page_title: 2008–09 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season
section_title: August
hierarchical_section_title: 2008–09 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season / 2008–09 season / August
context_page_description: The 2008–09 season was Tottenham Hotspur's 17th season in the Premier League, their 30th successive season in the top division of the English football league system and the 126th year of their history.
  After finishing 11th in the 2007–08 Premier League, Tottenham began the season under the leadership of Spaniard Juande Ramos, drafted in to replace Martin Jol midway through the previous season. However, after suffering the worst start of a league season in Tottenham's history, with no wins in eight league games and only two points, Ramos was sacked and replaced by seasoned manager Harry Redknapp, who quickly eliminated the continental structure that the club had established over the past seasons. Tottenham's league form improved and mainly remained positive with the final position of eighth a far cry from the relegation places Tottenham had occupied throughout the campaign. Spurs also reached the final of the League Cup, and, as the reigning champions, faced league leaders Manchester United but lost 4–1 on penalties. With an average attendance of 35,929, Tottenham had the ninth-highest attendance in the Premier League.
context_section_description: Tottenham's league season got off to a poor start with a 2–1 loss to Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium, followed a week later by another 2–1 defeat to Sunderland, with debutant Djibril Cissé scoring the winning goal in the final minutes. The defeats against Middlesbrough and Sunderland were punctuated with the ongoing transfer saga concerning Dimitar Berbatov and Manchester United; rumours that Berbatov had refused to play (later revealed to be true) began to circulate, along with the theory that this refusal from one of Tottenham's best players was hurting team morale. Tottenham got their first point of the season eight days after the Sunderland loss in a 1–1 draw at Stamford Bridge against title contenders Chelsea. With both the end of August and the summer transfer window approaching, the Berbatov saga ended with him making a transfer to Manchester United for £30.75 million and young striker Fraizer Campbell coming on loan for the entire season. Manchester City had tried to enter the fray in the final hours with a £30 million bid accepted but Berbatov rejected the move. Vedran Ćorluka also completed his move from Manchester City to join Croatian teammate Luka Modrić and provide competition for the right-back position.
caption: Stamford Bridge was the venue for Tottenham's first point of the season
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