How Spurs were gazumped over Ricketts' Boro deal

The Londoners were gazumped by Middlesbroughwhen the Reebok top scorer switched to The Riverside minutes before the transfer-window closed in a package deal that could be worth more than £3.5m to Wanderers - £2.5m down with £1m linked to appearances plus a substantial sell-on clause.

But Sam Allardyce revealed today that Hoddle was pipped at the post when he could have won the race by a distance.

"Had Tottenham got their bid to the level they got to on Friday earlier in the month, I think Michael would have gone earlier," he explained.

In the end, despite Tottenham's long-standing interest in the player, Wanderers accepted the deal that was best for them, as they always said they would.

And, reacting to reports that Spurs failed because chairman Daniel Levy irritated Wanderers chief Phil Gartside by wanting 'nit-picking' clauses written into the deal, Allardyce maintained: "I don't care what anybody says, Middlesbrough offered more money than Tottenham in the end so that was where he was going."

Boro boss Steve McClaren, who is believed to have offered the Cameroon international Joseph Desire Job in a possible exchange deal, was a big admirer of Ricketts but thought he was heading for White Hart Lane.

"I thought his move to Spurs was a done deal," he admitted. "When I found out that wasn't the case, I jumped in."

Allardyce, who confirmed he had played one bid off against the other to drive the best bargain for Wanderers, always feared a last minute move for the wantaway striker and had taken the precaution of having French duo Pierre-Yves Andre and Florent Laville on stand-by after having them flown in

by private jet on Friday night. He had said he was prepared to "go to the wire" but never thought he would have just a matter of minutes to complete three separate deals.

"We've done great business," he said. "We've strengthened the squad by bringing in three players and lost one. We've allowed somebody to leave who wanted to go and managed to play one (club) against the other to get our valuation - even though it was far too late for my liking."

Once Wanderers had received international clearance to complete the loan signing of Spanish striker Salva Ballesta - the Valencia man was coming to the Reebok whether Ricketts went or not - Allardyce could not sign Andre and Leville until Ricketts was sold and he would not sanction the Ricketts deal until he had the two Frenchmen in his Reebok office, ready to sign their loan deals.

They arrived at 10.30 but had to wait until 11.45 before Ricketts officially became a Middlesbrough player, leaving Wanderers with a desperate race against time to get their registrations lodged before the midnight deadline.

"It went through at 11.59 and ... goodness knows how many seconds," Allardyce said with dramatic effect.

"Some of the business had been taken care of with the two French lads having come over for a couple of days a week or so earlier. But I was just praying they'd get in on time because there'd been massive problems with the weather. Thankfully the snow didn't affect Manchester Airport.

"In the end it was a fantastic effort by all concerned: the agent, Willie McKay, who was the instigator and got the two players over; the players' agents; myself, Brett Warburton (Wanderers' vice-chairman), the chairman in Australia chipping in and having his say; Simon Marland (Wanderers'

secretary) and the girls in the office who stayed behind to help; then the players for a magnificent response to a disappointing performance against Everton to cap it all with a magnificent win!

"We were thrown into 48 hours of sheer hell by the late bid for Michael, which I always knew would happen. It's very, very unusual to do three deals like that with less than 15 minutes to go to the deadline - in fact it might never have been done before. It was only 15 minutes to midnight when we

decided to sign the papers to release Michael, as the two lads who had come in were ready to sign the papers to join us.

"We couldn't have done that transfer under any other circumstances."

MICHAEL Ricketts could have been playing for Glenn Hoddle weeks ago if Spurs had made the bid that sparked a deadline day transfer frenzy.

The Londoners were gazumped by Middlesbrough when the Reebok top scorer switched to The Riverside minutes before the transfer-window closed in a package deal that could be worth more than £3.5m to Wanderers - £2.5m down with £1m linked to appearances plus a substantial sell-on clause.

But Sam Allardyce revealed today that Hoddle was pipped at the post when he could have won the race by a distance.

"Had Tottenham got their bid to the level they got to on Friday earlier in the month, I think Michael would have gone earlier," he explained.

In the end, despite Tottenham's long-standing interest in the player, Wanderers accepted the deal that was best for them, as they always said they would.

And, reacting to reports that Spurs failed because chairman Daniel Levy irritated Wanderers chief Phil Gartside by wanting 'nit-picking' clauses written into the deal, Allardyce maintained: "I don't care what anybody says, Middlesbrough offered more money than Tottenham in the end so that was where he was going."

Boro boss Steve McClaren, who is believed to have offered the Cameroon international Joseph Desire Job in a possible exchange deal, was a big admirer of Ricketts but thought he was heading for White Hart Lane.

"I thought his move to Spurs was a done deal," he admitted. "When I found out that wasn't the case, I jumped in."

Allardyce, who confirmed he had played one bid off against the other to drive the best bargain for Wanderers, always feared a last minute move for the wantaway striker and had taken the precaution of having French duo Pierre-Yves Andre and Florent Laville on stand-by after having them flown in by private jet on Friday night. He had said he was prepared to "go to the wire" but never thought he would have just a matter of minutes to complete three separate deals.

"We've done great business," he said. "We've strengthened the squad by bringing in three players and lost one. We've allowed somebody to leave who wanted to go and managed to play one (club) against the other to get our valuation - even though it was far too late for my liking."

Once Wanderers had received international clearance to complete the loan signing of Spanish striker Salva Ballesta - the Valencia man was coming to the Reebok whether Ricketts went or not - Allardyce could not sign Andre and Laville until Ricketts was sold and he would not sanction the Ricketts deal until he had the two Frenchmen in his Reebok office, ready to sign their loan deals.

They arrived at 10.30 but had to wait until 11.45 before Ricketts officially became a Middlesbrough player, leaving Wanderers with a desperate race against time to get their registrations lodged before the midnight deadline.

"It went through at 11.59 and ... goodness knows how many seconds," Allardyce said with dramatic effect.

"Some of the business had been taken care of with the two French lads having come over for a couple of days a week or so earlier. But I was just praying they'd get in on time.

"In the end it was a fantastic effort by all concerned: the agent, Willie McKay, who got the two players over; the players' agents; myself, Brett Warburton (Wanderers' vice-chairman), the chairman in Australia; Simon Marland (Wanderers' secretary) and the girls in the office who stayed behind to help; then the players for a magnificent response to a disappointing performance against Everton to cap it all with a magnificent win.

"We were thrown into 48 hours of sheer hell by the late bid for Michael, which I always knew would happen. It's very, very unusual to do three deals like that with less than 15 minutes to go to the deadline - in fact it might never have been done before. It was 11.45 when we decided to sign the papers to release Michael, as the two lads who had come in were ready to sign the papers to join us.

"We couldn't have done that transfer under any other circumstances."