Gus Poyet

Gustavo Poyet

Poyet in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez
Date of birth	15 November 1967 (1967-11-15)
Place of birth	Montevideo, Uruguay
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Brighton & Hove Albion (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1988–1989	Grenoble	37	(8)
1989–1990	River Plate (UY)
1990–1997	Real Zaragoza	239	(63)
1997–2001	Chelsea	105	(36)
2001–2004	Tottenham Hotspur	82	(18)
National team
1993–2000	Uruguay	26	(3)
Teams managed
2009–	Brighton & Hove Albion
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpoʝei]; born 15 November 1967) is a former Uruguay international 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.

Playing career

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, a powerful 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 second 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.

International career

He was also a Uruguay international and helped his country win the Copa América in 1995 (and in doing so was voted as the best player in his position at the tournament ). He won 23 caps, scoring three goals. He made his international debut on 13 July 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 24 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".^{[citation needed]}

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 2007–08 League Cup, beating Chelsea 2–1 after extra time in the Final 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.

Management career

Brighton & Hove Albion

Poyet as Brighton manager in 2011.

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 teammate Mauricio 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 3–1. He started the 2010–11 season by making a number of signings, most notable was goalkeeper, Casper Ankergren who played for Leeds when Poyet was assistant. He also signed a new four-year contract along with his assistant Mauricio Taricco.

The season started brilliantly with five wins from the first eight games putting them at the top of the League One table. He ended the year of 2010 with his club still top of the table. Brighton started the year 2011 with a 5–0 home win on New Year's Day. They finished January 1 top of the league and leading it by seven points and looking dominant to carry on and push on for promotion to the Championship. 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 2011–12 season. Most notable was a run of eight straight league victories in March, leaving the club 13 points clear at the top with games in hand over all of their closest rivals with the exception of Southampton. Brighton won promotion following a 4-3 home win over Dagenham & Redbridge, Ashley Barnes scoring the winner in the 63rd minute. The League One title was theirs on 16 April 2011, as Brighton beat Walsall 3–1, having been top without slipping since the eighth game of the season and with four games of the season still to play. On 23 May 2011, Poyet was voted LMA League One Manager of the Year for his achievements in the 2010–11 season - his first full season as a football manager.

On 30 September 2011, Poyet signed a new five-year contract to remain at the club until 2016.

Personal life

His son, Diego, plays for the academy of Charlton Athletic and the England national under-16 football team. He is also eligible to play for Spain by birth, and for Uruguay through his father's nationality.

Managerial statistics

As of 31 January 2012

Team	Nation	From	To	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %	Ref
Brighton & Hove Albion	England	10 November 2009	Present	124	61	31	32	49.19
Total				124	61	31	32	49.19

Playing honours

Real Zaragoza

• 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

Brighton & Hove Albion

• Football League One: Champions 2010–11
• Football League One Manager of the Year 2010-2011