Santini was the perfect antithesis of his fellow countryman Wenger

Spurs may have a French cockerel as their emblem, but from the start, Jacques Santini appeared as out of place at White Hart Lane as Christian Gross, who was doomed from the moment he arrived at Tottenham clutching a London Underground ticket.

At least Gross had charm, spoke a form of English and amused us with his motivational techniques, which included putting up a picture of the Matterhorn in the dressing room and instructing his players to imagine climbing it.

Santini, who made Peter Sellers? Inspector Clouseau accent seem like the model of high French, was cold and incomprehensible, the antithesis of his fellow countryman Arsene Wenger.

Wenger arrived at Arsenal eight years ago with nothing like the reputation of Santini but his obvious intelligence and ability to charm an audience allowed him to negotiate the difficult first few months in the country.

Santini, unable to express himself in post-match conferences, was seemingly as reticent in the dressing room, with Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira, who played under him for France, saying: ?He does not talk as much as a boss can.?

Santini displayed the warning signs of a man out of his depth and out of sync with his surroundings a fortnight ago when he refused to leave his office after the defeat by Bolton to comment on Tottenham legend Bill Nicholson, who died that morning, citing an impossible workload.

One small mercy for Tottenham Hotspurs fans is that Nicholson did not survive to experience this latest farce at his beloved club.

And those long-suffering supporters are entitled to ask how the board could get it so horribly wrong after spending all last season apparently combing the world for the right coach, following the sacking of Glenn Hoddle.

Santini never looked like the man to rekindle their glory days and he hardly inspired confidence when he announced that he would have to write off the first few months of the season because he had no idea how long it would take his hastily-assembled team to become a unit.

As I said after their opening Premiership game against Liverpool, when he fielded six debutants, it seemed that he had not so much presided over a measured spending spree as conducted a supermarket trolley dash through Europe and Africa, just managing to sneak through the 10-items-or-fewer aisle.

The blame for this French farce, however, lies with the Spurs? directors, who despite several boardroom coups in the intervening years, do not seem to have improved since Keith Burkinshaw walked out in 1984 and threw a thumb over his shoulder, saying: ?There used to be a football club over there.?

Since then, the board?s staggering incompetence has seen them hire and fire 11 managers, including Peter Shreeves and David Pleat on two occasions, which tells you all you need to know.