Leeds United this afternoon revised their position over speculation that Gustavo Poyet, their assistant manager, was to quit Elland Road to take over a similar position at Tottenham Hotspur.

It had been thought that Poyet, the No 2 at Elland Road to Dennis Wise, was wanted by the north London side to be the assistant to Juande Ramos, who is believed to have accepted the job as manager after the sacking of Martin Jol and his assistant Chris Hughton last night.

The League One side had issued a statement this morning saying that there had been no contact from Spurs and that any such approach would be unwelcome.

This afternoon, however, that stance had changed, as Leeds issued a statement which said: "Leeds United and Gus Poyet have agreed that in the best interests of the team he will not be in attendance at Elland Road for tomorrow's [Saturday's] fixture against Millwall to allow the players to fully focus on the game without any distractions.

"The club captain, Alan Thompson, who is currently injured, will assist manager Dennis Wise from the bench at tomorrow's match."

Hans Segers, the Tottenham goalkeeping coach, was asked to resign this morning. Damien Comolli, the Tottenham sporting director, said: "Hans has been a committed and enthusiastic member of the coaching staff and we should like to thank him for his contribution and hard work."

Mark Hughes, meanwhile, has distanced himself from the Tottenham job. The Blackburn Rovers manager has been installed by bookmakers as second favourite for the role.

While not categorically dismissing the possibility, Hughes insisted his only focus was Rovers. He said: "I've seen my name a couple of times linked with it but I just view that as a reflection on the job myself and the staff are doing here, and the players are doing." He added: "My interest is solely in Blackburn Rovers."

Hughes believes Spurs have already decided on their next manager. "I would suggest any appointment that's to be made is obviously in place," he said.

Ironically, Blackburn's next game is at White Hart Lane on Sunday, and Hughes acknowledged the speculation was poorly timed. "It's an inconvenience when you're going up against the team that you're supposedly linked with," he said. "You can do without that."

Hughes said Jol paid the price for Spurs' poor start to the season, which yielded only one Barclays Premier League win from 10 games. "That's probably at the bottom of the reason why they felt they needed to make a change," Hughes said. "We're in a results business and I'm sure that Martin, if he was honest, would be disappointed with the return that they've been able to have given the games that they've played."