Tottenham legend Gary Lineker insists his former club are paying the price for axing Martin Jol last year.

Dutchman Jol is enjoying life with his new side Hamburg as they are sitting pretty atop the German Bundesliga, while his old club Spurs are languishing at the foot of the Premier League under the guidance of his successor Juande Ramos.

And Lineker believes the lack of faith shown by the Tottenham board towards Jol is inhibiting the team's progress now, with Ramos now having been reportedly given six matches to save his job.

"Look how well Jol is doing with Hamburg now. They should have stuck by him,” Lineker told the Sunday Mirror.

"We'll see what happens with Ramos. Generally, if you look at the clubs who have been successful, they are the ones who have stuck by their manager.

"Obviously you need the right one. If they think Ramos is the right guy and knows his stuff then they should give him time."

The ex-England striker, who scored 67 goals in 105 games during his three years at White Hart Lane, has also blamed the club's slump on the departure of the team's three best forwards, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.

"After having a load of strikers they are now struggling up front," said Lineker. "You hope Roman Pavlyuchenko adapts really quickly - but now he's out for a while. It's just been a really tough start for them. Everything that could go wrong has done.

"Defoe has been on fire at Portsmouth. We all know Berbatov was a different case - if he's desperate to go then he's going to go. And losing Keane was another huge blow."

[Guardian-Series]

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