Tottenham sack Ramos and bring in Redknapp

(CNN) -- Struggling English Premier League club Tottenham sacked under-pressure coach Juande Ramos late on Saturday night, and Harry Redknapp then confirmed that he will take over as manager.

The Spaniard paid the price after the London side's worst-ever start to a season, which sees Spurs bottom of the table with two points from eight league games ahead of Sunday's clash with Bolton.

Tottenham announced that they had been given permission to talk to Redknapp, manager of Premier League rivals Portsmouth.

Redknapp then told Sky Sports News after midnight that he had agreed to move to White Hart Lane after Portsmouth accepted an $8 million offer of compensation for the 61-year-old. He said he had been contacted on Friday after returning from the UEFA Cup defeat away to Portuguese team Braga.

"It's a great opportunity for me. I love Portsmouth, I've never been happier than what I was there, but it's a great deal for Portsmouth getting £5 million for me," he said.

"We needed the money, things are tight. Now I've got the chance to see what I can do to see what I can do at Tottenham. It's a big, big opportunity to manage a really big club before I retire."

Redknapp's move is expected to be officially completed before the end of this weekend, but he said he expected to meet his new players before the Bolton game.

Sporting director Daniel Comolli has also been fired along with Ramos's assistants Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez, Tottenham confirmed on the club's Web site.

Development squad coach Clive Allen and youth-team manager Alex Inglethorpe will take charge for the home match against Bolton, the club said.

Chairman Daniel Levy has acted a year and a day after he fired former manager Martin Jol, having earlier begun his bid to bring in Ramos from Spanish club Sevilla.

Ramos was a popular choice with the club's fans, despite general unhappiness with the way that Dutchman Jol -- now in charge of German club Hamburg -- was ousted.

Jol was unhappy that Comolli had the final say in player transfers, and the sporting director has faced considerable criticism in recent months following the departures of star strikers Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane.

Tottenham were able to bring in only Roman Pavlyuchencko before the summer transfer window closed, and Ramos has said that he believed the Russia forward could not play together with his only other senior striker, $34 million signing Darren Bent.

Ramos made an immediate impact last season when Tottenham won the League Cup, beating Chelsea in the final, but his side's form slumped after that.

In 54 games in charge, he won 21 matches and suffered defeat in 17.

Their UEFA Cup group campaign also got off to a poor start on Thursday when they slipped to an unconvincing 2-0 defeat at Udinese.

Comolli moved to White Hart Lane in September 2005 after Frank Arnesen joined Chelsea, having previously been a technical director with French club St Etienne and a scout with London rivals Arsenal.

Redknapp turned down the chance to take over at Newcastle United a year ago, then went on to lead Portsmouth to victory in the FA Cup final in his second spell at Fratton Park, earning qualification for a European competition for the first time in the club's history.

He has previously managed Tottenham's London rivals West Ham, as well as Southampton and lower league side Bournemouth.

Redknapp's appointment should see Tottenham abandon the director of football role held by Arnesen and Comolli that Levy has championed for the past few years.

Redknapp left Portsmouth for the first time in 2004 after being angered by the appointment of Velimir Zajec, claiming that his position had been undermined. He only returned to Fratton Park after being guaranteed that he would have full control over team affairs.

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