Pleat could keep Spurs seat warm for O'Neill

TOTTENHAM could retain David Pleat as their manager for the rest of the season while they wait for Martin O'Neill to join them from Celtic at the end of the campaign.

The idea is gaining in appeal for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy who looks prepared to bide his time over the next long-term appointment following Glenn Hoddle's dismissal last week.

Spurs have had a dozen managers since they last won the league championship under Bill Nicholson 42 years ago and Levy knows he must recruit the right candidate next time. He clearly sees caretaker Pleat as a safe pair of hands in the meantime.

Pleat, who is believed to earn around £300,000 a year as Tottenham's Director of Football, still refuses to discuss his own future.

"I will continue to look after the shop until someone says different or we have a meeting to discuss who is available or suitable," said Pleat in the London Evening Standard.

"Then it will be a group decision. The last thing I've spoken about is the profile of the type of person who might run a club like Tottenham."

There are suggestions Levy will open talks with Celtic later this week aimed at securing a deal which will see O'Neill return to the Premiership from Glasgow to take charge at White Hart Lane next term.

He still owns a house in Buckinghamshire, and is said to be attracted to such a proposition provided personal terms are attractive.

O'Neill insisted the only previous dialogue he had with Tottenham was when rejecting their attempts to prise away strikers Henrik Larsson and Craig Beattie from Celtic Park in the summer.

Shortly afterwards Hoddle embarked on a £12million (17m) spending spree on players, having survived a close vote among the Spurs board over his future in the job.

A string of defeats, which plunged Tottenham into the bottom three finally ended the former England manager's two-year reign at the club where he had been an icon as a player.

And Pleat has since filled in as caretaker with a Carling Cup win at Coventry and a goalless Premiership draw at Manchester City on Sunday.

Blackburn Rovers' chief Graeme Souness has also been touted as a possible contender but continues to insist how happy he is in his job at Ewood Park.