Ex-Tottenham defender Pascal Chimbonda has revealed Juande Ramos’ diet rules were not the hardest thing to deal with during his tenure.
The former Spurs full-back made 36 appearances under the Spaniard, whose bans on sugar, juice and sauce on meals gave him something of an authoritarian label.
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Ramos guided Spurs to their last major trophy as they beat Chelsea in the 2008 League Cup final.
Chimbonda started at Wembley Stadium as his side came from behind to win 2-1 after extra-time.
The trophy came just four months after Ramos’ arrival in north London in October 2007.
The secret to Ramos’ success could’ve been down to the string of changes to the diets of the Spurs squad after feeling he had inherited a team of overweight stars.
For Chimbonda, though, the language barrier was a bigger issue than being told what he could eat with Ramos only speaking Spanish to his players.
The 45-year-old told Inside Spurs: “The assistant coach was speaking English so I think it was more easy to communicate with the players because he was full Spanish. I don’t even think he wanted to speak English, you know.
“So yes it’s hard when you can’t talk, communicate with your manager, with your own players and bring your assistant coach to communicate.
“I think it’s something hard because you don’t have the privacy. If you want to speak to the coach privately you don’t have the privacy with it.”
As for the diet, he explained: “When we say some player is overweight and we have to do the diet on some players so he banned ketchup and sometimes banned sauce. You eat like dry rice.”
But the Frenchman also admitted the diet was a real struggle, adding: “You see like no sauce, you eat your chicken dry. Wow.
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“It was hard but as a footballer if you’re happy on the pitch it doesn’t matter what’s going on outside.”
Ramos was ultimately sacked in October 2008 after a year in charge. with Chimbonda having already left the club for Sunderland.
However, he would later return under Ramos’ replacement Harry Redknapp for a brief second spell.
Across his two stints with Spurs, Chimbonda made 103 appearances, scoring four goals from right-back.
The League Cup triumph remains a highlight for Chimbonda, who added: “When you’re a player, you’re playing to win trophies, titles, you know what I mean and like I said our season was so bad and you know we were 14th I think.
“We weren’t playing well, getting battered every time we go play and we were in a final.
“We said ‘let’s give everything, let’s do everything to win,’ because the game before we beat Arsenal 5-1.
“The confidence was there and we go higher to the final and played in the new Wembley as well. Wembley was everything, it was a big, big game and we won the trophy.
“Chelsea at the time was big… but when you play football it’s 11 men against 11 men. No fear.
“That guy doesn’t have anything different than I’ve got. He’s a man like me. We get everything the same so we go play and we win.
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“You know, we were losing 1-0 but we keep believing in ourselves, we keep believing in all the players we’ve got and we did it.”
Chimbonda is still currently playing in non-league for 10th tier Skelmersdale United.
He joined the club last year, having also spent time as both a player-coach and first-team manager.
