Manchester City/Hamburg, UEFA Cup Qtr-final, 7.45pm, ITV4

Paddy Power and Bet365 are offering 3/1 on Manchester City overcoming their 3-1 deficit in tonight’s match with Hamburg, but the statistics suggest that they will have to perform out of their skins to do so. Our friends at chickendinner say:

» Hamburg have only won five of their 14 away league games and have drawn one and lost four of their five visits to fellow Bundesliga top six sides.

» Despite this, their European record is amazing. The German side have won all five of their UEFA Cup away games, scoring 12 and conceding just three. They have scored at least two in every game and kept three clean sheets.

Hamburg/Man City, UEFA Cup Qtr-Final 1st Leg, 7.45pm, ITV4

Martin Jol’s Hamburg are available at 11/10 with Boylesports to win the home leg of their UEFA Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester City. A glance at their home record suggests that those odds are very generous, say chickendinner:» Hamburg have played 21 matches at the HSH Nordbank Arena, winning 16 of those, drawing three and losing just two.

» In contrast, Manchester City have won just one of their last 19 on the road, drawing seven and losing 11 of those games.

» Only five of the last 14 English UEFA Cup quarter-finalists have progressed

A managerial edition of our daily transfer roundup

As you can see, Franz Beckenbauer and Jurgen Klinsmann used to be in love. After last night’s humiliation, however, things aren’t so rosey…

Jurgen Klinsmann faces the sack
Over-opinionated Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer has called his side’s first half performance against Barcelona “the worst in the club’s history.” German newspaper Bild are leading with the headline “Klinsi close to the exit,” and they go on to say “If the directors don’t fire him straight away, it’s obvious that his job will be on the line for each league game.”

The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Currently languishing in fourth place in the Bundesliga, and having suffered a piss poor 5-1 defeat at Wolfsburg last weekend, Klinsmann must be very close to seeking alternative employment.

Carlo Ancelotti to Chelsea
According to The Sun, the Italian has told Chelsea he is ready to take over from Guus Hiddink in the summer. A contract worth around £5.8m a year has been discussed, and should be signed and sealed in June.

The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Ancelotti says he has a gentleman’s

The latest gossip, rumours and damned lies…

In a triumph of dignity over truckloads of cash, Kaka has snubbed Manchester City’s advances, causing The Sun to publish their worst headline of all time: “Stabbed in the Kak.” While City fans try and make sense of that nonsensical attempt at vulgar innuendo, they can also despair at the news that Robinho has stormed out of their Tenerife training camp and is on his way back to Brazil.

While we ponder their next move in the market (David Villa, anyone?), here’s the latest in Transferland…

Tom Huddlestone to Hamburg
The Daily Mail believe the young Spurs midfielder is all set to link up with old gaffer Martin Jol, who considers him the best player of his type and age in Europe.

The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Only a handful of players seem safe under the Redknapp regime, and Huddlestone’s replacement Didier Zokora is one of them. Jol has also been promised a replacement for the imminently City-bound Nigel de Jong.

Jermaine Pennant to Portsmouth
The south coast club have agreed terms with the Liverpool star, who is said to favour

The latest gossip, rumours and damned lies

Ever since the Arabian businessman took over at Manchester City, they have been on a mission to secure the services of every great forward they have ever seen on the television. One of their long term targets is Kaka, who may be tempted to make the switch at the end of the season…

Kaka to Manchester City
According to “sources at Eastlands”, Manchester City are confident of landing Kaka in the summer and are already planning on how to best fit him into the side. City believe Kaka could be convinced to play alongside countryman Robinho - can you guess how they might persuade him?
The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Kaka is actually wanted at Milan and you’d imagine the devout Christian would have enough dignity and morals not to simply chase the dollar, Robinho-style.

Nicklas Bendtner to Inter Milan
Jose Mourinho is interested in taking Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner to Italy according to The Times.
The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Surely ‘the Special One’ has seen Bendtner play before??

Liverpool exodus
Ryan Babel and Daniel Agger

Will he be as successful as Jol or as useless as Santini?

As well as having Chris Hughton and David Pleat (three times!) in as caretaker manager, Spurs have had seven full-time managers prior to Harry Redknapp in the twelve years that Arsene Wenger has been in charge of Arsenal.

Here are how those managers rank in order of points accumulated per league game as well as their league win percentage at the club:

The big question is: how does Redknapp compare with those former Spurs bosses? Give us your prediction with a comment below on where ‘Arry will rank (1-8) on points per game at the end of his White Hart Lane tenure. The answer will probably be revealed on October 25 2009!

Is ‘Arry a stop gap appointment or a long term solution?

Almost exactly a year after Martin Jol was sent packing from the Lane, Tottenham seemed to make a good job of plugging the hole in their sinking ship by sacking Carling Cup winning boss Juande Ramos and appointing Harry Redknapp. While he is an excellent manager with experience of hoisting teams away from the danger zone,  some may argue that he isn’t the man to fulfill Tottenham’s long term targets.

So, is he the type of manager who can lead another assault on the Big Four teams, or will the club end up trading him in for a ‘big name’ manager in a few years when they have (hopefully) regained some stability?

Put it his way: would Redknapp have been Daniel Levy’s number one target for moving the club into the higher echelons of the league when Jol was sacked? He says so in the press today, but plenty of highly-lauded foreign managers with silverware under their belts would probably have stood ahead of the former Portsmouth man.

Let us know your thoughts with a vote and comment below…

Levy somehow manages to make things worse for Spurs…again!

Exactly a year to the day after Martin Jol was sacked as Tottenham manager, the club have announced the departures of manager Juande Ramos, assistant Gus Poyet, sporting director Damien Comolli and coach Marcos Alvarez.

The Jol sacking was abysmally timed, with almost everyone who attended the UEFA Cup home game against Getafe besides the Dutchman knowing that he had been axed, but the decision to dismiss the three most important members of the matchday staff just over fifteen hours before a hugely important home game against Bolton, who could climb nine point above Spurs with victory, may have trumped even that.

Poyet was expected by many fans to succeed Ramos but he has gone too, leaving development squad coach Clive Allen and youth team boss Alex Inglethorpe to take temporary charge. With the timing of the announcement it may prove the case that the players won’t even hear the news until the morning and if they are awake to hear the news now, it’s hard to imagine how they’ll manage to sleep on it.

An early favourite to take over as manager is former West Ham boss Alan Curbishley. It has been rumoured that he turned down the QPR job earlier today and the departure of Comolli means that he would not have to deal with a transfer supremo operating over his head, something that compromised his position at Upton Park.

The official Tottenham statement can be read after the jump: