Spurs get Ramos

Ramos met club officials this morning following the sacking of Martin Jol and told them he wanted to move to White Hart Lane.

President Jose Maria del Nido then called an emergency board meeting, but by lunchtime had accepted there was no way he could hold on to the 53-year-old.

Ramos is now expected to put pen to paper on a four-and-a-half year contract worth in excess of £6m a season.

It will make him the highest paid manager in the Premier League and mean Spurs have to pay a hefty price to get rid of Jol.

The Dutchman will walk away from the club with a £5.2m pay-off and Spurs are expected to have to pay up to £500,000 compensation to Sevilla.

The La Liga club immediately made a move to secure Jose Mourinho as their manager until the end of the season, but it is believed that the former Chelsea boss turned them down.

Assistant manager Manuel Jimenez will take charge of Sunday's visit of Valencia with Ramos expected to be unveiled at a Tottenham press conference-next week. Uruguayan Gus Poyet will join him as assistant manager after he told his Leeds United bosses before training today that he wanted to return to London.

The former Spurs midfielder will act as Ramos's main point of contact as the new manager speaks only broken English.

Tottenham released a statement at 11.30pm last night confirming they had sacked Jol after three years in charge as well as his assistant Chris Hughton. The announcement came less than two hours after they had overseen the 2-1 UEFA Cup defeat to Getafe and marked the end of one of the most sorrowful periods in the club's history.

Spurs fans will be alarmed to learn that Jol was told he was finally being put out of his misery on Tuesday evening and the players knew it was his last game before they took the field last night.

Their subsequent flat performance has harmed their chances of progressing in the UEFA Cup and Jol did not go into his technical area once in the 90 minutes.

Jol spoke with his players for about 45 minutes after the game last night and shook everybody's hand before going to the boardroom.

He said in a club statement: "I can understand the position of the club in light of the results. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. This is a special club and I want to thank the terrific staff and players.

"For me, the fans were always amazing with their support so I would also like to say thank you. I shall never forget them."

Reserve-team coach Clive Allen and youth-team boss Alex Inglethorpe will be in charge for Sunday's game against Blackburn before Ramos takes over next week. Goalkeeping coach Hans Segers has also been axed.