It has previously been claimed that Juande Ramos was a tough boss to work for during his time at Tottenham Hotspur, but now Darren Bent has revealed just how intense it was to work for the Spaniard, including how one of his teammates ended up in hospital.
Juande Ramos lasted exactly one year and one day as Tottenham manager between October 2007 and October 2008, overseeing just 54 games as the Lilywhites boss.
However, among those 54 games was the incredible League Cup final win over Chelsea, with the esteemed coach guiding Spurs to their last piece of silverware. Ramos was ultimately sacked after finishing 11th in the Premier League that season, and making a bad start to the following campaign.
Ramos himself has recently discussed his time at Spurs, revealing how he wishes he had got to spend longer at the club and how he fulfilled a ‘dream’ by coaching in the English league with the North London side (MSN).
Bent recalls how Ramos regime left teammate on a drip
Darren Bent has commented on Ramos’ reign previously, when he told FourFourTwo magazine (as relayed by The Daily Star) how the manager lost the dressing room over his dietary restrictions.
Now, Bent has told talkSPORT just how gruelling it was to be coached by Ramos: “Juande came in and changed things drastically. He changed the food, the requirements, your body fat, the weight of you. It was so tough when he first came, a player, I won’t mention his name, he ended up on a drip.
“Because he had to lose that much weight that quickly, his body was not used to it. A well-known, established player ended up on a drip. He went to hospital. This is the thing, I would’ve never looked at him and thought, ‘He’s big’. He was in great nick.
“Juande came in and went for fine margins. There was one meat option in the canteen, one fish option. [This player] collapsed, he had nothing left! The manager came in and said, ‘Where is so-and-so?’ And the physio responded, ‘He’s in hospital, he collapsed’. When he came back, he had to maintain it.
“Fair play to Juande, he wanted everyone at a certain weight and body fat. All I can remember was no ketchup. No salt and pepper. All we could have was a bit of olive oil, bit of rice, bit of veg. No crumble.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Obviously diet is hugely important to a professional footballer’s overall performance, but when it leads to hospitalisation, it’s obviously gone too far.