Paul Robinson returns to White Hart Lane tomorrow for the first time since leaving Tottenham Hotspur for Blackburn Rovers in the summer for £3.5 million, but he will not be the only goalkeeper with something to prove to the home supporters. After some of the gaffes perpetrated recently by Heurelho Gomes, his replacement between the posts at the North London club, even Robinson's worst errors seem forgivable.

Yesterday, Robinson revealed that he was relieved to leave Tottenham, whose head coach at the time, Juande Ramos, showed poor man-management, he said, before last season's Carling Cup semi-final first leg against Arsenal in January. “We had a team meeting and he turned the chart over and the team was on the board and I wasn't in it,” Robinson said. “There are ways of managing players and getting the best from players and the way that I was playing and the way my confidence was, that probably wasn't the best way to treat me.

“That's the time you need the support of the people around you - you need the manager and the coaches to believe in you and I didn't get that. To come here has been a breath of fresh air. The manager has been fantastic with me, he's a players' manager and he gives respect and support to all his players. I'm just really enjoying my football again, I've found my confidence and hopefully a little bit of form as well. If I had still been at Spurs the first three or four months of this season could have been very bad for me with the way things have gone.”

But, as Robinson admitted, the situation at Tottenham has changed since Ramos was replaced by Harry Redknapp last month. Both teams are in the bottom three, but Spurs' form under Redknapp - notwithstanding the struggles of Gomes - suggests that Blackburn are in more danger of staying there.

“I certainly would have liked to have played them the first couple of weeks of the season but Harry has come in and turned it around,” Robinson said. “His man-management and the way he has treated players has turned it around. It's the same bunch of players and they have a smile on their faces again.”

Redknapp's answer to his goalkeeping problem has been to stick with Gomes, who cost £7.8 million from PSV Eindhoven in June, but replace Hans Leitert, the goalkeeping coach, with Tony Parks, the former Spurs goalkeeper whose penalty save helped to win the 1984 Uefa Cup final against Anderlecht and who has been working as an FA coach. Although he has also recalled Ben Alnwick from a loan spell with Carlisle United, Redknapp hopes that Parks can add the ability to command his area - verbally as well as physically - to Gomes's undoubted qualities as a shot-stopper.

“Tony could be a big help to him,” Redknapp said. “He's a talker, enthusiastic, lively. It's a matter of trying to get [Gomes] confident again. Look at his record at PSV. He helped get them to a Champions League semi-final. At Fulham last Saturday he made a mistake for the goal but pulled off two or three incredible saves that he had no right to make. When he comes out and tries to take those crosses, maybe he feels he has to prove he can do that, it's difficult to know. But Tony has been impressed with him. He says he has been excellent, and he must be - you don't let Robinson go and bring in another for £10 million.”

Redknapp hinted that Robinson might [not have left if he had been in charge. “Paul's a top goalkeeper,” he said. “But it wasn't my decision, so I don't know the reasoning. Robinson was the England No1, and people go back to England's match against Croatia away [European Championship qualifier, 12 months ago], but the ball bobbled, as everyone saw. Goalkeepers make mistakes, otherwise you wouldn't have any goals.”