Tottenham Hotspur's campaign has rarely strayed from the shambolic so it should have come as little surprise that the presentation of their new manager, Juande Ramos, descended similarly into farce.

The club's chairman, Daniel Levy, chose not to attend the Spaniard's unveiling as Spurs' seventh permanent manager in a decade in the Oak Room at White Hart Lane, while Ramos marked the occasion by insisting he had not met any Tottenham representatives in a Spanish hotel in August to discuss the position then held by Martin Jol.

That assertion was made despite photographs published in the Spanish press of Ramos leaving the hotel Alfonso XIII with the then Spurs vice-chairman, Paul Kemsley, and the club secretary John Alexander.

Sevilla have reacted furiously to their manager's defection and have yet to agree a compensation package with Spurs, with their president Jose Maria del Nido still threatening to report the Premier League club to Fifa.

Yet the Tottenham director of football Damien Comolli, who unveiled the new manager in Levy's absence, claimed yesterday that he felt "no embarrassment" at the way the appointment had been made.

Ramos, who has signed a contract until the end of the 2010-11 season, will select his first line-up in tonight's League Cup tie against Blackpool. He also denied telling a televised press conference in Seville two months ago that he had received "a dizzying offer" from Tottenham.

"I didn't say that," he said through an interpreter. "I said I'd had about three or four offers from different clubs. I'd just won the Uefa Cup and, while I'd never say no, it wasn't the right moment to leave Sevilla. It was the right time now. There were some pictures in Seville but I can honestly say I didn't meet any one of the Tottenham directors."

Spurs insisted there was nothing sinister in Levy's non-appearance despite his presence in the stadium at the time, with the duty of unveiling the new manager apparently always due to fall to the director of football. Comolli cut an uncomfortable figure as he attempted to endorse the role he plays at the club and justify the torturous manner in which Jol was sacked.

Asked whether he was embarrassed that the club officials' meeting with Ramos had been exposed, and the manner in which Jol had effectively been a dead man walking for the last two months, Comolli said: "No, I'm not embarrassed. These things unfortunately . . . sometimes you have to make decisions like this in football. It was a decision we had to take. I hope we are taken seriously considering the work done by the chairman and the board as they have changed this club around in the last six years. They deserve respect for that.

"Results matter, and how you get results matters. One of the reasons Juande is here is because he gets results with style. I think that's how you get respect. I'm 100 per cent convinced that the technical director role works - 99 per cent of the clubs around the world use that system, win trophies, win football matches. So it works.

"Martin always knew the players we bought. I enjoyed working with him and had a good relationship with him. As for my own position, if the chairman and the board are not happy with what I'm doing, they'll probably ask me to leave. But 50 per cent or 60 per cent of what I do is about the future of the club and 40 per cent is about the club now."

Comolli also insisted the Spurs hierarchy had not informed Jol that he had to secure Champions League football. "We just said we wanted to do as well as possible and do better, year on year," he said. "That's all. No one told Martin we had to achieve Champions League football."

That claim was made despite the Spurs board having released a statement on August 21st which read: "We want Champions League football. We, the board, owe it to the club and the supporters to constantly assess our position and performance and to ensure that we have the ability to operate and compete at that level."

Ramos's initial concerns will be less about qualifying for the Champions League and more about steering Spurs away from the Championship, with the under-achieving squad third bottom in the Premiership.

"This is a great club, a great team," said Ramos who feels his English is good enough to be used in training and on the touchline if, understandably, not yet in the public glare. His assistant, Gus Poyet, and fitness coach, Marcos Alvarez, both speak good English. "Our aims are to bring Tottenham to the top of the table, where they deserve to be.

"We'd had some bad results at Sevilla so it seemed the right time to come. There was some uncertainty because we were not achieving good results in the league. But my aim now is to start winning games, which will translate into raising our players' confidence. Once we've won some matches, our aims for the Premiership will change accordingly."