Connections - France 5

World Cup year sees us bringing up to date our Connections series. In the fifth look at our French neighbours we discover the shortest reigning manager at Spurs, the man who left us and became a record breaker and some international records.

Left - Our own French captain, Hugo Lloris.

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Jacques Santini was appointed the manager of Spurs on 1st July 2004 and he left on 5th November, just over four months later. The club could not be faulted for ambition he was currently the French national manager having won the 2003 Confederations Cup and was preparing for the European Championships. 

As a player he had featured in the European Cup final in 1976 with St. Etienne and had managed a number of top clubs in that country before moving to Spurs.

On appointment he said ‘I’m an ambitious man and it has always been a dream of mine to coach a big English club in the most exciting league in the world.’  
Left - Santini.

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Yet after just 13 games (winning five) he left. Officially it was because of ‘personal reasons’ but there plenty of stories about he was unable to work with Frank Arnesen (then Director of Football). There was certainly plenty of people felt he wasn’t adventurous enough as he sought to find his feet in a new country. He was replaced by his deputy, Martin Jol. A year later he took over at Auxerre but lasted less than a year.

A lesser known connection is Yannick Kamanan, the French lad was with spurs as a youngster and left in 2002 he then played in the Azerbaijan league for Gabala and scored 17 goals in 60 games in 2012- 2014 which makes him (as I write) their third best top scorer in that competition’s history (it was only formed in 1991).

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Above and Right - Kane and Lloris in the 2017 international.

The European Championships became the latest tournament to be played in that country in 2016.
The story of Tottenham's players in that competition can be found @
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/spurs-and-the-euros-part-9

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Another international connection came during the autumn of 2016 when Hugo Lloris became the man to captain the nation more than any other. Then in the spring of 2017 when winning his 88th cap he also became the country’s most capped goalie.

In June 2017 several records fell in an international game with England in Paris. Tottenham provided both of the captains, Lloris again and Harry Kane for England. Harry would score twice (the first Spurs man to do so since Defoe in 2013) but the French won 2-3.

Spurs also had Alli, Dier and Trippier (on his debut) in the starting lineup. They were joined by Walker at half time.  Tottenham thus had five men in an England side, equaling their record having done so three times previously). The game saw a French defender sent off but what was unusual about this was the ref consulted a video ref before making the decision. The first time the VAR system had been used in an England game.

COYS
Keith Harrison.
t- Keith 16024542
f - https://www.facebook.com/keith.harrison.9659
My profile / archive is @ http://www.indiaspurs.com/keith_harrison.html

The Connections series is @
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/hotspur-towers-the-international-index

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The rest of the French series can be found @
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/connections-france-1
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/connections-france-2
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/connections-france-3
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/connections-france-4