Gustavo Poyet

Gustavo Augusto "Gus" Poyet Domínguez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpoʝet]; born November 15, 1967 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a former Uruguayinternational footballer and current manager of English side Brighton & Hove Albion.

During his playing career, Poyet featured for teams including Real Zaragoza, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

After his playing career ended he moved into coaching, with spells as assistant manager to Dennis Wise at Swindon Town and Leeds United. Poyet was also assistant manager to Juande Ramos at Tottenham.

His son Diego currently plays for the academy of Charlton Athletic.

Playing career

A powerful and prolific goalscoring midfielder, Poyet moved to Zaragoza in 1990. His team won the Copa del Rey in 1994 and the Cup Winners' Cup a year later, beating Arsenal in the final. He became Zaragoza's longest-serving foreign player. He scored an impressive 60 goals in 240 games for the club. Poyet joined Chelsea on a free transfer in June 1997.

Not long into his first season at Chelsea, he suffered cruciate ligament damage but recovered to play in the team's successful Cup Winners' Cup final against VfB Stuttgart. The following year he contributed 14 goals - making him the club's 2nd highest scorer - to help Chelsea finish 3rd in the Premiership, including a crucial headed goal in 1-0 win against Leeds United. He also scored the winner for Chelsea in the 1998 UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid. In 1999-00, he scored 18 goals (which again made him Chelsea's 2nd highest scorer), with a scissors-kick volley against Sunderland, a long range strike against SS Lazio and both of Chelsea's goals in the FA Cup semi-final against Newcastle United among the most memorable, as the team won the FA Cup and reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

With the arrival of new manager Claudio Ranieri in September 2000, Chelsea was a team in transition. With Ranieri seeking to reduce the average age of the squad, Poyet became surplus to requirements and requested a transfer. He joined Tottenham Hotspur in May 2001 for around £2.2m. In 145 appearances for Chelsea, Poyet scored 49 goals.

Poyet scored 14 goals in his debut season for Spurs and helped his team reach the League Cup final, but they lost 2-1 to Blackburn Rovers. His time at the club was blighted by injuries and he again sustained cruciate ligament damage in August 2002 but still managed 23 goals in 98 games.

He was also a Uruguay international and helped his country win the Copa América in 1995 (and in doing so was voted player of the tournament). He won 23 caps, scoring three goals. He made his international debut on July 13, 1993 in a friendly match against Peru (1-2). After 67 minutes he was substituted by Carlos Aguilera.

Coaching career

In July 2006, he became a player and assistant manager at Swindon Town alongside ex-Chelsea team mate, Dennis Wise. Both Poyet and Wise were given permission to talk about forming the new Leeds United management team on 23 October 2006 and looked set to take the place of caretaker manager, John Carver, until Swindon Town withdrew permission due to disagreements over compensation. On the 24th October 2006, Poyet was confirmed as assistant manager of Leeds with Dennis Wise as the manager. He fast became regarded as a cult hero with his wit and charm with the fans behind the team's bench. Poyet was reportedly considering coming out of retirement and playing professionally again for Leeds, following his appearance in two of the club's friendly matches whilst on a mid-winter training camp in Cyprus (January 2007). During one of these games he scored a volley described by United's manager Dennis Wise as "stunning".

On 29 October 2007 Poyet rejoined his former club Tottenham Hotspur to work alongside new head coach Juande Ramos as a first team coach with Marcos Álvarez as a fitness coach. During his first season as assistant manager at White Hart Lane, he won the 2008 Carling Cup, beating Chelsea 2-1 after extra time after a penalty from Dimitar Berbatov in normal time and a header early into extra time from Jonathan Woodgate.

On 25 October 2008, Poyet parted company with Tottenham Hotspur along with manager Juande Ramos, first team coach Marcos Álvarez and sporting director Damien Comolli.

Managing Career

Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.

On 10 November 2009, Poyet was announced as the new manager of English League One side Brighton & Hove Albion on a one and a half year contract. Former Tottenham Hotspur teammateMauricio Taricco was also announced as Poyet's assistant manager. He steered the club to safety as he had a brilliant start to his career at Brighton by going to Southampton and winning. He started the 2010-2011 season by making a number of top signings, most notable was goalkeeper, Casper Ankergren who played for Leeds United when Poyet was assistant. He also signed Francisco Sandaza from Dundee United.

The season started brilliantly with 7 wins from the first 7 games putting them clearly at the top of the League One table. He ended the year of 2010 with his club top of the table. Brighton started the year 2011 with a 5-0 home win on New Year's Day. They finished January 1st top of the league and leading it by 7 points and looking dominant to carry on and push on for promotion to theChampionship. Poyet has stated that he would be more than happy to lead his team out in the new stadium to a Championship match in the 2011-2012 Season.[8][8][9] After a successful first season where Poyet guided Brighton away from the relegation zone and rebuilt the squad, Poyet and his assistant Taricco were rewarded with a four year contract extension much to the delight of the club and its fanbase.

Playing Honours

Real Zaragoza

• Spanish Copa del Rey: 1994
• (runner-up): 1993
• Spanish Super Cup:
• (runner-up): 1994
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1995

Chelsea

• FA Cup: 2000
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998
• European Super Cup: 1998

Uruguay

• Copa América: 1995

Managerial Honours

Tottenham

• Carling Cup: 2008 (First Team Coach)