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Rebrov gave everything

last updated Friday 17th January 2003, 10:40 AM
One vital statistic will follow Sergei Rebrov across London when he completes his move to Fulham ... £687,000 per goal.

That figure will almost certainly haunt him because it is an astonishingly poor rate of return for an £11 million striker whose 16 goals in 48 games at Tottenham established him as one of the most costly flops in White Hart Lane history.

Fulham target Sergei Rebrov
Fulham target Sergei Rebrov
Sergei Rebrov Stories
Rebrov is understood to have agreed personal terms on a move to Fulham for less than £1m after lengthy talks yesterday.

The cut-price fee could rise to £2.5m depending on appearances and Rebrov is thought to have agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Yet when he first arrived from Dynamo Kiev in May 2000 the name Rebrov used to strike fear into opponents and Spurs fans blinked in disbelief that such an accomplished Champions League performer would choose White Hart Lane as his adopted home.

It must all seem a world away now as he prepares to make his way across London to rediscover the form which established his reputation.

But £687,000-per-goal should also motivate Rebrov, still only 28, as he sets about the task.

Put simply, two goals will give Fulham a better rate of return on their £1m investment - and someone with his pedigree could do that in an afternoon.

It is particularly difficult for those outside football to comprehend just how it must feel to be hailed as a record buy one minute and a disaster the next. It is no wonder the likeable, fishing-mad lad from the Ukraine became disillusioned and angry with his life at White Hart Lane where his lack of opportunity led to frequent stories of his dismay.

But anyone who has spent any time at the Spurs Lodge training ground over the past year will understand his frustration. On the days when he was around - and those have become increasingly fewer - he cut a lonely figure running round the Chigwell complex on solo training runs.

Requests for interviews were politely turned down, his shoulders shrugged in surprise that he was deemed newsworthy. When the subject of his future was raised, he would offer reporters a polite: "Ask Mr Hoddle, not me."

Then, while other players such as Teddy Sheringham, Simon Davies and Matthew Etherington went for an afternoon game of golf, Rebrov would pack up his kit into the back of his Range Rover and go home.

No one knew what he did when he got there; no one seemed to care.

So why did it all go wrong? The simple answer is that he was never given a chance by either former manager George Graham or his successor Glenn Hoddle. But that is not the whole story. Much of his failure at Spurs was down to his inability to adapt to the rigours of the English game.

"His style was just not conducive to English football," said Graham. "When I saw him play for Kiev and with Andrei Shevchenko, he was brilliant.

But it just didn't happen for him at Spurs. It seemed to me he could not reproduce his Kiev form for Tottenham. There was nothing wrong with his attitude. He never moaned to me and was a very good trainer - never late and he gave everything.

"Sergei learned English and he gave 100 per cent when he was picked. He wasn't like some foreign players who come over here and make comments about their team-mates. He was an excellent professional. On the field he was no coward and went in for his share of tackles. He wasn't frightened. It was just the way we play in the Premiership that was the problem."

Jean Tigana, set to be his new manager at Fulham, presumably disagrees, but no one doubts that

Rebrov will need to toughen up if he is to make a belated mark here.

At Spurs, the reality of life in the English game was brought home to him time and again when referees waved play on to brutal tackles that left him on his backside with arms outstretched in amazement.

His first season under Graham was his best but even then his penchant for moving back to the halfway line to collect the ball was a sign of his growing frustration. Still, he had his moments. His winning goal away at Manchester City in February 2001 was followed by what was possibly his finest hour - two goals in the 3-2 FA Cup quarter-final win over West Ham.

There were signs that Rebrov was starting to get to grips with the English game and he finished the season with 12 goals. But, crucially, Graham had been sacked before the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal and replaced by Hoddle.

That summer Hoddle brought in Sheringham, who is widely seen as one of the main reasons that Rebrov's Spurs career stalled. Manager, player and fans were all vexed by the same question: could the two play in the same side?

It was clear from the start Hoddle thought not. So much so that Rebrov began to become more outspoken every time he returned to his homeland to play for his country.

Stories of clashes with Hoddle surfaced and, on more than one occasion, the manager was forced to speak to the striker about his remarks.

Hoddle tried his best to educate Rebrov into playing his game closer to the opposition's goal but it proved an impossible task. Rebrov scored one league goal last season, against Fulham, and his last strike came in the 5-1 demolition of Chelsea in the Worthington Cup semi-final at White Hart Lane on 23 January last year.

Since then, there has been nothing other than the customary training sessions, a spot of fishing at a private lake, and nights apparently spent as a radio ham. His personal call-sign, UT5UDX, is known in almost 300 countries.

It might just be worth tuning in this evening to hear any parting shot from White Hart Lane.
Source Evening Standard by Adrian Curtis