Arnesen: Santini has a problem

14 April 2012

Frank Arnesen today insisted there was no rift between him and Jacques Santini.

The Frenchman quit Tottenham nine days ago citing "personal problems" but has since blamed the breakdown of his relationship with the club's sporting director for his exit.

In a venomous interview on French television, Santini spoke of "a problem of where responsibility lay in the club where we could never reach agreement".

Describing his departure as a "divorce", the former head coach also claimed his role was poorly defined and that he does not have any major personal problems.

He made it clear that Arnesen's position as the club's key decisionmaker on signing new players was an area of conflict and, ultimately, made his job untenable.

But today the Dane refused to rise to the bait: "If he has a problem, then it is his problem," he said. "I have no problems with Mr Santini. I stand by what I said previously. Absolutely nothing has changed.

"He is the one in this situation and it is up to him how he handles it, so you will have to ask him why he has said these things.

"The chairman has made his announcement and that is enough for the club. I want to concentrate on the future and working for the benefit of Tottenham."

In the immediate aftermath of Santini's departure, Arnesen went on a media offensive, making clear that unspecified personal problems were the only reason for the shock resignation. He also dismissed reports of behind-the-scenes rows over transfer policy and the role of the head coach last weekend, saying: "It is absolutely not true. There is only one thing that made him resign and that is his own personal problems."

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was furious with Santini's comments and issued a strongly worded denial, accusing his former employee of being "less than honest with us".

Other club sources recall a highlevel meeting attended by Santini around a month before his departure in which he is understood to have said: "I have no problems with Frank."

They also point out that the responsibilities of the head coach were detailed in Santini's contract and the separation of powers on transfers was made clear from the start.

Spurs' anger also stems from the fact Santini personally signed off the club statement - which mentioned the "personal problems" - before his departure.

But the former France coach claims he only agreed to do this as part of a cover-up, telling L'Equipe: "I'd like to say I have no problems with my family even though we gave this as the reason because we thought it was a good reason for the press release."

Santini turned down an invitation to attend Saturday's north London derby as Levy's guest in order to work as a pundit on French television and now, given the bitterness of the feud, he will not be welcomed back.

Meanwhile, defender Dean Richards this week faces a traumatic wait to find out if he has a brain tumour.

The 30-year-old, who has not played for six months, is suffering an "abnormality on the brain" and has undergone a scan to find out more details. Richards, who expects to hear the results on Wednesday, said: "I'm waiting for this week's results before jumping to any conclusions.

"I'm nervous but that is only human. I'm sure something as serious as this would affect anyone. And I certainly know how serious it could be for me."

A Spurs spokesman added: "The club is supporting Dean in every possible way."

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