He has to. Already at the bottom of the Premier League and hearing much mumbling of discontent at his management methods and the general coaching structure at his club, Ramos suddenly has to place enormous faith in the UEFA Cup, even at this earlier stage. If Spurs go out of the competition today then the two preferable sources of success for their supporters have already done one. The two domestic Cups, one of which Spurs hold, become vital - and given that Liverpool are the next opponents in their defence of the Carling Cup, there isn't a lot of confidence in Tottenham's capability of clinging on to the trophy much longer.
With or without a European exit today, however, our game at White Hart Lane this Sunday has been mentioned in passing as the make-or-break game for Ramos. If Hull City win, which now looks more than possible (even after winning at Arsenal I'm loath to say it's likely), then Ramos could be ditched. This is something Hull City have got used to recently.
Last season, we managed to get rid of two managers in the space of four days by having the nerve to win against their clubs. Both were Lancastrian too, which added a childish yet nice territorial glow to the news. However, you could also muse that a lack of disrespect was being shown to Hull City by the boards of Burnley and Preston North End in taking their decisions, as they were essentially saying that defeat to the Tigers was simply not acceptable.
We coped with it. Steve Cotterill's sacking by Burnley after we won there courtesy of a 93rd minute header by Michael Turner (celebration above) seemed a trifle surprising; however, the prophetic Tiger Nation spent three-quarters of a game singing "you're getting sacked in the morning" most cruelly at Paul Simpson as we battered his guileless and clueless Preston side at the KC and it was, indeed, the next morning that the news was released that Simpson, a decent man, had been relieved of his duties. We shouldn't have been so proud of ourselves though, as revenge was served at a cold Deepdale under new manager Alan Irvine a mere 24 days later when they tonked us by the same scoreline, 3-0.
The third game in this sequence, after beating Burnley and Preston and prompting managerial merry-go-rounds to turn vigorously, was away at Scunthorpe. A 2-1 win hid how easy this match was against our primitive south bank neighbours, but despite the pleading and jocularity from the away end, Nigel Adkins kept his job...
More pertinently, before any of this we had secured a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, a game which spelt the end of his tenure at Selhurst Park for our own former boss, Peter Taylor. We have a sizeable number of morons who dislike Taylor, despite his achievements while managing Hull City, and they got what they wished for when Simon Jordan went to his axe cupboard the Monday morning after the game.
Anyway, a win for City at White Hart Lane could, even allowing for UEFA Cup progress today (Spurs are still ahead on aggregate as I type these words), do for Ramos what wins at Selhurst Park, Turf Moor and the KC did for his less glamorous contemporaries in Taylor, Cotterill and Simpson. I don't necessarily hope for this as I'm not one for unlocking the lions' den through vocal jibes, even for highly-paid football managers, but it would be some coup nonetheless.
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