What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography (76 page)

Now I asked Jan to put me in touch with the right person at PSV, which turned out to be Frank Arnesen, the director of football. When I spoke to Frank, he immediately rejected any suggestion that Popescu leave the club. I reported this to Ossie and felt the matter was dead. However, within a couple of days, Dennis Roach was back on the phone, telling me that he was an expert on PSV Eindhoven and knew Frank Arnesen very well. He said I should leave matters with him and he'd sort out a deal.

'Dennis,' I said impatiently, 'am I not getting through to you? I do not believe a bleedin' word that comes out of your mouth. You're no bloody expert on PSV Eindhoven. You're about as expert on PSV as I am at opera singing. You're just poking your nose in again, trying to stimulate a deal. I've already spoken to Frank Arnesen and Jan Timmer, the CEO of Philips, effectively the owner of the club, and they've told me they're not going to sell him.'

'Well, Alan, if that's the case then you've got nothing to lose if I pop over there and see if I can sort a deal out.'

You're quite right, Dennis, I've got nothing to lose. Go and knock yourself out.'

My family and a few friends were on the boat with me that summer. The family had been pretty well shielded from my shenanigans with the FA, apart
from Daniel, who was obviously quite interested as it was to do with football. The next event, however, was going to interest everybody.

We parked the boat up in Monaco to allow the ladies off to go shopping. I remained on the boat and received a call on my mobile from a foreign chap who introduced himself as Andy Gross, the agent for Jurgen Klinsmann. He told me that Jurgen was interested in playing in the English Premier League, having had a very successful World Cup with Germany. I was no expert on football at the time, but even
I
knew who Jurgen Klinsmann was.

I told Gross, 'There's no way Jurgen Klinsmann would play for Tottenham. For a start, we could never agree terms on salary - our maximum pay is eight thousand pounds a week. Secondly, our football club has a bit of a problem at the moment - we start the season six points down because of some so-called misdemeanours. So, to be honest, if Jurgen Klinsmann wanted to come to England, I should imagine we'd be the
last
club he'd want to play for.'

'No, Alan, Jurgen is very interested in playing for your club - the six points are irrelevant. Jurgen is currently playing for FC Monaco and he's not happy with Arsene Wenger. You can get him for a reasonable fee from Monaco, as we have special terms in his contract allowing him to leave.'

I suggested to Gross that this all sounded too much of a pipe dream. I figured if Klinsmann wanted to play in England, there would have been a number of other clubs, offering loads more money, that would have been a far more attractive proposition than Spurs. But despite my frankness with Gross, he insisted there was a serious possibility that Klinsmann could come to the club. To be honest, I didn't take it too seriously. Having had a bellyful of Dennis Roach, my opinion of agents wasn't running high at the time. I thought this might even be a wind-up or someone fishing around.

The next day, Andy Gross called me again and said that Jurgen Klinsmann would like to meet me.

Andy, I'm on holiday on my boat in Monaco,' I replied.

'Yeah, I know that and I know where your boat is. If you walk to the back of your boat and look up, you'll see an apartment building. I am there, in Jurgen's fiat.'

With nothing to lose, I told him that if they wanted to come aboard they could do so. About fifteen minutes later, Andy turned up with Jurgen Klinsmann. Andy was a Swiss national, a skinny bloke with long hair, dressed like an American hippy. If it wasn't for the fact that Klinsmann was standing beside him, I would have still believed it was a wind-up. All the people on my boat were very excited - Daniel couldn't believe that Jurgen Klinsmann was onboard and one of my friends was also in awe of him.

Klinsmann turned out to be a very sharp character; not only a great footballer, but also quite clever. He'd played in Germany, Italy and now in Monaco, but recognised that the English Premier League was becoming the most powerful league in the world. And as part of his career, he wanted to play in England. Why he chose Tottenham was a bit unclear. With the benefit of hindsight, I'm convinced it was simply because it was the nearest club to what he considered a fashionable location to live - Highgate. I know that may sound ridiculous and if you asked Klinsmann he would probably deny it, but I'm convinced he had mapped out in his mind that he wanted to play in England, he wanted to be in London and he wanted to live in Highgate - and the nearest club to it was Tottenham.

It suddenly occurred to me that in having these discussions with a player, I was breaking a cardinal rule in football - the chairman should not interfere or decide which players to buy. I hadn't consulted Ossie simply because I thought this was either a wind-up or a pipe dream, but now it was starting to look serious. I called Ossie and told him that sitting on my boat right now were Jurgen Klinsmann and his agent. I explained what had happened over the past day or so and asked whether he would want Jurgen Klinsmann.

Ossie's reply was, 'Are you joking with me? Is this one of your funny English jokes?' Actually, he added a few Spanish expletives which I won't repeat!

'Ossie, I'm serious. He's sitting here on my boat.'

Ossie continued,
'Of course
we will have Klinsmann! Yes, yes, move ahead! You don't realise what you have there. Keep me in the picture.'

I told Gross and Klinsmann it would be a great boost for our fans if he joined, as we had these punishments laid down by the FA. But I made it perfectly clear I was not going to break the bank to secure Jurgen's services. Our limit was PS8,000 per week - that's it. Strangely enough, they didn't argue with this. They told me they'd agreed a departure deal with Monaco which meant we would have to pay a transfer fee of PS2m.

I started to discuss the personal terms of a two-year contract for Klinsmann. Because of the problems Tottenham was having with the FA and the possibility that we might get relegated, Gross said that any contract Klinsmann signed would have to have a get-out clause so at the end of his first season he could leave - on the basis that someone would pay the same transfer fee I was paying Monaco. This sounded a no-brainer to me at the time. What did I have to lose? With Klinsmann in the team and the new acquisition of Dumitrescu, the chances were we
wouldn't
get relegated and Klinsmann would play out his full two years. Who knows, at the end of those two years we might be able to sell him to someone else or he might stay.

I hastily agreed to this arrangement. It was now sounding too good to be true and I wanted the deal sealed irrevocably. Gross arranged for me to go to AS Monaco and meet the president and Arsene Wenger to discuss the transfer.

Next day, 29 July, we pulled the boat out of Monaco harbour and hung offshore, very close to the coastline, where we could see Monaco's stadium. The small tender took me to the quayside, right next to the stadium entrance. During the meeting, Wenger talked to me about the Spurs player Nick Barmby, saying he was very good. He didn't hint that he wanted to buy him, he just commented that he was a good player. I was surprised Wenger had knowledge of our team, considering we weren't playing in Europe; he must have been following the English Premier League.

I had now done a deal with Monaco and with Klinsmann, who had signed an unofficial note to seal the deal. However, this wasn't legally binding; Klinsmann would have to come to England and pass a medical before he could sign a proper Premier League contract.

Nothing in football is secret and I was aware that this news could leak out through the media and someone else could scupper the deal. So before meeting the people at Monaco, I'd called Vic Wakeling, head of Sky Sports, whom I'd met many times before. He knew I was very friendly with Sam Chisholm and Rupert Murdoch and he always took my calls. I told Vic to listen carefully as I had a scoop for him. If he could arrange for a mobile film crew to come down to the dock outside Monaco's stadium in about two hours' time, I would be walking out of the main entrance and shaking Jurgen Klinsmann's hand to announce he had signed for Tottenham.

Vic was very excited about this and asked me if I was serious. I told him I wasn't messing around and that, to be perfectly frank, I needed his help. Once I got Klinsmann shaking my hand at the dockside live on TV, it would put paid to any snipers trying to hijack the deal. Ten minutes later, Vic called me back and told me he'd arranged a satellite van through Reuters. He said he'd told the crew what I looked like - they obviously knew what Klinsmann looked like! The story would be aired on Sky News as soon as we came out of the stadium.

After Klinsmann and I had shaken hands in the office and completed the paperwork, we walked down the stairs and out of the main entrance. Sure enough, there was a fellow hovering there. 'Mr Sugar, Mr Klinsmann.'

'Yes?'

'Could you come over here, please?'

Klinsmann was taken aback. 'Who's he?'

I said, 'He's a friend of mine from Sky TV in England. They're going to announce that you've signed for Tottenham.'

'Well, hold on, I haven't signed yet - I haven't passed the medical. Maybe it's too early to do this.'

'That's okay, you're a man of your word - let's do it.'

We stood at the edge of the jetty and I put my hand out. Klinsmann had no alternative but to grasp it and shake it, although he was in shock. He knew the media got their stories quickly, but this must have been a record! He was now well and truly committed to Tottenham and there would be no way he could pull out. All that could go wrong would be that he failed the medical.

I bid farewell to Jurgen and told him I'd meet him tomorrow at Nice airport and we'd fly to England. I wanted to take him back personally, to ensure there were no last-minute hiccups - I wanted to see his signature on the Premier League contract with my own eyes.

I got into the tender and chugged back to the boat. Just as I got aboard, Daniel pulled Sky News up from our onboard satellite dish - and there I was shaking Klinsmann's hand. An unbelievable coup.

My mobile started ringing like crazy. I had a call from Chelsea's Ken Bates, asking me how I'd pulled that one off. 'Is it serious? Are you really getting Klinsmann?'

Ossie called me, tremendously excited, saying, 'You did it, you did it! How did you manage to do it? How much did we pay?' I told him the details and he said it was a fantastic deal and thanked me very much for supporting him.

The next morning, I met Jurgen - and a load of luggage - at Nice airport. A lot must have been going on behind the scenes that I didn't know about. Here was a man who up till the day before was living in Monaco; now he was laden with four or five suitcases, ready to move himself to England, no doubt to an apartment he'd already sorted out - in Highgate.

My head was spinning with excitement on the flight to London. As we got off the plane at Heathrow and walked up the gangway, it was packed with photographers and they followed us all the way through immigration and customs. Peter Barnes, our club secretary, had arranged for a car to meet us and we drove straight to White Hart Lane. Sky News had carried the story again and this generated a load of fans gathering outside the main gate.

We whisked Klinsmann straight up to the medical department and within twenty minutes the doctor had signed him off. I took him up to Peter Barnes's office and, with a few twists and turns, we replicated the agreement we'd made on my boat in Monaco and Klinsmann put pen to paper and signed for Tottenham.

He then met Ossie and asked if it was possible to do a bit of training. I didn't know what he was going on about - it was the close season and training had finished for that day, but Jurgen insisted. We took him to the indoor pitch and Ossie found some kids from the youth team to kick a few balls around with him. They couldn't believe their eyes!

Ossie said he had phoned Teddy Sheringham and told him that we'd signed Klinsmann. I thought it was a bit of a strange thing for Ossie to do at first, but it was professional etiquette for the manager to tell a player that the club had signed someone who might be a rival for his position in the team. Teddy, realising Klinsmann was a world-class striker, made out that he was 'very enthusiastic' about him joining the club.

Having secured Klinsmann and Dumitrescu, the focus of Ossie's attention was now on Popescu. I'd really given up on this, but Dennis Roach was still on the case, pestering me, saying he'd spoken to Frank Arnesen and was sure he'd be able to pull off a deal. By sheer coincidence, I was flying to Eindhoven on Amstrad business, taking a small plane from Stapleford airport near my home, so I told Roach that if could set up a meeting on the same day with Arnesen, we could see if there was a deal to be done. After dealing with my Amstrad business, I met Roach at PSV's stadium, along with Popescu and his agent. Finally, it seemed they were open to discussions. Clearly the fact that Klinsmann and Dumitrescu (Popescu's Romanian teammate) had joined Tottenham had got the player's attention.

I'd previously told Roach we were not paying any more than PS2.5m for the player and Roach promised me he'd done a deal, but - typical of him - when I got there no one knew what he was talking about. They looked at me as if I were nuts when I started talking numbers. To cut a long story, the player and his agent, together with the PSV management, went into a separate meeting to discuss Popescu's severance. The net result was that I agreed to pay PSV PS2.7m for the transfer.