page_title: History of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
section_title: Resurgence and the Champions League (2004–2014)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. / Resurgence and the Champions League (2004–2014)
caption_attribution_description: Photo by Paddy Briggs, taken during Tottenham's 2-0 home victory against Birmingham City in December 2005.
context_page_description: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is a football club based in Tottenham, north London, England. Formed in 1882 as "Hotspur Football Club" by a group of schoolboys, it was renamed to "Tottenham Hotspur Football Club" in 1884, and is commonly referred to as "Tottenham" or "Spurs". Initially amateur, the club turned professional in 1895. Spurs won the FA Cup in 1901, becoming the first, and so far only, non-League club to do so since the formation of the Football League. The club has won the FA Cup a further seven times, the Football League twice, the League Cup four times, the UEFA Cup twice and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1963, the first UEFA competition won by an English team. In 1960–61, Tottenham became the first team to complete The Double in the 20th century.
  Tottenham played in the Southern League from 1896 until 1908, when they were elected to the Football League Second Division. They won promotion to the First Division the following year, and stayed there until the late 1920s. The club played mostly in the Second Division until the 1950s, when it enjoyed a revival, reaching a peak in the 1960s. Fortunes dipped after the early 1970s, but resurged in the 1980s.
context_section_description: In June 2004, Tottenham appointed French team manager Jacques Santini as head coach, with Martin Jol as his assistant and Frank Arnesen as sporting director. In early November, after only 13 games in charge, Santini decided to quit the club, making his the shortest stint by any Spurs manager. Santini was replaced by Jol, and the team managed to secure a ninth-place finish in the 2004–05 season. In June 2005, when Arnesen moved to Chelsea, Spurs appointed Damien Comolli as sporting director. Among the players signed by Jol were Edgar Davids in 2005, Dimitar Berbatov in 2006, and Gareth Bale in May 2007. Players who left included Michael Carrick, who went to Manchester United for a reported £18.6 million in 2006.
  During the 2005–06 season, Spurs spent six months in the top four. Going into the final game of the season, they led Arsenal by a point, but were defeated in their final match—away to West Ham—after many players including Keane and Carrick succumbed to food poisoning from a meal they had the night before. Spurs were pipped to a UEFA Champions League place, but gained a place in the UEFA Cup and achieved their highest finish for 16 years. In 2006–07, they finished fifth for the second-straight year.
  The 2007–08 season saw the club win only one of their first ten League matches, their worst start in 19 years. Jol was sacked, learning of his removal just before a Uefa Cup game on 25 October 2007.  Juande Ramos, formerly of Sevilla, then replaced the Dutchman as manager. Captained by Ledley King, Spurs went on to win the League Cup, beating Chelsea 2–1 in the League Cup Final in February 2008. Luka Modrić was signed towards the end of the season, but Berbatov and Keane were sold to Manchester United and Liverpool respectively in the summer as both wanted to leave. Tottenham made their worst start to a season in the club's history in 2008–09, their failure to register a win in eight League games leaving them bottom of the Premier League.  Ramos and Director of Football Damien Comolli were dismissed on 25 October 2008, amid Levy's criticism of the failure to recruit suitable replacements for Berbatov and Keane.
caption: Robbie Keane prepares to take a penalty at White Hart Lane, 2005
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