Gus Poyet

Lore & Background

Poyet played as a midfielder and began his career with short spells at Grenoble and River Plate. He then spent seven years at Real Zaragoza, with whom he won the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In 1997, Poyet moved to Chelsea on a free transfer and helped the club win the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In 2001, he moved to Tottenham Hotspur, where he saw out the remainder of his career.

He was also part of the Uruguay side which won the 1995 Copa América. After his playing career ended, Poyet moved into coaching. He served as assistant manager to Dennis Wise at Swindon Town and Leeds United, and Juande Ramos at Tottenham Hotspur. In November 2009, Poyet was appointed manager of Brighton & Hove Albion and in his first full season led the club to promotion as League One Champions, for which he was named League One Manager of the Year by the LMA.

In October 2013, he was hired by Premier League team Sunderland and guided them to the League Cup final in his first season, but was sacked in March 2015 after a poor run of results. He later had spells at Super League Greece side AEK Athens, La Liga club Real Betis, Chinese Super League team Shanghai Shenhua, Bordeaux of Ligue 1, Universidad Católica in Chile and Greece.

Reader's Guide

Poyet's managerial career includes leading Brighton & Hove Albion to the League One title in the 2010–11 season, securing automatic promotion to the Championship. He did not participate in any play-off final with Brighton.