UNITED KINGDOM: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson says he's disappointed how the Gabriel Heinze saga has ended while Martin Jol reflects on a diificult week as Tottenham Hotspur Manager

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday (August 24) that he is disappointed at how the Heinze saga had unfolded and questioned the role of Heinze's agent Roberto Rodriguez. Argentina international, who made 83 appearances for United sealed a transfer to Real Madrid these week. Heinze's departure from United after a three-year spell followed a dispute over a letter from the club giving the 29-year-old defender the right to leave for an agreed fee. "We are disappointed. I don't think Gabi was getting the right information from his agents during the negotiations we had with him, and that's a disappointing feature," Ferguson said at the news conference. "I have no axe to grind with Gabi. When he played he was a warrior and a committed player but the issue is how much he really listened to us rather than his agent." Despite investing heavily in their squads in the offseason, United has collected just two points in the first three rounds. They will look for their first win when they meet Tottenham Spurs at Old Traford on Sunday. Tottenham had a bad start into the season as well, collecting two defeats in the opening two matches against Sunderland and Everton before beating Derby County 4-0 last weekend. Spurs manager Martin Jol said he ended the most traumatic week of his managerial career. "It wasn't the best of weeks, I can certainly remember a lot of better weeks but you have to get on with the job. As you heard in the statements the chairman is fully behind me, fully behind my stuff and behind the players which is very important, so I don't think there is an issue any more," he said at the news conference on Friday. The prospects of the 51-year-old Dutchman remaining at White Hart Lane appeared to be slim when club officials were photographed with Sevilla coach Juande Ramos, who later said he had no intention of leaving Spain for north London. Jol, speaking at a news conference on Friday, said he had "no issue" with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, a "professional relationship with director of football Damien Comolli" and also accepted the pressure of getting Spurs in the Champions League for the first time by finishing fourth. "Normally if there is an issue, you seat down with the board and they give you the sack or they don't give you the sack and in my situation that was never the problem. The only thing we wanted is to do better on the Top 5 situation over the last two years and of course I will do the same, because that is probably the big complement if people want instant success and we gave them that," he added.

ITN Source | August 25, 2007

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