when they did not think he had what it takes.
Now, he is a Dutch international, signed by Tottenham for £43million from Wolfsburg in 2023 and arguably their most important player, the key to Postecoglou's tactical style.
With him and Cristian Romero together again at the back since injury, Spurs have won four and drawn one of their last five ties in the Europa League.
'That's crazy to be honest,' says Van de Ven. 'There were people who didn't have the trust in me and now I am standing here in a European final. It's a beautiful thing. I think I proved them wrong.'
The last time Spurs made it to a European final was 2019, when they roared back to beat Ajax on away goals in Amsterdam in a Champions League semi-final, leaving a young Van de Ven distraught in the stands.
He was an Ajax fan who adored their young central defender Mathijs de Ligt, who now plays for Manchester United.
'I was not really happy,' admits Van de Ven. 'I was in the stadium, and he was playing that game. These are the games I remember most, from the Champions League when Ajax went to the semi-final and the first thing that pops into my head is the game against Tottenham.
'He was playing unbelievable. When you're a young kid you're looking up at him, the captain of Ajax at 18 years old, doing an unbelievable job. Then you think 'I want to be like him'.'
United goalkeeper Andre Onana was in goal for Ajax on that occasion, when Lucas Moura's hat trick turned the semi-final on its head.
Spurs went on to lose the final against Liverpool in Madrid. Then lost a League Cup final to Manchester City in 2021.
Now they have another shot at glory, and the chance for Postecoglou to continue his record of always winning something in his second season at all the clubs he managed, despite an otherwise awful campaign, featuring many injuries and a record 21 Premier League defeats.
'We have all been standing behind the gaffer since day one,' says Van de Ven. 'He showed his quality, and he brought us to a European final.
'He's been getting a lot of doubt from the media, and we see these things, but he proved all you guys wrong and we're standing in a European final, so hopefully we can lift the trophy. Not only for us, but also for him.'