GLENN HODDLE's privacy policy backfired on him as he was forced to play second fiddle to Saints at La Manga.

The Tottenham boss is a huge fan of the sports complex in south-east Spain and booked Southampton in for this pre-season stint while he was still manager at The Dell.

One of his stipulations, though, was that no other football team should be allowed to stay there at the same time.

Then, of course, he left for Tottenham and tried to book them in for the same week - only to find Saints had exclusive use which he had arranged!

That meant Spurs had to come out here last week, earlier than planned and before they had done any kind of basic fitness work.

Both clubs have been looked after by former Arsenal and QPR defender Terry Mancini, who is sports event director of Barwell Leisure who have La Manga among their high-profile clients.

He said: "Glenn does not like any other teams staying while he is here. He booked this week for Saints last January.

"After that Sunderland and Crystal Palace both asked to come here this week but we had to say no.

"Then, of course, Glenn moved to Tottenham and asked to bring them here now. But Stuart Gray had phoned to confirm Southampton's booking just a couple of days earlier so we had to tell Glenn that Saints had exclusive use for the week!

"Tottenham ended up coming here last week but that was their first week of pre-season training. Saints had already got quite a bit of running under their belts by the time they came out here and were able to use the top quality pitches for ball work."

Palace, meanwhile, are currently in Marbella and Mancini added: "It is not quite La Manga but it is not bad, the only problem is you can't keep track of the players.

"Here you know where they are because everything is on one site and there is nowhere for them to go.

"It was different when I was playing. It was expected that players would sneak out. You were not one of the lads if you did not.

"I remember one year with QPR, we stayed in a dormitory in a village in Sweden in the middle of nowhere.

"It was their national holiday week so most people had gone away and everything closed at 9pm so there was nothing to do.

"It was the fittest I had ever been in pre-season because it meant we concentrated on our work. It is the same here.

"Glenn Hoddle is a big fan of the complex. He first came here to play in a golf event and loved it and said he would bring England here if they qualified for the 1998 World Cup finals.

"He phoned me the day after the draw in Italy which put them through and booked in. And he has brought every club here, too.

"I would imagine that he will bring Spurs again next year so there could be a race to book up with Southampton, who also like it."