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Gross enjoyed a long playing career in Switzerland and Germany (most notably in the early 1980s with VfL Bochum ) before training as a coach. He was appointed manager of Swiss side FC Wil , developing a reputation for emphasis on fitness and hard work, before joining Grasshoppers Zurich as head coach in 1993. Under Gross, Grasshoppers won two Swiss championships and the Swiss Cup. Gross' success with Grasshoppers meant he was a very highly-rated coach in his native Switzerland, but he was still relatively little-known outside central Europe and it was a major shock when he was chosen to succeed Gerry Francis as manager of Tottenham Hotspur , a football club perceived by its fans as being one of England's biggest. Gross endured a torrid time at Tottenham. His most trusted aide, the Swiss fitness coach Fritz Schmid, had been an integral part of Gross' training plans at Grasshoppers, but Schmid was denied a Work Permit by the British government and so was unable to take up a similar role at Tottenham. The press quickly turned on him after he attempted to win fans' favour by brandishing his London Underground ticket as the "ticket to his dreams" at his inaugural press conference, and his prickly, unsmiling demeanour and heavily-accented English made him unpopular with interviewers. Results were also very poor; a win over Everton in Gross' first game in charge of Spurs was quickly followed up by a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea on Gross' home debut. Although Gross did win back some favour by adapting the team's tactics to suit David Ginola , re-signing former crowd hero Jürgen Klinsmann and securing the club's future in the Premier League, he remained by and large an unpopular figure in England. His preparations for the 1998/99 season involved numerous questionable buys of hitherto-unknown players for large sums of money (Moussa Saib, Paolo Tramezzani) and when Spurs lost their opening two matches, chairman Alan Sugar decided enough was enough and ended Gross' contract. After being fired from the Tottenham job, Gross returned to his native Switzerland, finding work as the coach of FC Basel . Although the British press and fans retained an image of Gross as a largely incompetent figure, he worked steadily to rebuild Basel into the premier force in Swiss football and has now outstripped his previous success at Grasshoppers. Under Gross' guidance, Basel have now won three Swiss championships, two Swiss Cups, and mounted a fairytale run in the UEFA Champions League in 2002 , beating eventual finalists Juventus as well as knocking out Celtic and drawing with Liverpool (twice) and Manchester United . Gross' success in these games against British sides went a long way towards restoring his reputation among the British media and fans.
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