MARK Hughes last night intimated Martin Jol did well to last as long as he did at Tottenham because the increasing amount of interference at boardroom level had made his job virtually impossible.

After weeks of speculation, Jol and his first team coach, Chris Hughton, finally got the sack on Thursday evening, shortly after Spurs lost 2-1 at home to Getafe in the UEFA Cup.

However, the writing appeared to be on the wall for the Dutchman from the moment a Tottenham delegation were caught trying to line-up the Seville coach, Juande Ramos, as his replacement in the opening weeks of the season.

Since then, Jol's relationship with chairman, Daniel Levy, and the rest of the Spurs board has been in terminal decline, leading to Thursday's inevitable parting of the ways.

And having watched the situation unravel from afar, Hughes said the whole episode at White Hart Lane has made him appreciate just how important it is for a manager to have a solid working relationship with his board.

"The important thing is your relationship with the chairman and the board," said Hughes, whose Blackburn Rovers team face Spurs at the Lane tomorrow.

"If that starts to disintegrate, or it's not as cohesive as it needs to be in a working sense, then ultimately it will be the manager who loses his job rather than the board. That's the way of the world.

"You have to be able to manage at all levels. You've got to manage your team, your squad and your staff, but you also have to manage upwards as well because if you don't, and you don't work on that relationship, then very quickly your position will be undermined, which seems to be the case (at Tottenham)."

Appointed in November 2004 as the replacement for Jacques Santini, Jol was popular with the fans at White Hart Lane, having guided Spurs to fifth position in successive Premier League seasons - a feat never achieved by any of his predecessors.

Yet despite that laudable achievement, Jol's position started to come under increasing scrutiny at the beginning of this season, and the Tottenham board began actively working on finding a replacement.

As a result, serious cracks began to appear in Jol's relationship with his paymasters, to the point where his position became untenable.

"It's so vitally important (you maintain a good working relationship with your employers) because the people who have the ability to hire and fire you are the ones who will ultimately have the last word," said Hughes.

"In saying that, you can't compromise yourself. If you feel you are right in certain things then you have to stand up for what you think is correct, and make your point known to the people who are above you.

"But there's right ways and wrong ways of doing that, and if you get to the point where you're not speaking to these people, and the relationship is completely broken down, then there really is no way forward."

Thankfully, Hughes does not appear to have such problems at Blackburn, where his relationship with chairman John Williams and the rest of the board appears to be rock solid.

"The relationship I have with John Williams is very good and it works well," he added.

"We are very open in what we do and what we are planning. Everybody knows what's happening and that's how it needs to be."