Tottenham have complained to the Premier League over Manchester United and Liverpool's pursuit of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane.

 

Sir Alex Ferguson's comments that he expects a deal to go through for Berbatov have infuriated Spurs as has Rafael Benitez's interest in Keane.

 

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy singled out United boss Ferguson for criticism.

 

"It is unbelievably hypocritical given his comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid," Levy said.

 

"The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player. I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we have not accepted any offer for either

 

"Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside of Premier League rules of conduct."

 

Ferguson announced on Friday that United had made Tottenham an offer for 27-year-old Berbatov and that he was confident that the deal would go through.

 

Benitez admitted earlier this month that he was interested in bringing Keane, 28, to Anfield this summer.

 

But it was Ferguson's comments that prompted Levy to speak out about the attempts to unsettle his strikers.

 

"Today's public comments by Manchester United's manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players.

 

"It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date

 

"As a result, we have today made an official complaint to the Premier League about the conduct of Manchester United. 606: DEBATE

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"Benitez made similar comments in respect of Robbie recently and we made an official complaint to the Premier League about the conduct of Liverpool earlier this week.

 

"I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we have not accepted any offer for either."

 

The Premier League confirmed they had received Tottenham's official complaints in relation to breaches of the Premier League rules K3 and K8.

 

The next step will see the Premier League board write to all parties before deciding whether to take further action.

 

United issued a brief response to Tottenham's claims with a spokesman saying: "We are aware of the allegation and will co-operate with the Premier League as necessary."

 

Source: BBC Sport

 

Thoughts?

 

A good PR strategy to take away from the news that Tottenham Hotspur lost a libel case in France last week regarding a slander libel case brought against them by former Spurs manager Jacques Santini.

 

Still in my view most Premiership club Chairman & Managers are two faced hypocrites.

 

They should let them get on with doing it, otherwise the Premiership will quickly descend into the farce that badly affected Formula 1 with spying which has been going on since the days of Fangio a year ago.

It's utterly pathetic. As much as I hate Ronaldo, Fergie and Manchester United, Real Madrid have never bid 1 cent for Ronaldo, they were just 'tapping up', whereas Man Utd HAVE made an offer to buy Berbatov, and as far as I'm concerned saying you've made a bid for a player and that you hope he'll be your player shortly is fine, what exactly is wrong with that? He may have a point re Rafa though, AFAIK they haven't actually bid for Keane.

 

Oh, and John Bostock anyone?

 

It's utterly pathetic. As much as I hate Ronaldo, Fergie and Manchester United, Real Madrid have never bid 1 cent for Ronaldo, they were just 'tapping up', whereas Man Utd HAVE made an offer to buy Berbatov, and as far as I'm concerned saying you've made a bid for a player and that you hope he'll be your player shortly is fine, what exactly is wrong with that? He may have a point re Rafa though, AFAIK they haven't actually bid for Keane.

 

Oh, and John Bostock anyone?

 

Exactly. It's so hypocritical from Spurs. And Liverpool have made a bid for Keane too, the deal's expected to be wrapped up next week when the club doctor returns back to Anfield.

 

You don't see Liverpool reporting Harry Kednapp for talking about Benayoun or Crouch, saying they'd like to buy the players. This is football for you. I really think it's just Levy trying to tell the fans that they don't wanna sell Keane and Bebatov, but really both are on their way out very quickly.

Yes Liverpool FC have according to the Liverpool Echo made a pretty generous bid for Robbie Keane on Thursday.

It's utterly pathetic. As much as I hate Ronaldo, Fergie and Manchester United, Real Madrid have never bid 1 cent for Ronaldo, they were just 'tapping up', whereas Man Utd HAVE made an offer to buy Berbatov, and as far as I'm concerned saying you've made a bid for a player and that you hope he'll be your player shortly is fine, what exactly is wrong with that? He may have a point re Rafa though, AFAIK they haven't actually bid for Keane.

 

Oh, and John Bostock anyone?

 

Bostock was never tapped up at all

 

We approached Simon Jordan before any discussions with the player, Simon Jordan described our dealings as being "all above board" the issue Jordan had was with the tribunal fee as Spurs and Jordan agreed to a tribunal

It's utterly pathetic. As much as I hate Ronaldo, Fergie and Manchester United, Real Madrid have never bid 1 cent for Ronaldo, they were just 'tapping up', whereas Man Utd HAVE made an offer to buy Berbatov, and as far as I'm concerned saying you've made a bid for a player and that you hope he'll be your player shortly is fine, what exactly is wrong with that? He may have a point re Rafa though, AFAIK they haven't actually bid for Keane.

 

Oh, and John Bostock anyone?

 

OWF made a bid of £18m which is barely half of what we are looking for, we rejected it out of hand and rightly so, OWF went to the media as a deliberate strategy to get Berbs to have a word with Levy to get us to accept the pathetic 18m on offer and to encourage Berbs to act like a c**k to try and force a move

 

I have no objection to Berbs leaving, good riddance but if OWF thinks he can play media games to land Berbs on the cheap he has had one scotch too many

Bostock was never tapped up at all

Well neither are Keane or Berbatov. If Daniel Levy can complain about Liverpool and Man Utd then a Crystal Palace complaint would be just as valid!