Foreign managers in the Premiership tend to fall into two categories. There are those such as Jose Mourinho or Arsene Wenger who are praised almost from day one, their every gnomic utterance treated with reverence and the nodding of heads; then there are the unfortunates such as Alain Perrin or Christian Gross, lampooned and lambasted and, from there, swiftly out of a job.

Martin Jol falls into neither category. The Tottenham head coach has been there for just over a year and, if he can be said to resemble a type, then it is more of the Sam Allardyce or Ian Holloway mould. Popular perception has him as a bit of a Dutch bruiser, quick with the one-liners in press conferences, but equally swift to protect his players when trouble occurs. Among Spurs fans he is known as Tony Soprano.

The reality is different. In person, Jol is entertaining, enthusiastic and charming with a tendency to put an avuncular arm around you when making a point. In contrast to other Premiership managers, he is refreshingly open about his interests outside football, saying he relaxes by going to the National Gallery.

'They have a great selection of Dutch painters there. I like walking around looking at the Rembrandts. It's a nice way to spend my time.' And he famously picked Kafka's Metamorphosis as his book of the year in a television poll: 'I could have said David Beckham: My Life, but that would have been a bit boring and anyway I studied German literature and I always liked the title.'

But for all his unforced bonhomie, his sardonic streak and his way with a good one-liner, there is a seriousness about Jol and a sense that he is as much bemused as amused by his 'jolly, giant Dutchman' image.

'Of course there are times when it's important to entertain my lads, but I don't spend my time looking after them,' he says. 'Edgar Davids is 32, I can't put him on my knee and feed him milk from a bottle. We are a young team, but there are older players here as well - Davids, [Noureddine] Naybet - and they have their part to play.

'Davids, for example, he has been working with [Aaron] Lennon and [Wayne] Routledge after training. He is giving them the benefit of his experience. Maybe they found it odd at first that he was giving up his time but this is the Dutch way. In Holland it is very common for the older players to pass down their knowledge and experience to the younger ones.'

Doing things the Dutch way appears to be a key part of Jol's management strategy. He admits to being influenced by Rinus Michels, although he draws the line at Michels' method of celebrating with his players and is fervent, verging on the evangelical, when discussing the influence of Dutch football on the world.

'The reason there are so many good Dutch managers at the moment is because of the way we approach football,' he says. 'There are only 15 million people in the Netherlands, but there are one million registered football players. That must be one of the highest ratios in the world. Football is everywhere in my country.

'Perhaps we are more aware in Holland about the need to support young players not just in the clubs, but throughout the country. When I was a boy we played on the streets all day, every day, and that was how we became good, but you can't do that these days so now there is the Johan Cruyff Foundation and they are involved in setting up areas for the kids to practise in.'

It is for this reason that Jol has been keen to work with Premiership sponsors Barclays on helping grassroots football. The new Barclays Spaces for Sports scheme, a three-year, £30 million partnership between the bank, the Football Foundation and charity Groundwork, aims to rejuvenate community sport. One of the first sites to benefit is the New River Sports and Recreation Centre, two miles from White Hart Lane, which has been renovated by Barclays in partnership with Spurs and Haringey Council.

'There is not as much emphasis on playing the game when you are young as there is in Holland,' Jol says. 'Even at Tottenham we do not give our young kids enough training. We see them maybe four or five hours a week. When I was young I played for four or five hours a day. That's why they need somewhere to come to practise and work on their skills.'

Jol's own dedication paid off. While he is known in England as an efficient defender for Coventry and West Brom (although not, he is keen to emphasise as 'a clogger'), he was Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1986 and represented his country at every level before turning to management. He gained two promotions with his first club Den Haag, won the non- league championship with Scheveningen and the Dutch Cup with Roda before starting a six-year spell at RKC Waalwijk, the team he turned from perennial relegation candidates to European competitors.

At all his clubs his management style has been marked by a willingness to go his own way, even if this occasionally means veering off-message, as in his spat with Iain Dowie last season.

'These things get blown out of proportion,' he says. 'Newspapers want to sell stories - every week I read I want to buy this player or that or someone has said this or that. You can't take it seriously.'

Yet for all his easy acceptance of the pressures of management there is a sense that he, like many Dutchmen of his era, feels overshadowed by the legacy of Cruyff's total football and the achievements of Holland's 1988 golden generation.

'People always think of the Netherlands and total football,' he says. 'But that is really only the words of one man, Cruyff, and football is not just about playing a certain way. You have to have organisation as well. And it's not just in Holland that people believe in playing beautifully. People always think that total football is about Cruyff, but Bill Nicholson said the same thing years before.'

Jol is the twelfth Spurs manager in 15 years and admits it is a high-pressure role. 'It is hard for the fans because there were times over the past decade when they expected too much of the club. But that's understandable.

'Before this season had even started people were saying we were going to do this or that and it's hard for the players because they want to be successful, they want to give the fans something back and then they find themselves saying, "Oh, we can reach the Champions League", and it's all over the press. But there's Chelsea and Arsenal and Manchester United and Liverpool, that's four clubs already you'd expect to finish high up. Then there are clubs like Bolton, who are very experienced and difficult to beat, or Middlesbrough.

'We are trying to build something here. I understand about hope and the fans' dreams. We have some good young players, Michael Dawson, Jermaine Jenas, Jermain Defoe, but what we don't have right now is the sort of player like Arjen Robben or Ronaldo at United, the player who can make a big difference. We need that if we are to compete at the top level.'

As to the future, he would like to see more interaction between managers. 'We have an organisation of managers in Holland and everyone meets up and discusses things together, what they'd like to see changed, what works, what doesn't and I think we could do with more of that in the English game. I believe they are working towards it.'

It seems the only thing to have truly riled Jol during his time at Tottenham is the way in which certain papers mocked the fact his two brothers are named Cock and Dick. 'My poor brother. He has to go around and introduce himself as Cornelius to everyone now. It's stupid. Cock is just a nickname in Holland, a short version of his name. I mean, what's so funny about that? It's his name and my other brother's name is Dick. This is normal in Holland.'

He shrugs as if to dismiss this perceived English puerility. How does he feel about his own nickname? Jol laughs. 'I asked my wife about that. I said, "Do you think I look like Tony Soprano?" and she said she didn't. And I was glad because he's not really a good-looking man.'

He pauses. 'Then again, I suppose that all women say nice things to you if you ask them a question like that.'