Former Spurs midfielder claims Alan Sugar once kept him in his house to block Man Utd transfer
Former Tottenham midfielder Darren Anderton has said that former Spurs chairman Alan Sugar refused to let him leave his house in order to stop him from joining Manchester United.
In an interview with FourFourTwo, Anderton revealed that both Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers had triggered his £4 million release clause in the summer of 1995.
It turns out that future Apprentice host Sugar resorted to some rather desperate measures to keep Anderton in North London.
Speaking to the February 2020 issue of FourFourTwo, the midfielder said, “I went to the chairman’s house and Sugar wouldn’t let me leave until I’d signed a new contract to take out the clause.
“He gave me a ridiculous contract, but I didn’t actually want to go either. Spurs fans had been good to me, I’d just had the best year of my career, and Euro 96 was coming.”
Anderton also insisted that he had no problem with Sugar and that the business tycoon had the club’s best interest at heart.
He said, “Generally I had no problem with him. He desperately wanted to do well for Tottenham.
“He was always floating around the dressing room with Claude Littner. People didn’t like Claude. He did some funny things, cost-cutting.”
Although the 47-year-old did admit that he didn’t think Manchester United will go on to be as successful as they were in subsequent years, he insisted that he does not regret his decision to snub the Red Devils to stay with Spurs.
The former England international added, “I thought, ‘They’ve lost Mark Hughes, Kanchelskis, Paul Ince… I’m better off where I am’. Obviously not!
“Then Becks came through at United, and Teddy went there in 1997. Two years earlier he had begged me not to go! Of course, I’d have wanted to win titles like the Champions League, but I’ve no regrets.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Sugar did make a lot of missteps during his time as Spurs chairman, he always had the club’s best interest at heart and this revelation is another proof of that. Despite all the criticism that Daniel Levy gets, he like Sugar is also a Tottenham fan through and through and has always wanted the best for the club. We are extremely lucky to have had Spurs supporters running the club for the last few decades rather than someone with little understanding of the club’s history and traditions.
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