How quickly things can change in football. Just 5 months ago Harry Redknapp was lapping up the applause as his Tottenham side thrashed Newcastle 5-0. A chorus of ‘We want you to stay’ was reverberating around White Hart Lane. This was in response to Redknapp being installed as the firm favourite to succeed the recently departed Fabio Capello as England manager. He was the nation’s choice for the job and nailed on favourite to take the hot seat. At this point, Harry had it all – sitting pretty in 3rd place with a significant lead over arch rivals Arsenal and he was a man in demand.
Fast forward 5 months and Redknapp has somehow managed to find himself axed from Spurs and having to watch Roy Hodgson doing the job he thought would be his.
There is split opinion among the Spurs faithful as to whether Levy has made the correct decision. I am firmly in the camp that this is the correct decision and we need a man who can take us forward, a man who is not all me, me, me and above all, a man who respects the club and its fans.
So where did it all go wrong for the manager who could seemingly do no wrong?
Redknapp’s End of Season Capitulation
Tottenham finished one point behind Arsenal. Shocking form after the Newcastle game cost us big time. Just 4 wins in the final 13 games of the season was astonishing. It is questionable whether Redknapp had his mind on the job, thinking that he was nailed on for the England position. While there were a run of tough games where we faced Arsenal and Everton away and Manchester United at home, the games that disappointed the most were the defeat at home to Norwich and the draw at home against Stoke – a game where we needed a last-minute equaliser from Van der Vaart.
Now we could look at the England job as a distraction but that would be failing to notice that Redknapp has previous. The season before, Tottenham were again looking good for a top 4 finish. Then came along the capitulation – this time finishing 6 points behind Arsenal with only 3 wins from the last 12. This run included poor performances and draws at home against West Ham, West Brom and Blackpool – with two of those 3 seasons finishing off the season relegated.
England job or not, Redknapp seems to have difficulty finishing a season strongly, instead rather limping to the finish line. This could be down to my next point…..
Redknapp Rotation
….or rather lack of it. Redknapp had his favourites. It seemed to be a case of first 11 or nothing. This lack of rotation has seen key players tire towards the end of the season and the season end on a whimper. The rotation policy was so appallingly bad that Harry ended up isolating a number of squad players that were perfectly capable of doing a job. Instead we saw players like Pienaar (who had a fantastic end to the season at Everton), Corluka and Pavlyuchenko leave the club. It got to the situation where the only right back we had was Walker –who ended up playing with a broken toe at the end of the season costing him his place in the England squad.
Tactical Naivety
It has been well documented that Harry doesn’t do tactics. This is something that has been echoed by the players. Redknapp’s lack of tactical nous is astonishing and is clear in some of his decisions. I have gone into more detail on his tactical naivety in a previous post here.
The one decision that summed him up for me in the closing stages of the season was the game away to Villa. With the game poised at 1-1 and with Spurs getting well on top, and not sending on Defoe as an attacking option to win the game, he opted for Scot Parker to protect a point. Now that would not have been such a shocking decision – until you realise that a draw didn’t put us in any better position than a loss. We would still have been reliant on Arsenal dropping points in their final game. A win would have put 3rd place in our own hands. Every single Tottenham fan was screaming for Defoe to come on – it appears it was only Harry who couldn’t see it.
Flirtation with England
Harry wanted the England job. That was clear and he has even admitted so much. What is shocking is at the time he was saying how the players didn’t care about who the manager was. When he was struggling to get the contract he wanted after being neglected by England, he had a significant u-turn. All of a sudden players did care. They wanted him as the manager and the uncertainty of whether he would be around was unsettling. Make your mind up Harry…
If Redknapp had shown Levy and Tottenham the loyalty that they had shown him throughout his trial, he would have been rewarded with a lucrative contract. Instead he wouldn’t sign the 4 year contract on offer and hankered after the England job. Not being offered the England job put him in a difficult position when trying to negotiate a new contract.
Crossing Levy
Finally, it takes a brave man to cross Daniel Levy. This is a man that is ruthless. Harry was playing a brave game trying to negotiate a new contract through his chums in the press. Levy was probably expecting (as we all were) Redknapp to get the England job. When this didn’t happen he had a decision to make. I believe he has made the right one, but whoever the new man is he needs to be backed.
Levy can’t completely absolve himself from any blame for Tottenham failing to make the champions league. The two end of season collapses could have been avoided by strengthening in the January transfer windows. This didn’t happen for one reason or another. I would expect that he didn’t want to back Harry in the knowledge that he was likely to be off in the summer. He probably thought that a 10 point lead was probably enough to secure Champions League football. Oh how he was wrong….
Future
I firmly believe the time is right for Redknapp to go. Exciting times are ahead with a new training complex in place and a new stadium on the horizon. It is time for a new manager to come in, someone who respects the club and its fans and someone who can take the club forward. Once the dust has settled and the pain of blowing a 10 point lead over Arsenal has subsided, I am sure I will be able to look back at the Redknapp era with fondness. He led us into the champions league for the first time and produced some of the best football I have seen in all my years that I have supported Spurs. However there will always be a lingering feeling of what could have been. We should have been in the Champions League 3 years running if it wasn’t for the end of season collapses.
Harry – you were brilliant at reminding us we’ve never had it as good but now maybe you will realise – neither had you!
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Categories: EPL Index Featured Article, EPL Index Opinion, Tottenham Hotspur
Tags: Arsenal (NN), Corluka, Defoe, England, Farewell or good riddance to redknapp, Harry Redknapp sacked, Hodgson, Levy, Newcastle, Parker, Pavlyuchenko, PIENAAR, Redknapp, Spurs, tactics
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George Graham crossed levy and was similarly sacked but things are different now.
With funding a new stadium crucial the club requires more than a dodgy manager who cannot sell cars.
I believe Harry was warned last summer but was not sacked because of court case and possible England job as capello had announced he was going.
Either way it was unlikely Harry was here summer 2012.
Against the odds he got off and lost the England job so levy just got rid.
Harry was always short term And was reluctantly hired in the first place by levy.
For the big cooperate package we require only capello and Klinsmann will suffice for levy.
Totally agree. I wrote this in another blog .. there are some areas you missed ..
He didn’t lose focus.. he never had any. He made tactical mistakes a schoolkid wouldn’t have. This led to a grassroots discontent followed by the people at the top agreeing with many of the comments made by fans. The kind of mistakes made were bringing Parker in the Villa match instead of Defoe when he knew we needed a goal to win the game. Or asking Bale to play on his wrong side, putting Modders on the wing thus limiting his tactical options to precisely half. Not rotating the squad so at the end of the season they could hardly move. Not using his famous man-management skills to build confidence in players like Piennar who obviously can play well in the Premier league ( as demonstrated by how he is in his loan spell at Everton).
He has messed the team about constantly sometimes inadvertently sometimes because he simply didn’t care RE England managership/Courtcase/heart attack/villification of his own players (Bent, Dos Santos.. etc). Life has been a constant drama which I certainly will not miss. Personally I think we have done well in spite of Rednapp not because of him.
Absolutely “Bang On Article”!!!
I’m fed up of all the “daft” spurs fans that see Redknapp as some sort of saviour.. He did a good job, but is not the man to take us any further! Man-management skills – 1st Class… Tactically, absolute shambles.
Who would you like to see appointed? I like Martinez or AVB.
Modric-man utd, Bale-barca/arsenal, VDV-schalke, Harry-UAE($$$$), Spuds- back to mid-table mediocrity(famillar territories),another 10yr losing spree to the gunners,happy times are back again……..hahahahah
Doctor… “Bale to Arsenal?” You pleb! LMFAO
Lmao, at least we got players they want haha. Not one Arsenal player id wantbplaying for Spurs!
I’ve been a spurs supporter also since the days of gazza and lineker and since then we’ve had our ups and downs and been a mid table team. Since redknapp has been in charge he’s transformed the team, gave players like bale and modric confidence to go and play and attracted players like van der varrt and Adebayor to come to the club and got us playing a brand of football which were brilliant and got us to the quarter final of the champions league. Some spurs fans have short memories and forget we were a very average premier league side before redknapp came to the helm and dont forgive him for blowing a ten point lead over our north London rivals and glad he’s gone, however what was going on with his health, his court case and the England speculation he still made fourth spot. It was just unfortunate Chelsea won the champions and got us knocked out of it. Personally I think levy has shot himself in the foot and will soon realise how much of an impact redknapp made to the club when he starts seeong our best players go and then we will see the club slide down the table again. No manager will do a better job than redknapp with the budget we have and I can’t see who’s a better man manager than him. Sad to see him go, but I think levy will regret letting him go.
He did not Transform Bale and Modric! Modric has always been Quality until he decides to shoot.
Redknapp only played Bale because Ekotto got injured and we had no alternatives!! It was Bale that Played his way into the Team. If fact you could go the other way, and say Redknapp didn’t give a few of the others a real chance – Krankjar, pav, dos santos to name a few
Hi, I’m not sure if I’m luckier than you or not!
Been a Spurs fan since the mid fifties so saw the formation and achievements of Bill Nicholson double winners but also the relegation team as well.
Yes Harry got us playing the best football in the last couple of years but I’m pleased he has gone. Whether it will be for the better only time will tell. He was not a Spurs fan in his heart. Disrespected us true followers and certainly disrespected Levy and the Club.
Well I hope that the Hate Harry brigade and that idiot of a man Levy are satisfied after ruining MY CLUB spurs.Do they honestly think that the new manager will play the great football that we played last season,and do they think that we will finish in the top four next season.NOT A CAT IN HELLS CHANCE GET OUT OF OUR CLUB LEVY.And you hate harry brigade GO AND SUPPORT THE GOONERS THEY DESERVE YOU.
You believe Rednkapp is the cause of the “great Football”?
Great article that covers all the points well – personally I’m still undecided as to whether we’ve made the right move or not, and more to the point what was really behind Harry’s removal – I’m not totally convinced it came down to the poor run in, nor am I convinced by Harry’s comments in todays press that “people upstairs didn’t like me” – truth is (just like with Martin Jol) we’ll never know for sure but it’s obvious there’s more to this than meets the eye.
What I do know is that Levy generally appears (Juande Ramos excepted) to know what he’s doing and over the past 10 years we have gone from being an average club at best to being one that has pushed closer and closer to being a great club again – and all that has been done under Levy’s stewardship. If Harry is to be believed (something I can honestly say I have never been sure when to believe him and when not) then Levy is the man behind transfers etc (even if Harry had the sanction of telling him who to go for) and you only have to look at the likes of Modric, VDV etc for evidence of the quality he has bought in – and what’s more he’s done so without putting the clubs finances in jeopardy – those of you like me old enough to remember the aftermath of the Irving Scholar years will know how close we came to not having a club to support. So don’t be so quick to knock Levy.
As for who to bring in? I don’t know is the honest answer – despite his failings (and were they really failings or the impatience of Abramovich) AVB is highly respected, Martinez too considering what he’s done on a shoestring at first Swansea and now Wigan, and then of course there’s Moyes. Now I’m a lover of David Moyes but to be totally honest I’m not 100% convinced he’s the man for us or that he’d even want to come – by all accounts he’s a shoo-in for the Moan Utd job when SAF finally calls it a day so would we really want a manager that will be off as soon as Old Trafford beckons? AVB I’d be happy with I think, likewise Martinez – those are the main three candidates that the media appear to be floating as the favourites for the job – but who knows, perhaps Mr Levy has another surprise up his sleeve.
One things for sure, with the speculation of the England job going to Harry since February, I’d be surprised if the club didn’t already have a contingency in place and possibly even a “gentlemans agreement” for a new manager.
All I can say is that whoever gets the job I sincerely hope they get the long term backing of the board as we need some stability if we really are going to remain up there with the contenders.
Thanks for all the feedback. Interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts. Harry had us playing some amazing football and I wont forget what he has done for us.
I do think the time is right to move on though. Of the likely options my personal choice would be AVB. I don’t think our judgment should be clouded by what went on at Chelsea. Lets not forget he managed to go a season unbeaten at Porto and won the EL.
Things didn’t work out for him at Chelsea but he is a young progressive manager with a point to prove. I recently read an article on this site when he was linked to Liverpool that analysed why he failed at Chelsea. I really think we have the players at Spurs to suit his style of play.
This is well worth a read: http://www.eplindex.com/14831/andre-villas-boas-succeed-liverpool-failing-chelsea.html
Harry was the media’s favorite to get the England job. Not the nation’s favorite.