On Sunday morning, Margarita Berbatov went to the Rojhen Monastery, in the southwest of Bulgaria, to pray that her son would experience success later in the afternoon. Dimitar Berbatov did indeed have a triumphant day at Wembley, but victory in the Carling Cup final was less about the power of prayer than the power of a Spanish manager. In this case mother did not know best. Juande Ramos did.

“The way he works and speaks with us so well, he’s like a psychologist,” Berbatov said of the man who master- minded Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea. “If we keep listening to him, then we can go places. I am here, I want to win things and let’s hope this is the first of many.”

Berbatov’s mother lit candles for her son at her home in Blagoevgrad – appropriate for the man who has become an idol to millions of Bulgarians. The pin-up boy of Bulgarian football has expressed a desire to extend that fame by joining a side playing Champions League football.

Tottenham’s first piece of silverware in nine years is unlikely to be enough to alter Berbatov’s urge to take the biggest stage, but the presence of Ramos might. “Ramos is a winner,” Berbatov said.

The Bulgaria striker illustrated his belief by outlining the Spanish head coach’s ability to keep his team’s mind on the job in hand. This worked particularly well on Sunday, when Tottenham went into the break trailing to Didier Drogba’s goal.

“He always says at half-time that it doesn’t matter if we are leading or losing 1-0, but we should not look at the score because one goal is nothing in football and it proved true,” Berbatov said.

It is probably a mark of Ramos that none of his former players at Seville made negative comments about him when he left and that Tottenham’s players were never as gushing in praise of Martin Jol, the former manager.

Robbie Keane was not alone in describing Ramos as “special” after collecting the first medal of his career. The Ireland forward has earmarked the Uefa Cup this season as the second. “After getting a taste for winning, the players realise what a good feeling it is to be a winner,” Keane said.

“The first thing talked about after the game was: ‘Let’s go and win the Uefa Cup’. We have every chance of it. It shows how hungry we are. If Ramos can do that, it will be incredible. He’s given the players a lot of belief and you can see that in the performances.”

After celebrating at a nightclub in Essex, the players were given the day off yesterday. Ramos is already making plans for the summer transfer window.

The former Seville manager has a nucleus of England players, but will not be constrained from bringing in foreign players. Paul Robinson may have been recalled, but the goalkeeper’s indecision that led to Chelsea’s goal in the final would have done little to change Ramos’s mind.

“The manager doesn’t see the goalkeeper as a different position to any other - if you are not doing his job [you are left out]. It was difficult for me to accept at first,” Robinson said. Ramos has some doubts about Maarten Stekelenburg, the Ajax and Holland goalkeeper, who has been watched by the North London club, but is keen on Carlos Idriss Kameni, the Cameroon goalkeeper who plays his club football for Espanyol, of Spain.

Tottenham also want to bring in another centre back, midfield player and left winger, but the biggest job at the end of the season will be to clear out about eight to ten players, which may include Darren Bent, the forward who cost £16.5 million from Charlton Athletic last summer.