Spurs target O'Neill

Martin O'Neill would be Tottenham's No1 target if they decide to replace Glenn Hoddle.

Standard Sport also understands that the Celtic manager wants a return to the Premiership and would view the White Hart Lane job as a great challenge.

Hoddle is under mounting pressure after leading the club to their worst start in the Premiership, with only four points from five games. That pressure increased over the weekend with the 4-2 defeat at Chelsea.

The Spurs board have not yet decided that time is up for Hoddle but must see improved results over the next month. Chairman Daniel Levy is away for the next three weeks and no decision is likely to be made until the international break in October.

But the board believe they have backed their manager fully by giving him £12million to spend in the transfer market this summer, the second largest buying spree behind Chelsea.

The board's dilemma is whether their belief in Hoddle is strong enough to give him more time to turn things around, or make the change sooner rather than later in order to save the season. O'Neill has a one-year rolling contract with Celtic, which has a release clause in January. That gives him the opportunity of leaving Celtic Park without breaking his contract. Until then, Spurs' fallback would be for their director of football, David Pleat, to take over in a caretaker capacity.

It is understood O'Neill believes he has gone as far as he can in Scottish football because the present structure cannot sustain a long-term European challenge.

O'Neill was originally tipped to take over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United but the Scot's U-turn over his retirement ended that. He has also been linked with the Liverpool job but in recent weeks Gerard Houllier has revived the Anfield team.