Tottenham director Keith Mills admits manager Martin Jol is under pressure to keep his job.

Speaking last Friday, 24 hours before the defeat in the derby against Arsenal, Mills, who was central to London's winning Olympic bid for 2012, told the Guardian: "We've had a lousy start to the season, there's no getting away from that.

"Actually, last season Tottenham had not a great start and had a great run up to Christmas, then dropped off after Christmas, then had a great finish.

"Whenever a football team has a rough time and starts struggling, everyone says 'Let's fire the manager'. It puts a huge pressure on the manager and the chairman and the directors."

Mills, like his fellow Spurs directors, dismissed a situation exacerbated by the board's wooing of Sevilla's coach, Juande Ramos, as "mostly media hype". But there were words of warning for the manager.

"Martin's focusing on the team; we built a fantastic team in the summer, £30m was spent on players," Mills added. "So there's no excuse, we have some great players there but we just have to make sure they play together. He's a great manager but he, along with every Premiership manager, will have the media baying for his blood if he doesn't win matches. That goes with the territory."