David Pleat dropped a massive hint that Tottenham are set to abandon their search for a manager and hand over control of the first team to Chris Hughton.

Pleat said on BBC Radio Five Live before the 2-1 victory over Aston Villa that Tottenham were considering changing the structure of the club by employing a coach solely to look after the first team, with the director of football - Pleat - handling all other affairs.

Goals from Rohan Ricketts and Robbie Keane sealed a win for Spurs after Marcus Allback gave Villa the lead at White Hart Lane and afterwards Pleat paid tribute to the work of first-team coach Hughton as he revealed how all would become clear in a statement to be issued by the club before Christmas.

"Chris Hughton is doing a terrific job - can you write that?" Pleat said. "There is Chris Hughton, Clive Allen who is part-time, and me, and we have been carrying it for the past few weeks and we feel that the players have got a spirit.

"Chris is also working with the Republic of Ireland and he was away with them last week so he is working tremendously hard, we all are.

"The club will be making a statement before Christmas, that is all I know and that is all I can say," he added. "I am just trying to explain how things work and how things can work.

"The club's annual meeting is coming up (on December 11th) and we'll be able to say more then regarding the role and how we view it, and how we are going to take it forward."

Hughton is a highly-respected coach with some of the best qualifications in the game. He spent 11 years as a player at White Hart Lane and has now worked under five different managers at the club.

His first real coaching role came when Christian Gross came to Spurs, and at the time chairman Alan Sugar said he was being groomed as a future manager.