Gus Poyet
Personal information
Full name	Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez
Date of birth	November 15, 1967 (1967-11-15) (age 42)
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 career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1988–1989 1989–1990 1990–1997 1997–2001 2001–2004 2006	Grenoble River Plate Uruguay Real Zaragoza Chelsea Tottenham Hotspur Swindon Town	037 0(8) 00? 0(?) 239 (63)[1] 105 (36) 082 (18) 000 0(0)
National team
1993–2000	Uruguay	026 0(3)
Teams managed
2006 2006–2007 2007–2008 2009–	Swindon Town (Assistant Coach) Leeds United (Assistant Coach) Tottenham Hotspur (Assistant Coach) Brighton & Hove Albion (Manager)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Gustavo Augusto "Gus" Poyet Domínguez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpoʝei]; born November 15, 1967 in Montevideo, Uruguay) 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. Although his name is spelt with the 't' at the end of Poyet, this is a silent letter and is common in many South American surnames.

[edit] 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, although these stats are completely different from the ones in the table on the right.

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.

[edit] Coaching career

In July 2006, he became a player and assistant manager at Swindon Town alongside ex-Chelsea team mate, Dennis Wise.^[2] 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.^[3] 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".^{[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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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. ^[7] Former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Mauricio Taricco was also announced as Poyet's assistant manager.^[7][8]

[edit] Playing Honours

Real Zaragoza

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

Chelsea

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

Uruguay

• Copa América: 1995

[edit] Managerial Honours

Tottenham

• Carling Cup: 2008 (First Team Coach)

[edit] References and footnotes

Links to related articles v • d • e Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. – Managers Jackson (1901–05) · Scott-Walford (1905–08) · Robson (1908–14) · Webb (1919–47) · Cook (1947) · Welsh (1947–51) · Lane (1951–61) · Curtis (1961–63) · Macauley (1963–68) · Goodwin (1968–70) · Saward (1970–73) · Clough (1973–74) · P.T.Taylor (1974–76) · Mullery (1976–81) · Bailey (1981–82) · Melia (1982–83) · Cattlin (1983–86) · Mullery (1986–87) · Lloyd (1987–93) · Brady (1993–95) · Case (1995–96) · Gritt (1996–98) · Horton (1998–99) · Wood (1999) · Adams (1999–2001) · Hinshelwood (2001c) · Booker (2001c) · P.J.Taylor (2001–02) · Hinshelwood (2002) · Coppell (2002–03) · Booker (2003c) · McGhee (2003–06) · Wilkins (2006–08) · Adams (2008–09) · White (2009c) · Slade (2009) · Hinshelwood (2009c) · Poyet (2009–) (c) caretaker v • d • e Football League One managers Abbott · Ablett  · Boothroyd · Clark · Grayson · Hutchings · Ince · Jackett · Lambert · Pardew · Parkinson · Penney · Poyet · Scott · Skiverton · Stimson · Tilson · Tisdale · Trollope · Turner (caretaker) · Waddock · Williams · Wilson v • d • e Uruguay squad – 1995 Copa América Winners (14th title) 1 Alvez • 2 Aguirregaray • 3 Moas • 4 Herrera • 5 Gutiérrez • 6 Adinolfi • 7 Otero • 8 Bengochea • 9 Fonseca • 10 Francescoli • 11 Poyet • 12 Arbiza • 13 Da Silva • 14 Méndez • 15 Saralegui • 16 López • 17 Martínez • 18 Silva • 19 Abeijón • 20 Sosa • 21 Dorta • 22 Ferro • Coach: Núñez |}