The regression of Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham - Part IV
Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 8:46PM The progression regression of Harry Redknapp's Tottenham - Part IV
Daniel Levy
Our chairman famously said that he did not expect Champions League every season. The reasoning was that the competitiveness of the league would see teams share qualification. I can't believe for a second he'll be happy to miss out this year. Not just because of the importance of the money generated from gaining a top four place but also because we've had it in our hands and dropped it and appear disinterested to pick it up again. New stadium and retaining our best players along with attracting new players can sometimes be reliant on qualifying for the CL. But then we've only been in it the once and I'm sure if we miss out we'll still end up signing new heroes to appease the faithful. The risk is losing out if another monopoly is created but (IMO) that is looking unlikely. Chelsea and Arsenal will improve next season - but so will we. It's whether we have it in us to best the both of them that remains to be seen.
We can't be doing with more cheap and cheerful makeshift stop gaps. We need that sexy world class striker we've been lusting after for years and we need to be balls deep in it. We have to show the same strength again when it comes to clubs sniffing around our players. Regardless of whether Bale is wanted by X team or not, the tabloids will no doubt kick up a storm to populate their pages over the summer (although the Euro's might distract them a little bit and give us a moments peace).
Bale won't be sold. Can't see Levy allowing it to happen this summer. Luka on the other hand? Refer to what I wrote earlier.
Centre-back, right-winger, midfielder, striker (or two). There are plenty of incoming signings we need. Get it done early. Which means get the new manager in early. If this drags across the summer, kicking and screaming, it won't make comfortable viewing. Every window we say the same thing, and we get nothing until the very end and then we end up with something which always seems to feel like a stretch. This isn't about asking for the moon on a stick. We've seen the consequence of squad depth (lack of) this season and the cost of it.
I just want to clarify again. Yes, we've rotated. Yes, on paper we do look strong and arguably far stronger than most. But we are set up to play one way and one way only and the rotation of certain players is not always the strongest of option available to us but the only option. And when key players are either missing or not rested, it eats away at the team in a detrimental fashion that the manager has failed to get his head round and fix.
Our first eleven? Brilliant. Take one player out, we start to struggle a little. If your argument is the players coming in are good enough then it comes back to structure, instructions and the gaffer. If the gaffer and the chairman don't see eye to eye on transfer targets, it's never going to end well.
As important as CL qualification is to grow stronger for a title push, we should still be able to compete for other competitions instead of deciding they don't matter. Even as a supporter of Spurs, I've done just that this season. I now look at Athletic Bilbao with green-eyed envy.
Everything has been an afterthought this season in comparison to the league and yet we've still managed to shag that up. If you don't agree and we do have depth then why do we look like extras in The Walking Dead?
Harry Redknapp
Our previous manager lost the dressing room. We had a strong squad of players but no team in the true sense of the word. No unity and belief. The players did not want to play for their manager. It had gone from stale to rotten. As for the present day? Shades of Ramos, then? How ironic that Harry has managed to birth the very same thing he saved us from.
What Redknapp has achieved should not be scoffed but we have to be honest and admit he doesn't seem to have the concentration/focus/knowledge/love to guide us shrewdly to the next level. The level we're at has seen him attain stability. That's a good thing. The next level is hardly a mountain climb away. Yet this mole hill looks it.
Levy might have you think that Redknapp was someone he had looked at before, in the past, but the reality is probably nearer to being an appointment of a trouble-shooter. A fixer. Someone to get the team away from the bottom three and playing to expectations (based on players at the club). Harry has always been that for some of us. A tad detached. There's Harry standing and next to him, Spurs...an abstract object (as someone elegantly wrote on Twitter recently) he will use to his advantage until a more shiny object presents itself.
He succeeded in not only attaining stability but also pushing us onwards and beyond what we expected from a manager that had never managed a club this big before. This made people sit up and think that Harry had been waiting for Spurs all his life, that finally he was proving what he can do if he has top tier quality in his possession. We shared humble pie. We still had reservations, we still disliked some of his characteristics and habits. All part of the Redknapp brand package - we knew what he was like, it was no surprise. The small print is in a large font when it comes to understanding what makes Harry Harry.
What we're left with looking back at the past and present day is a distortion. He's a good coach, a very decent manager but the lack of extra dimensions to his football planning has left him cruelly exposed. Again. Last season and this season has plenty of damning evidence. As for that gap? Choke.
It doesn't help that he disassociates himself often with the club and the fans. The fact he never makes any sense when he talks, contradicting and changing ambitions based on the last game. One moment we have depth and don't need any players, the next he bemoans lack of depth. He tells the media what he thinks the media want to hear. It's all very basic and obvious. When it's going well, he'll bask in it. When it isn't, he'll look to blame or scratch the head. Or praise the opponents.
In terms of transfers, he has done some good (on the cheap) but Levy is usually the one signing the bigger name players. Harry is for the short-term. It has worked (Parker, Friedel) but equally so it hasn't (lack of rotation).
The biggest mistake made, the one that has probably cost us dearly is the failure to draw a line under the England job. That's when he lost the dressing room. Forget about the 'In the Know' exclusives and whispers. Doesn't take a lot to have it figured out by witnessing the body language of both players and manager. The lack of deceive commitment has failed us. Had that not happened, say if Fabio was still in charge of the national team, even with his (HR) tactical failings he'd have probably got us that 3rd spot or at the very least made 4th comfortable. But he switched off because he losses concentration and can't stay away from all the lavish attention the press send his way. Even now he isn't being criticised to the extent any other manager would be having thrown so much away so easily.
Top 4 was the objective at the start of the season even though many didn't expect or fancy us to achieve that (what with the manner of last season's poor run of form towards the end). But thanks to the quality of other clubs dropping significantly its now looking a wasted campaign.
Not sure what he'll be able to offer England. So many of the reprehensible players that make watching England grating are the very same ones he never stops talking about. The tabloids will continue to love him though. That's probably what matters most to him/them.
Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham? This will never be Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham. He might have the statistics to back him up but he has lacked the grace and measure. Yet he's still the best coach we've had for a long time. Although the true testament to this is the standard the next manager is able to attain with (more or less) the same squad plus new additions. Managing might be easier than it's being made to look. Or not, we'll soon find out.
There were moments though when you just thought, maybe, just maybe. Then he tells us, "I don't remember people like Martin Peters getting rotated, and they played in ankle-deep mud in those days", which is admittance that fatigue is not something he concerns himself with in modern day football because back in the day nobody suffered from it. I guess that means what? It's down to tactics? Anyone in the press want to ask him? Walter Mitty, anyone?
He's hardly endeared himself to the fans (you might have noticed). Although during the court case and just after it we sang for him. He applauded us and his words were heartfelt in appreciation for the support shown by the fans and the club. But then that was ruined from within with special thanks to the FA and John Terry. A job that he might not even be offered now thanks to the distraction it's had on his current one. Unless of course he knows he's got it. Which would explain things equally well.
Everyone should be grateful for that stability, he proved many wrong. But we need someone younger and modern and committed. Someone for the long term. Someone that wants to be part of the club beyond a cheap soundbite. The players appear mystified and confused. Redknapp has exhausted his chest of ideas, flat out. There's nothing to grab hold of.
If Harry isn't into us anymore, then best we get on the phone to the FA, agree compensation and let him go. In fact, I don't even care if the FA pass him by for the job. He hasn't stopped to consider us, so why not honour him with the same gratitude?
More importantly, we need unity in the stands.
The sentiment in '...and we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory' is being ignored.
The need for success, it can be ugly and discomforting, removing the enjoyment and love for the football itself. Turning fans bitter and twisting perceptions, pulling us further away from what it should truly be all about.
Above all else, we are Tottenham. Get behind the team, sing your hearts out and support them with everything you've got. This emotive stuff, it actually works wonders.
Love the shirt.
Reader Comments (27)
Spot on Spooky loved reading the whole 4 parts of Harry Redknapps regression as ever immaculate Spooks
Hope some of the players read this,#Lovetheshirt
Perfectly summed up! Thanks. The clarity in your piece was refereshing.
Thank you, I've been saying exactly the same but nowhere near as articulately.
I think the vast majority of Spurs fans had reservations about Harry but were ready to cast them all aside and embrace him fully after the heart scare and court case. Then came the England speculation, his refusal to commit to the club and the abysmal run over the last 10 games which has washed all that acceptance aside. Further compounded by his ever more illogical and inconsistent media ramblings and total lack of tactical nous.
This all means that, England job or not, it's time for the club and Harry to part company.
As you say this needs to be done sooner rather than later and our transfer business needs to be concluded early to ensure we are a credible and cohesive unit ready to do battle with the improved squads of the two Manchester clubs, our two London rivals and even Liverpool ... and perhaps Newcastle ... or even Everton ... plus at least one other surprise.
AWESOME 11111 parts 1-4 enjoyed them all.... well done Spooks forget Ray Winston... You are the DADDY !!
Get the business done early?
Ha ha ha!
Redknapp's inability to rotate & propensity to bin off competitions are (established) indicators of his limitations. He can only focus on one main task which he did well at, until Capello quit. CT'ers feast on that.
We did rotate in fact. The first teamers have only player in the EPL.
All the cup games and Europa nonsense were staffed by reserves, kids, and players returning from injury.
Fact is that what we learned from these games was just how average most the non first teamers were.
As Corluka said, Spurs lack depth.
"Fact is that what we learned from these games was just how average most the non first teamers were."
Wrong.
Nobody in their right mind would expect players frozen out of regular competitive football for a long period to play well, especially as part of a second string team with players out of position. It is ridiculous to see Spurs fans swallow Harry's bullshit about players he hates.
Coys, that is not being disputed. But he hasn't rotated effectively in the league, which coupled with no reinforcements has led to burn out, as noted in the quadrilogy of analysis presented here. i.e. Sandro/Livermore should have featured more to preserve 31 year old Parkers legs. Bale & Lennon should have come off earlier in some games. Adebayor should have been the supporting no. 2 striker to the 24-25-26 year old finished product Levy has criminally failed to buy since the Berbatov exit debacle.Adebayor has done really well but should not be considered as the main striker. he is the glue that binds, assists and notches a few.& he is burnt out too.
Niko, Defoe, Bassong & Krancjar all put in some decent shifts helping us to 4th a couple of years ago if i recall
For Niko read Charlie. its late.
Not to mention Pav, Crouch, Eidur ...
And Keano
Dear Mr Levy, please please please buy some quality in up front in the summer and if you are genuinely trying to bring players in , please stop ****ing around and get them in quickly so they can be integrated squad members before the season starts.
Never hated a Spurs manager before ,not even George graham .But Harry i actually hate being our manager ,his attitude is up there with berbatov ,& Keane .Can`t stand the bloke & the quicker he goes the better .FOHR
thanks spooky, agree with you, very much!!
However, I think the bale interview has to be viewed in the light of what Garth Crooks said on the spursshow podcast, to the effect of, that Bale was being very inteligent when answering that question, listen carefully and he in no way says he will leave just it will depend on what happens and then see whats best for him. That is not closing any door or even opening one either, just checking which doors are in the room.
I think he will stay, especially if 'arry goes and we get in a decent tactician, who will teach / take Bale to another level, after all bakle did say that it was not the coachings staff's idea for him to move inside he had to ask them. As you said, spooky redknapp is not that clever. Lets wait and see... also thanks to the clubs above us being so poor we could still finish in 3rd. Hahaha, I don't expect us to, but that would be funny, as long as 'arry gets the boot.
@John Smith - thanks for your comments.
@Hazzzard - but don't you notice just how short the list is before you start reaching for names? Sandro/Livermore at a push but Parker has been very good most of the season. 100% we were over reliant on Adebayor but you cannot pick a player the club has "failed to buy". There is too much deadwood clogging the arteries of the squad. When is Bentley ever going to pull on a shirt again yet he takes up a squad number. Same with Gio and Jenas and Pav for most of it. Iago Falque hardly pulled up any daisies let alone trees. What cover do they provide?
Fredericks, Townsend and Kane showed something but are a long way from the first team. Only Carrol and Livermore really impressed. The only sort of first team game we played without the wingers this season we were awful. Can't see anyone choosing to get Danny Rose on for either. Problem was that although we improved a lot from the terrible striking situation of last year we were rarely in cruise control with healthy leads late on in games. So like I said we did rotate in the non EPL games maybe not perfect but what is. What rotation was done was much to the horror of some posters at at the time who wanted Modric, VDV, Bale and Ade jetting off to Salonika, Siberia, and Timbucktoo at the time. Don't see that POV posted these days.
Anyway, only 4 more games to go and after that the new manager will doubtless go into a rotation frenzy, spinninng like a top until we are all dizzy and the boards will be raging about how we need consistency and the circle will be complete.
WE ARE TOTTENHAM
Poor tactical nous aside Redknapps biggest failing for me is his marginalization of our "squad" players
Undervalued and treated so badly they have no confidence when they do come into the team. I also feel Redknapp has a vindictive streak to his personality. If you remember when he had that bucket of water over his head at Man City the three main culprits involved were Bently Bassong and Palacios, all players who played significant roles in us finishing fourth and all players discarded by Redknapp the following season. Personally I would love to see Brendan Rogers given the job. A young hungry manager who plays superb football. However we would have to be patient because it would take a while to integrate his methods into the team.
@spooky; Even now he isn't being criticised to the extent any other manager would be having thrown so much away so easily. Precisely Spooky, I think he works against the Chairman but Levy cannot really do anything with him just in case he delivers No. 4 spot before he whores off with the FA. I think Levy will breath a sigh of relief when he exits. Anyways all we can do for the next 4 games is support the team and hope for a miracle, because that's what we need to finish in forth place.
Good stuff Spooky. A balanced view of Harry's time here at last.
The likelihood of improvement next season must surely be questionable. Other teams are signing players now eg: Marin to Chelsea, but if Redknapp is going, either to England or retirement, we cannot do that until Levy appoints a successor, unless he already knows who that is and is planning his purchases as we speak....some hopes!
The probability of a new manager arriving, even directly after the season finishes, coupled with Levy's financial constraints and lack of ability in the transfer market plus Modric and Ade almost certainly on their way could well see us start next season with holes in the squad, lack of preparation bearing in mind the Euros and faced with an early season 4th place CL qualifier if we are lucky.
I would be surprised if Levy appoints any manager that demands an influx of quality players given that for ENIC Spurs represents a long-term real estate business investment to be sold at an enormous profit rather than what the pesky fans want, a successful football team. Consequently, I am not sure that Redknapp leaving is a nailed-on certainty as it suits Levy to have a moderately successful manager who isn't allowed to spend big and takes all the flack for Levy's business plan, especially as a new appointment could fail and create more problems.
Managers are like players, you never know what they will produce just by looking backwards at what they have achieved to date. They tend to thrive in the right environment and shrivel in others as we have seen.
All-in-all not the best of times for us in my view and once again we may well be moving into another period of uncertainty. Any new manager will have an unrealistic weight of expectation on him unless Levy sorts out the playing staff in line with the new manager's requirements. Given Levy's track record of appointments I remain pessimistic but hopeful.
Just finished reading all four parts on the trot spooky.... a masterpiece (and brave of you posting early... noticed).
"The need for success, it can be ugly and discomforting, removing the enjoyment and love for the football itself. Turning fans bitter and twisting perceptions, pulling us further away from what it should truly be all about."
There, in that last poignant sentence, lies the crux of the matter. The Redknapps, Bales, Modrics, Levy's even, come and go.... the soul of the club doesn't... The Lane. The Shirt (the lillywhite one). The Glory. That's the soul of Tottenham Hotspur. Do you honestly believe it's the Rednapps etc. who are charged with that responsibility?
No. At the end of the day, the season, the age, it's the fans who are custodians of that. So it's the fans that have to decide what they REALLY want. Do we want success as "a franchise"? The choice is ultimately ours.
"All-in-all not the best of times for us in my view and once again we may well be moving into another period of uncertainty. Any new manager will have an unrealistic weight of expectation on him unless Levy sorts out the playing staff in line with the new manager's requirements. Given Levy's track record of appointments I remain pessimistic but hopeful. Apr 29, 2012 at 11:11 AM | DaveK"
Generally, a well balanced piece mate.. nice.
However (sorry for the 'orrible "however") I beg to differ on the main thrust.... pessimism. Given a change of management I'm optimistic.
1. Just the thought of a Redknapp-free Tottemham makes me go all jellylike. Think of the possibilities: Bilac, Martinez, Capello to name but three.
2. The new/old stadium. Picture it.... fff...ing awesome!
3. Then there's the new state-of-the-art training facilities (not justifing anyone for the appalling results recently but how would you like to prepare for your job/work on a building site?). Think about the impression that will make on new (and exsisting) employees!
4. Look at the quality coming through the ranks!
All in all, reasons to be very optimistic I think.
PS. COYS TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whew! I forgot what victory feels like!
Whoopie 'the Whore has been overlooked by England'. What justice. Harry thought he had the job, and now he faces having no job when Levy replaces him at the end of the season. Jesus, how I hope the 'WHORE' gets his come uppance. No one deserves a kick in the bollocks as much as that 'toe-rag'.
Whew just finished reading all four parts spooky. Another amazing piece of writing for a "common" blogger :) lol awesome reading mate. I was one who was a tad dismayed at the appointment of HR initially, living as I do near Portsmouth and seeing the shennanigans there but at the time we were in desperate need of something to change and his impact was immediate so I allowed myself to think that this time it might be different and so it appeared to be. We achieved CL first time ever and in number one european competition for first time in like a gazillion years and we were doing it the Spurs way playing fabulous football so I even began supporting HR and backing him against the (so-called) Harry Haters. But true to form and I should have seen it coming Harry is only in love with himself and he is now whoring himself for the "ultimate" job but doing it to the detriment of my beloved Spurs and ironically enough looking at the FA's decision to maybe go with Woy instead maybe Harrys whoring has been his own undoing with regards the England poisoned chalice. I now want to just get the season over, hope and pray we can pick up the final 9 points available and secure 4th with that if the scum win both of their remaining fixtures then pray that chelscum lose the CL final OR win those 9 points and if the scum fail to win the remaing 6 points available to them for us to snatch 3rd and then pray that chelscum DO win the CL final - what irony that would be and what joy but the football gods I think are still being dazzled and teased by le french twat so will probably save them yet again and we will have the close season to bemoan the fact we actually gift wrapped it with a pretty bow and handed to them ourseves - its the Spurs way. So to Harry I would say So Long and thanks for all the fish and look for a young hungry manager to try to build even further on - personally I really admire what Martinez has achieved and would rate him higher of any of the contenders for us currently in the EPL or has Pep found a new home yet? Surely he was a boyhood spurs fan? one can dream lol I would still resist all bids for any of our main players inc modders until at least we have (hopefully) a new man in charge. Harry did a good job at spurs whatever the haters say and even with the meltdown but he hasnt got the love and the lack of it is becoming damaging now. So three games left to save the season and give the early promise some true meaning then. COYS!!!!
Tonyblue -
If HR consults the planners for the indoor part of the training facility at least we can save a few quid on bricks - it would only need to be 8 feet high as we sure as fuck don`t practice corner taking!