Sir Alan Sugar

by Charlie Burden

  Looking back over the entire saga, he added, ‘I’ve got faith in the truth, honesty and that straight dealing will out in the end. Believe me when I tell you that, if I hadn’t volunteered the information about what happened here in the past, none of this would be happening to Spurs. I don’t regret doing what I’ve done because that would be going against my nature. And if I was like the way I’m portrayed in the press – as this nasty villainous ogre, which has really upset me and my family – don’t you think I would have been exposed by now?’

  It’s a very pertinent conclusion. In an era when the media are hugely probing and persistent, they have been unable to find any dirt against Sugar. Plenty of other successful businesspeople have been turned over in the media but not Sugar. Even though you can sense that some journalists would love nothing more than to spoil his party, they have been unable to. So they are forced to accept that his titanic business empire has been built with honest sweat and sharp thinking, rather than anything at all corrupt.

  So too did Tottenham supporters come round to Sugar’s way of thinking. Doubts about his commitment to the club were beginning to evaporate. As Independent journalist Norman Fox put it, ‘Watch Sugar at a match now and you see a fan. Most chairmen wince a little when the opposition score and smile reservedly when their own team do so; Sugar grimaces and roars.’

  Fox was far from alone in noticing this. The Evening Standard’s influential Michael Herd also picked up on it. ‘What has happened to Alan Sugar? Has he picked up the Jack Walker virus and given himself up to football, body and soul?’ asked Herd. ‘Has Mr Grumpy got the bug despite everything he’s seen and heard in the past three years? After all, it wasn’t so long ago he was telling us his association with Tottenham was his single biggest mistake. He’d gone to White Hart Lane as a boy but since then he hadn’t shown any interest in football.’

  Herd’s article was written after Sugar had just pulled off a deal that was to shock the football world, and would have the Tottenham faithful jumping for joy. Born in Göppingen in 1964, Jürgen Klinsmann is renowned as one of the best strikers of the modern era. His first major club was VfB Stuttgart, and it was there that Klinsmann became a prolific goal scorer, scoring an amazing 79 goals in 156 appearances. In 1988, he was top scorer of the Bundesliga and was voted ‘German Player of the Year’. He hooked up with fellow German aces Lothar Matthäus and Andreas Brehme at Italian giants Inter Milan, who romped to the Serie A title. Klinsmann was ultimately to score 40 goals in 123 appearances in Italy. He then moved to France in 1992 to play for AS Monaco.

  Meanwhile, he was becoming a major hit in the international scene, too. He was the first player ever to score at least three goals in each of three World Cups. Perhaps his best personal performance in this competition came in the 1994 World Cup, where he scored five goals. It was after this tournament finished that Sugar made his audacious move to bring this football sensation to White Hart Lane, in what was hailed by the Daily Mail as ‘English football’s transfer coup of the decade’.

  It was indeed a shock for everyone to see Sugar shaking hands with Klinsmann on board his yacht in Monaco. Here was a man on top of his game, one of football’s most talented and charismatic players, willing to join a mid-table English club that was at that stage staring down the barrel at a points deduction and Cup ban. Players like Klinsmann just didn’t come to clubs like Tottenham, was the received wisdom. But since when has Sugar ever let received wisdom get between him and a good deal? And this was a good deal, indeed. A monumental one, in fact. Klinsmann promised to do for Tottenham what Frenchman Eric Cantona had done for Manchester United. Such players were more than stars: they were talismans. Their presence, their charisma transformed teams. There was something little short of magical about them.

  The effect of his signing was immediate. ‘Klins-mania’ broke out in north London. Tottenham fans were unable to believe their luck in acquiring his services, and Arsenal fans were soon looking nervously across the divide. Could it be that Sugar had pulled off a transfer that would ultimately see Tottenham emerge from the shadows of their illustrious neighbours and claim bragging rights for north London? Plenty thought so at the time! Michael Herd was quick to capture this mood, and to credit Sugar with a central role in the drama. ‘Now, suddenly, we have a photograph of Sugar, looking rather self-satisfied, standing on his yacht with Klinsmann,’ he wrote. ‘The German has said “yes” and there is no doubt the Tottenham chairman and not the manager, Ossie Ardiles, has been the principal player. Sugar is happy to talk about the deal. A call had gone into his Brentwood office a few weeks earlier from Klinsmann’s lawyer, a man named Andy Gross (a great name for a percentage man!) during which Sugar had learned the German was available.’

  Herd paints a portrait of just how sharp and decisive a player Sugar was in this remarkable coup. ‘[Gross and Sugar] talk but decide to stay stumm until after the World Cup, then Sugar does what would have been the unthinkable not long ago. He breaks into a sailing holiday to meet Klinsmann in Monte Carlo. The German visits the yacht on three consecutive days and the deal is done.’

  Indeed, it was, and Sugar was quick to outline just how pleasurable it had been: ‘Klinsmann and his lawyer were very straightforward. They liked everything clear on the table in front of them. You often don’t get a chance to say to a player what a great club Tottenham are, their history and tradition. With Klinsmann we did. Jürgen was looking for a challenge and he decided that Tottenham was the one that interested him most. We’ve told him what we have got to do and we’re delighted he has chosen our club to help us try to win something next year, and the year after.’

  Although this story was like an earthquake across planet football, the actual ins and outs of the deal were fairly simple, as Sugar told reporters. ‘We will be starting off with a two-year contract. We are going to London on Monday to have the usual fitness tests and on Monday we should be signed up.’ What of the German? Klinsmann said it was the ‘history and tradition’ that Sugar had described to him that swung his affections towards north London. ‘I had a couple of offers from Spain and Italy, but Tottenham is a very prestigious club with a lot of tradition and the Premier League is one of the best in Europe,’ he said, grinning. ‘I am very proud to play for the club and my immediate aim is to win something with Tottenham.’

  Manager Ossie Ardiles felt like all his Christmases had come at once: ‘This all proves the strength of Alan Sugar’s commitment to the club. Our goal is to put Spurs on top, maybe not this season, but soon. Being in the middle is not good enough for us.’ However, Ardiles drew the line at suggestions that this was the most important signing in the history of the club, claiming that particular honour for himself. Cheeky, but probably true.

  But the Klinsmann capture would run a close second. Sugar’s trusted adviser Nick Hewer expanded on how they got their man. ‘Alan rang me from his yacht in Monaco at 7.30am and told me there was a good chance of signing Klinsmann,’ said Hewer. ‘He was very excited but the negotiations were at a delicate stage. It was touch and go for a time. The deal was concluded, after some particularly tough bargaining with Monaco, at around midday and Alan is obviously delighted about signing a player of such quality.

  ‘Although he has been on holiday in the South of France, he has been on the telephone in his cabin for most of the time. He has masterminded the whole thing and kept in constant touch with Ossie the whole time.’

  Confirming that there was plenty of opposition to their bid, Sugar said, ‘We faced strong opposition from other clubs but were able to offer the right package to these players. Germany did not have a good World Cup but Klinsmann himself had a very good tournament, scoring five goals. The signing … is something that we have been working on for a long, long time. Going forward, we are certainly going to be very, very strong.’

  Strong indeed, for Klinsmann was not the only exciting capture of the summer. Ilie Dumitrescu had starred at the World Cup for Romania. Tricky and skilful, he had been one of the stars
of the summer, a key spark in the team’s march to the quarterfinals. He too signed on the dotted line. Reporters asked Ardiles how the club had managed to attract such stars at a time of uncertainty over the FA punishment, which was still active at this point. ‘Of course, these players know about the FA Cup and the six points,’ said Ardiles. ‘They will help us make up the points. As Ilie said, it will mobilise us and it is only two wins.’ Ardiles was clearly delighted at scooping everyone. He said, ‘With Ilie we beat competition from other clubs including Bari, Padova and yesterday Atletico Madrid. Then we faced competition for Jürgen. He preferred to come to us because he likes English football and knows a surprising amount about it.’

  English football knew plenty about Klinsmann, too. White Hart Lane legend Bill Nicholson, who was in charge when Spurs won the double in 1961, was enthralled at the capture of the German. He said, ‘Klinsmann is 30 and at the peak of his career. He is a very experienced and consistent goal scorer who seems able to score against the best opposition and that is what we need.’

  Nicholson’s excitement was matched by the fans who worship him. As Tottenham Hotspur press officer Ashley Weller explained, ‘Fans have been ringing up all afternoon asking whether it’s really true. They can’t believe it. It’s going to make a big difference to season-ticket sales.’

  It did indeed, as the ticket office staff were quick to confirm. ‘The telephones have been red hot following the two signings,’ said ticket office manager Chris Belt to waiting reporters. ‘In a normal year we would hope to sell around 10,000 season tickets before the new season, but we will now expect to comfortably improve upon that.’

  The club fully expected to bank more than £500,000 in season-ticket sales in three weeks and were confident that home games at White Hart Lane would be sell-outs throughout the campaign. The almost hysterical response to Klinsmann’s signing also meant a flood of fans went through the doors of the club shops, to buy replica shirts with the striker’s surname on them, and, suddenly, north London seemed to be full of Jürgen Klinsmanns.

  Meanwhile, the bookmakers were taking note of the quality squad that Sugar had assembled, and reacting accordingly. ‘Achtung! Bookies in Panic: Spurs odds are slashed after they sign £2m Klinsmann’ yelped the headline in the Daily Record. ‘Bookies have slashed Spurs title odds from 250–1 to 50–1 and expect to cut them further.’

  Sugar’s genius in the transfer market was once more laid bare: from relegation certainties to title contenders, all thanks to a couple of signings. True, some were getting a little carried away with the excitement of it all, but excitement was just what the club needed. Morale was rocketing, and Sugar was responsible.

  The man himself was in buoyant and proud mood. ‘No more Mr Nobodies will join this club,’ he boasted at the press conference, where a relaxed and jovial Klinsmann was unveiled to the world’s media. ‘The FA have made it tough for us, and it is my kind of spirit to hit back and try to solve the problems. Rather than struggle, I prefer to try to throw money at the problems to try to solve them. It is in my character to fight fire with fire. These signings are my way of hitting back at our friends at Lancaster Gate.’ Defiant and proud, this was Sugar at his best. After the tribulations of recent times, who would begrudge Sugar the chance to remind some of his critics of how he had proved them wrong? ‘I came in for a lot of criticism last season, but I said I was not going to be panicked,’ he explained. ‘I said that when everyone was gunning for our manager Ossie Ardiles’s head. You dig your heels in the ground and get on with it. If you do things in a professional and proper way, things will eventually come through. We have a plan and that plan is coming together.’ But he was not about to get carried away by the hype. ‘As for Spurs winning the Championship, I don’t know so much about that. We are starting the season six points behind the others and we are not in the FA Cup. I thought at the time that was a terrible decision by the FA and still do. It was right over the top because the people in charge were not at the club when the rules were broken.’

  With this passion on show, people were beginning to see Sugar as not just a businessman who worked in football, but as a football man who worked in business. Having suspected for years that he had no passion for the game at all, it seemed people were finally coming round.

  Tony Berry, former chairman of the Blue Arrow employment services group, is a long-term ally of Sugar. It was from Berry that Sugar acquired 500,000 shares to gain the majority control of Tottenham. Berry insisted that his friend Sugar had become 100 per cent football. ‘It is a major, major conversion. The whole family. When he got involved, he saw it as a business. I once said he saw it as 75 per cent business and 25 per cent sport. Now he’s gone the whole way round. I’ve never seen such a transformation.’

  Berry was clear on something else, too: that there was no way that Sugar was about to go the way of other club chairmen and ignore his business sense. ‘This may be where the difference is. There’s still that steel in him that will never let him forget what he’s learned in business,’ Berry claimed. ‘I can tell you that all these moves have been made with the cash flow in mind and the Tottenham refinancing structure taken into account. Nothing is certain, of course, because we’ve seen other chairmen go the way. But he’s the last man I’d expect to commit harakiri for the sake of football.’

  Things were looking rosy in the White Hart Lane garden once more. However, just as quickly as the press leaped to hype up Klins-mania, so did they rush to throw water over it. Mick Dennis in the Evening Standard led the charge. Reporting on the German striker’s enthusiasm, he wrote, ‘Let us see if [Klinsmann] still feels that way after experiencing the North Circular on the way to spend a wet Wednesday evening mixing with Vinnie Jones and the rest of the Wimbledon Crazy Gang at Selhurst Park.’ It was a typical insinuation thrown at foreign imports and a ridiculous one. Did Dennis really not believe that there were more than a few ‘wet Wednesday evenings’ in Germany? And there are tough opponents in every League. A player as decorated as Klinsmann would be more than familiar with that.

  It would take several years for overseas players to begin to dispel this xenophobic attitude, and Klinsmann was central to this process, with a charm offensive on the British public in his early days in the Premiership. He even poked fun at his reputation for diving by incorporating a dive into his celebration of his first goal. The first people he won over were, of course, the Spurs faithful. ‘People expecting a Nazi thug were disappointed,’ said Stuart Mutler, former editor of club fanzine Spur. ‘He seems friendly and open – not what you’d necessarily expect from a German. He’s interested in the environment, drives a Beetle and likes backpacking. For goodness’ sake, the man even smiles when he misses a chance at goal.’

  Supporter Steve Davies echoed this impression: ‘People like to pretend they’ve got certain prejudices, but, if we signed Ian Wright [of hated rivals Arsenal FC] and he scored lots of goals, everyone would like him. Psychologically, Klinsmann has turned the club around. He’s brought a change in thinking. He doesn’t just excite the fans, he excites the players. They’ve seen him on the telly and to be playing with him is a dream come true.’

  The buoyancy Klinsmann had brought to the club was soon being compared to Frenchman Eric Cantona’s impact at Manchester United – praise indeed! ‘Foreign players are more sophisticated,’ Davies insisted. ‘They don’t want to live in Cheshunt: they want to live in the centre of town. English players are stuck in a stereotypical laddish mould. If one admitted he went to an art exhibition, they’d call him a faggot.’

  It seemed the German legend was transforming not just the club, but the culture of English football itself.

  Rob Hughes, The Times’s influential football writer, gave Klinsmann a half-term report four months into the season. ‘What more can we ask of Jürgen Klinsmann? He came to Britain a world-class star with a reputation, which he did not know he had, of being a dive who feigned claims for penalties. In half a season, he has charmed and worked his way into o
ur consciousness. We see him now as a decent man, a thundering good athlete and an honest performer. Speak to men who have refereed him and they use an old-fashioned term, a gentleman.’ Hughes was decent enough to acknowledge, and indeed praise, Sugar’s role in all this. ‘It should be remembered that Alan Sugar’s instincts were perfectly attuned to the game when he came off his yacht, Louisiana, in Monte Carlo to give a 2-million-pound handshake to a player who has quickly melted away British scepticism.’ It appeared that Sugar was now earning praise from all quarters, having brought Jürgen to England.

  Football legend Kevin Keegan added his voice the Jürgen love-in: ‘I admire the way Klinsmann plays, with a smile on his face. Too many players look as if they are having a bad day at the office, they show the strain and the stress, but Jürgen smiles his way through and that’s why the supporters have taken to him.’

  Given Klinsmann’s reputation as something of a cheat, it is significant that leading football referee Keith Cooper was also bowled over by the German striker. ‘I have seen no evidence in this country of Jürgen Klinsmann diving during a match. During play, in which of course he speaks perfect English, I have to say I have found Klinsmann to be a model, a perfect gentleman.’

  Klinsmann scored 21 goals in 41 appearances that campaign, and also collected the prestigious Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year award. He had been key in securing a respectable seventh-place finish for his club.

  But then the bubble burst. Klinsmann quit White Hart Lane, saying that he was doing so in search of a club that had qualified for European football the following season.

  Sugar was fuming: ‘What total and utter rubbish!’ he stormed. ‘The danger is that people will believe the nonsense fed to them by Klinsmann and others. He came round to my house here, and we spoke for hours, hours and hours. We made every effort to keep him but we all know the real reason that he went. There are two Jürgen Klinsmanns. There is one who flashes those gleaming teeth for the cameras … that lovely smile … that butter wouldn’t melt in the mouth. But in private there’s another Jürgen Klinsmann, a hard-nosed businessman who knows what he wants.’