A member of the anti Sugar brigade summed up my feelings about Sugar - "just how long after being rescued, should we have to say thank you for being locked in the cupboard?". There is no doubt Sugar did some good things during his 10 years at the Lane, but overall, as he admitted on MOTD as he left, there were very few high points.

The Sugar years

Together with Terry Venables, Alan Sugar took control of Tottenham Hotpur a month after they lifted the FA Cup for a then record 8th time in June 1991. Spurs were in deep financial trouble and were threatened (however serious this threat actually was is debateable) with closure by the Midland Bank. Robert Maxwell was also rumoured to be interested, so the Venables-Sugar partnership was by a long way the best option for the club - Venables with the football-side & Sugar with the money-side. Sugar became the largest shareholder of the PLC, with Venables risking everything he had (and probably some he had n't) to become the second largest shareholder.

Former manager Peter Shreeve took over the day to day running of the team while Venables concentrated on other matters within the club. A mixed season followed with a decent run in the cup winners cup ended in March by our old rivals Feyernoord, after an excellent win over Porto in the previous round. The semi final of the league cup was reached before a home defeat to Forest meant that this would be the first of the four semi finals we would lose under Sugar. If......... These relative highlights were in contrast with an early exit from the FA Cup and mid season slump in league form that needed a late season revival to stave off the threat of relegation to finish 15th of the 22 team First division. All in all, after the trauma's of the previous season, this was the first step to getting on an even keel.

Spurs were resigned to losing Gazza long before the Final win against Forest and he duly went to Lazio for £5.5m at the end of the season, followed out of the club by Lineker who'd scored an excellent 80 goals in 138 matches in his three seasons at the club. The great feeling during the Man City game when the two heroes of Italia90 scored in the sunshine to set up the first win on the 90/91 would seldom return during the rest of the decade.

Shreeve was replaced by Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence for the start of the 1992/3 season, with Venables never far away. Sugar and Venables had done a good job off the pitch to turn around the debts to allow £1.7m to be spent on the star of Portsmouth's cup run Darren Anderton, one of the hottest young talents in the game, and £2.2m on Notts Forest striker Teddy Sheringham. After a shaky start with injury (Anderton) and moderate form (Sheringham), along with the emergence of Nicky Barmby at the start of 1993 the team really started to gel into the most promising team assembled at Tottenham for a while, and an impressive run of form took them to 8th place in the newly formed Premiership, but despite outplaying Arsenal in the cup semi final, Spurs went down to a late goal to suffer their second semi final defeat in two seasons.

Things looked as bright at this stage as they had done for a while - Spurs had a top management team and some excellent young players playing some great football. Sugar had largely kept himself out of the spotlight apart from the odd dodgy comment (Hotspurs), but it seemed evident that he did not like Venables getting all the acclaim, and him all the abuse for not being a "football person".

The world fell apart when Sugar sacked Venables on the eve of the FA Cup final. Venables used the courts to get reinstated, but it was clear a battle for the club had developed and the partnership was over. A legal battle ensued over the summer, which despite turning up at the High court round the corner from work most Lunchtimes to join the other Spurs fans showing their support for Venables, Sugar won.

In a move to gain popular support, Sugar removed Livermore and Clemence and installed Ossie Ardiles as new manager. While I was pleased we were getting Ossie as manager, not only because he was a former favourite player, but because his pervious managerial posts were relative successes under tight budgets, I was more saddened that the foundations and expectations that had been set the previous spring had been removed.

After a bright start, including an all to rare win at Anfield, Ossie has a nightmare first season, when a 2-0 away win at Oldham on the second last game of the season is needed to stave off relegation. Ossie did not distinguish himself in the transfer market with signings such as Dozzell, Ronnie and Scott and it seemed that all of the good work prepared from the takeover to the court case had been wasted.

Sugar was aware of the need to improve the squad and gave Ossie licence to get the best players from the World cup. Ossie did not disappoint and purchased two of Romania's stars in Popescu and Dumistrescu, and made Sugar aware of the possibility of signing Jurgen Klinsmann. Sugar realised the

1994: Sugar brandishes his cheque book after the World Cup by signing Romanian duo Ilie Dumitrescu and Gica Popescu. He also pulls off a coup by bringing German superstar Jurgen Klinsmann to White Hart Lane.

Despite Tottenham's amazing forward line, they struggle because they leak goals and Ardiles pays the price by losing his job. He is replaced in November by Gerry Francis.

There is one more triumph for Sugar before the year is out; he beats the FA by winning back a six-point penalty and overturning an FA Cup ban imposed because of financial irregularities.

1995: After being reinstated in the FA Cup, some believe Tottenham's name is written on the trophy as they reach the semi-finals. However, it all goes wrong as Spurs are thumped 4-1 by Everton at Elland Road. To add to Sugar's woes, Klinsmann announces he is quitting the club at the end of the season, sparking a war of words between the striker and the chairman.

1996: Francis stabilises matters on the pitch and a late run in the league sees Spurs narrowly miss out on a place in Europe. Hopes are high as the manager sets about building the squad he wants at White Hart Lane.

1997: A poor start to the new season sees injury-ravaged Spurs struggling at the wrong end of the table. There is more trouble for Sugar when Francis resigns and the chairman brings in the little-known Christian Gross from Switzerland, hailing him as the man to take Spurs into the next millennium. Sugar stuns the soccer world again by signing Klinsmann for a second spell in a bid to help steer the club clear of relegation.

1998: Klinsmann keeps Spurs in the Premiership but leaves at the end of the season after a public fall-out with Gross. But at least Tottenham have almost everyone fit for the start of the new season, including World Cup stars Sol Campbell and Darren Anderton. However, they start the new campaign badly, losing 3-1 at Wimbledon and then 3-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday. An angry mob gathers outside the White Hart Lane gates to call for Sugar to quit the club. Before the year is out, Sugar springs yet another surprise on the football world. After sacking Gross, he appoints former Arsenal manager George Graham as the new boss at White Hart Lane.

1999: Graham steadies the ship and towards the end of his first season in charge he delivers Sugar the first trophy of his turbulent reign as Tottenham beat Leicester 1-0 in the final of the Worthington Cup final at Wembley. The new season starts well and Spurs progress in the UEFA Cup by beating FC Zimbru of Moldova. However, Graham's tactics are called into question for the first time as his side take a 1-0 lead to Kaiserslautern but crash out to two late goals.

2000: Sugar backs Graham by making money available in the summer and the manager breaks the club's transfer record by signing Ukrainian striker Sergei Rebrov from Dynamo Kiev for £11million. He spends another £5million on defender Ben Thatcher from Wimbledon and gets Dons goalkeeper Neil Sullivan on a Bosman free transfer. However, the first rumblings among the fans appear as Graham amazes them by selling their idol, French superstar David Ginola to Aston Villa. Although Spurs are unbeaten at home in the league, they struggle to score goals and cannot win away. The campaign to oust Sugar is stepped up as the fans again demonstrate. Finally, after his family suffer intolerable abuse, Sugar announces at the end of the year that he is selling up and does a deal with leisure group ENIC.

2001: Footballing folklore claims Tottenham win a trophy when the year ends in `one', and the omens look good as Spurs reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup without leaving London. Sadly for Sugar, he will not be around to see it if Spurs do go all the way as his departure date is set for the last day of February. Before he goes, he wins a libel case against the Daily Mail, who branded him a "miser" and Sugar donates the winnings to a children's hospital. Sugar's last game as chairman sees Spurs suffer their first home defeat in the Premiership this season. Sugar bows out admitting that a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders.

Firstly, let's nail this myth that Sugar saved the club. He did nothing of the kind. He bought shares. He paid 8 mill for a 50%+ stake in THPLC. He did not take up his option to buy more shares at a later rights issue and so his stake was reduced to 40%.

The crucial word here is "bought". Not "gave", "loaned" or any other philanthropic alternative. Tottenham was an investment opportunity for him. Nothing more. Oh, of course he wanted to make Tottenham a success but he is not an altruist. He is an opportunist and he has been handsomely rewarded with a fourfold increase in the capital he originally invested.

Fair play to him but he didn't save the club. Under the careful stewardship of Nat Solomon, the PLC had renegotiated its loan/overdraft facilities with the Midland. Furthermore, it is perfectly well known that the Midland would never have foreclosed on Tottenham. Such a move would have been a PR disaster and all for the sum of 20 mill - chicken feed in the banking world. Trust me - our future was secure. If you ever hear Sugar regurgitating that old chestnut about a Tesco's where WHL now stands, cough as you splutter, "bullxxx"!

Many of Sugar's apologists point to what they claim is his generosity with regard to transfer funds. There's all sorts of talk about 90 mill spent in the past ten years and, yes, it is true that our overall transfer deficit over the past decade is greater than that of most other clubs. It is also true that this is largely because our managers have bought appallingly. We should not, though, lose sight of who appointed those managers. It is, after all, one of the most crucial roles a chairman must perform.

There is a greater criticism of Sugar's transfer policy. It is that most of the major purchases were in direct response to a perceived crisis: points deduction; Klinsmann leaving because of lack of ambition; Sheringham likewise; threat of relegation. There was never a coordinated and planned strategy of squad improvement.

The sad truth is that Sugar didn't open his wallet at the most crucial times. When Francis wanted Bergkamp (a Spurs fan, no less), Sugar was appalled at the price and baulked. Likewise Ferdinand. Klinsmann wanted assurances of ambition. Sugar couldn't meet his expectations. Opportunities missed. An inability to see that brave investment would reap a rich harvest. That's the story of Sugar's tenure.

Do not underestimate, either, the negative sounds emanating from White Hart Lane during Sugar's time. When the chairman has said enough times that Spurs cannot compete with the top clubs - how quickly he forgot that we were one - then players, fans, media and sponsors soon believe it. A self fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one.

The problem is that the man has no vision, no understanding of football and no courage. He had ambition alright but only on the cheap. And so we had to watch, helpless, as other clubs with other chairmen who did possess the required attributes, left us trailing in their wake.

Sugar likes to point to a shiny, newish stadium as a monument to his years at Tottenham. Whoopy-f'in-doo. Let's examine the facts:

When he bought into Tottenham, our capacity was 36,500. Now, erm.....exactly the same. Manchester United has, in the same time, increased by 50%. Newcastle has nearly doubled. Sunderland has more than doubled. A whole host of other clubs have seen major improvements or have built entirely new stadia. What's so special about Sugar's contribution at Tottenham? In case anyone has forgotten, much of the Park Lane was paid for by the Football Trust and the whole of the Paxton was paid for from the proceeds of a rights issue to which Sugar did not suscribe. Why, then, should he take all the credit?

Sugar also seems unusually proud of Spurs Lodge. It is true that the new training HQ is a huge improvement on the old rented facilities at Chase Lodge but, yet again, they pale by comparison to - or are at least no better than - the new facilities of Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Middlesborough, Leeds, Newcastle and many others. Again, what has Sugar done that is so worthy of praise?

I began by saying that I hold no grudge and I stand by that. For what it's worth, Sugar did at least provide financial stability.

Sadly though, history will remember him as the man who presided over Tottenham's demise as a major force in England. He will be remembered as the man who wasted the huge opportunities offered by the unprecedented surge in football's popularity. He will be remembered as the man who lost Tottenham a new generation of fans and, consequently, the interest of major sponsors and television.

Above all, he will be remembered as the man who misplaced Tottenham's soul. We have become a club divided. The love affair is over and we only stick around because we are already married. We have nowhere else to go.

Like Mary Tudor on her deathbed after losing Calais to France, I suspect that Tottenham's loss to mediocrity will be branded on Alan Sugar's heart.

Unlike Calais, however, Tottenham is not lost forever. There is still a spark. The love affair can be rekindled....