British Media <3 'Arry Redknapp

speedboatchase

What will it take for the British media to actually criticise Harry Redknapp?

Spurs are currently six points behind City after equal games played and three ahead of Liverpool, with a tough Chelsea game in hand. They have all but lost any hope of making 4th and will more than likely will battle Liverpool for 5th. With the aforementioned Chelsea, Liverpool and City in their next five games, I don't fancy their chances much.

In the last ten games Spurs have only beaten Stoke, while they lost to Blackpool, drew with Wolves, West Ham, Wigan, WBA and completing the worst ever performance by a English club in the Champions League by being humiliated (no other word for it, sorry) by losing 5-0 over two legs to Real. And yet I keep reading about how other managers are losing their plot, every day - not 'Our 'Arry' though.

Take the 2-2 draw with WBA. A hugely disappointing home result that gives City two extra points over Spurs and yet all the match reports focused on Jermaine Defoe' crawl to 100 goals, or as it should've been reported as - his 3rd goal in 17 Premier League appearences this season.

I know it's painfully obvious that Harry is being groomed to be the next England manager but does this painful igorance of the facts, owed to his future career and affable personality, irk anyone else?

That_Guy

YouTookMyName

Because he's Triffic'

Underground

yeah it's pretty annoying alright.
His record at leaving clubs in the financial gutter is pretty unsettling,and I don't think the media would have any love for him if he were foreign,sounds stupid but it's true.
Pretty shady character but it's good old Arry and the media will continue to overlook these shady parts in order to put him on his pedestal.(only to knock him off it when he loses his first game as England boss)

smokedeels

You're judging him on the bar he set for himself, not on Tottenham's past - or lack of - success.

The four teams ahead of him have better players, but Spurs could still pip City to fourth like they did last season, and if not... well, what's the harm in finishing below City, United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

speedboatchase wrote: »

Jermaine Defoe' crawl to 100 goals, or as it should've been reported as - his 3rd goal in 17 Premier League appearences this season.

tbf, Redknapp went after every decent striker in Spain in January (bar those from the big two)

5starpool

When he does become England boss, they will turn on him soon enough I'd say.

The Floyd p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJBsI7RAuvk

smokedeels

5starpool wrote: »

When he does become England boss, they will turn on him soon enough I'd say.

agreed

they are building him up, and then....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72wcTg1qytc

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Spurs' PL position when Harry arrived; 20th.
Spurs' PL position the following season; 4th.
C'est magnifique, non?

Anyways, it's not like we're in crisis. We lost 4-0 away with 10 men to arguably the best team in club football atm, and not too long ago we beat the Rossoneri away. We're still 5th in the league, that's not too bad, considering we're just a small club in North London;).

Underground

The Floyd p wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJBsI7RAuvk

Thats typical Harry,throws his toys out the pram when they don't ask him what he wants to be asked.
But because it's good old 'Arry it's funny and comedy gold.

Pauleta

People hate on him and find every fault in his management because the media like him. Its a bit like the opposite to Stockholm Syndrome. The media like him because he is a likable and free speaking man who has done a great job at Spurs and most other clubs he has been with. I dont understand why people dislike him purely because the media have taken a shine to him over the years

Degag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOgTCbz-XmU

"Na wonda ee's in da facking reserves!"

Paully D

Excellent manager, and to criticise him for the financial state of clubs he has managed (which is the usual dig at him) is very unjust IMO. The chairmen and/or owners are the one's that should be criticised.

I don't always agree with the way he conducts his transfer business (I don't want to talk about Player X, because he plays for Club Y, but he's a 'triffic player and I'd be very interested if he became available etc) but he uses his contacts in the media brilliantly. Perhaps he's the type of manager that fans of other clubs love to hate.

I'd love to see him at my club (but it's obviously never going to happen). He's the one manager in the Premier League now that I could guarantee would have someone like Sunderland pushing for the Europa League spots after a season in charge. If Newcastle had managed to get him in when they tried I dread to think of how well they'd be doing now.

Cracking manager, and England will be a lot better off when they get someone like him in charge and sack that twat Capello.

keano_afc

I find it interesting that the media lambast Arsenal and Wenger for the season they've just had but praise Redknapp and Spurs for their "achievements" this season and last. They've spent millions more than Arsenal yet are praised for merely qualifying for the Champions League.

Chucky the tree

Over-rated manager, I can think of plenty of managers in the league who would be just as good if not better if they had the kind of money Harry did.

Paleface

As has already been said they'll crucify him when he becomes England manager. You could easily see a McClaren style witchunt if they were to fail to qualify for Brazil 2014.

Ordinary man

He buys some great talent but he has no ability to change tactics during a game, when crouch got sent off against real madrid he waited til half time to make subs and the damage was done by then.

Predalien

I'd agree most other managers would be subject to far more criticism if they'd shown the recent form Tottenham have but he does deserve a lot of credit for their qualification and performance in the Champion's league.

I think he's partially the darling of the English media because his team play good attacking football and there exists an illusion that England will be world beaters as soon as they have a manager who's willing to give that style a go.
Conveniently forgetting the fact that they simply don't have players with enough technical ability to do so.

5starpool

They might be thought of as playing good attacking football, but they have scored less goals than Liverpool in the league this season, and Liverpool haven't exactly destroyed teams, with last Saturday being the first time this season they have scored more than 3 in a game.

mike65

I suspect the end of season reviews will focus on how Spurs flattered to deceive, obviously if 'arry fails to qualify the side for any European football the knives will be out.

5starpool

mike65 wrote: »

I suspect the end of season reviews will focus on how Spurs flattered to deceive, obviously if 'arry fails to qualify the side for any European football the knives will be out.

They might have the butter knives out, but will save the really sharp ones for those despicible foreigners.

mike65

Ah now don't sound like a paranoid Gooner! (have you read the guardian blogs lately?)

That_Guy

5starpool wrote: »

They might have the butter knives out, but will save the really sharp ones for those despicible foreigners.

How dare Wenger not spend any money and bring some talented players through and deliver Champions League football on a regular basis.

How dare he.

rossie1977

he has done a very good job at spurs to be fair, when he came in they were bottom of the table, guys like modric and bale have looked completely different players under him

the british media hated rafa and are having a go at capello atm but they loved jose and they didn't quite share that love for graham taylor

jive

Probably because he got Spurs into the CL ahead of the likes of Liverpool and City. Not only that but he also got them out of the groups, through the last 16 and to the quarter finals. Also the 2 games against Madrid were far from embarrassing. Crouch went out like a mental patient and got sent off after 15 minutes. Obviously it was all down hill from there as Spurs were up against it anyway. Most teams would fair well in the Bernabeu for 75 minutes with 10 men. At White Hart Lane they lost 1 nil due to a goalkeeping error in a game they really shouldn't have lost.

They're 5th in the league and not so far off 4th that it's an impossibility (though I don't see it happening). I would have had them placed at 5th in the league before the season started so they're doing as expected there. They beat the defending European Champions (Inter) in the group stages, although they are not as good as they were under Mourinho by any stretch of the imagination. They also kept AC Milan scoreless for 2 legs and knocked them out of Europe.

All of these things combined are probably why he isn't torn apart in the media. That and he's a character in interviews. So the reason he's not being abused in the media is because they are performing as expected domestically and excelled in Europe. Wenger is abused in the media because they've gone 5 years without a trophy at a top3 club. Arsenal expect trophies, Spurs don't.

flahavaj

I think he's an excellent manager. He knows how to get players playing and get the best out of them and he really is pretty amazing in the transfer market. He took over a club in the bottom three and had then playing Madrid in the Cl quarters in less than 2 years.

Its not his fault really he gets an easy time from the press, nor can you blame a manager if a club gives him ridiculous money causing it to go tits up. Thats the fault of those higher up, not his.

As for media bias, thats nothing new, sure the irish media and commentators (and supporters)are just as biased towards their own tbh.

Mr. Guappa

Spurs have spent £26.5 million on transfers since this time last year, compared to the £143 million spent by City. Considering that this was our debut Champion's League season with an inexperienced (at that level) squad then league results were always likely to suffer - Schalke currently sit 10th in the Bundesliga.

To be using a CL QF elimination and a likely 5th/6th place Premier League finish to slag off Redknapp is a bit of a stretch, and actually shows how far he has taken us.

GavRedKing

IMO hes a bluffer, not a great manager and predictable.

Its nothing against Spurs, they did well to get into the CL and go on a decent run but he has riden a train of media hype (not his fault of course) that isnt justified. Spurs spending has increased with relatively little to show for it other then a few CL nights.

One thing though, in comparisson to what City have spent, its a bloody bargain.

AnCapaillMor

5starpool wrote: »

When he does become England boss, they will turn on him soon enough I'd say.

Supposedly they've a massive portfolio on him and waiting on the day he gets the engurlund job.

Why he can do no wrong, he's english and theres not many top english managers out there. He can do no wrong in the same way that english player never dives.

Hannibal

His son is a panelist on Sky so not a hope of criticism.
Even David Moyes on MOTD2 was billed as "one the best managers in the country", Everton stutter out of the blocks every season.
Spurs have to win every remaining match to hit their 70 points tally from last season, and their fixtures include away trips to Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool. Redknapp secured 4th last season only because Liverpool had a bad season and the points required was lower than normal and his job is been made look better because Juande Ramos was so bad. The squad he inherited had a lot of value and big moneys buys so its not like taking say Wolves off the bottom and into Europe. He blows his own trumpet a lot through his media column, if England do plump for him or Hodgson we'll see how good Eriksson and Capello actually were with limited over rated players.

flahavaj

Dotsey wrote: »

His son is a panelist on Sky so not a hope of criticism.
Even David Moyes on MOTD2 was billed as "one the best managers in the country", Everton stutter out of the blocks every season.
Spurs have to win every remaining match to hit their 70 points tally from last season, and their fixtures include away trips to Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool. Redknapp secured 4th last season only because Liverpool had a bad season and the points required was lower than normal and his job is been made look better because Juande Ramos was so bad. The squad he inherited had a lot of value and big moneys buys so its not like taking say Wolves off the bottom and into Europe. He blows his own trumpet a lot through his media column, if England do plump for him or Hodgson we'll see how good Eriksson and Capello actually were with limited over rated players.

Moyes is one of the best managers in the country IMO.

Also you say Spurs only made 4th because Liverpool had a bad season, but conveniently forget they also beat City into 4th aswell, a club that spent hundreds of millions more then them. He did inherit a good squad but it was a squad playing very poorly, its to his credit that he got them playing so well in such a short space of time. Its a sign of a good manager.

Morzadec

In fairness to Harry he broke the top 4 dominance which was looking unbreakable for a long time. This was a big achievement.

There's a reason he got the 'wheeler-deeler' tag. VDV at 8m was an absolute steal. Modric and Bale weren't cheap but are also looking like bargains now and would certianly make a hefty profit if they were to be sold on. He's brought some World Class players to Spurs. I can't think of many former Spurs players in the 90s/00s who were really top top players.

Spurs have been perennial under-achievers since I started watching football. A supposedly 'big club' who never did much. Jol did well, but it's Harry who really brought them on to the big stage. If I were a Spurs fan I'd be happy with him despite their recent run, and happy enough with the season even if they end up 6th. It's not like finishing above established top sides and silly money is easy. 5th is probably what was expected of them pre-season and they will end up 5th or 6th. No disaster.

Also, a Champions League Quarter Final is a big achievement for Spurs and has certainly raised their profile on the European stage which could help to attract better players.

He's done a better than decent job imo

shano_88

Harry didnt sign Modric or Bale.

Morzadec

shano_88 wrote: »

Harry didnt sign Modric or Bale.

woops! well I retract that point so...

flahavaj

Morzadec wrote: »

woops! well I retract that point so...

He did get them playing their best stuff though, in their best positions, which counts for a lot too.

homer simpson

Morzadec wrote: »

I.... He's brought some World Class players to Spurs....

What world class players did harry bring to spurs?

shano_88

flahavaj wrote: »

He did get them playing their best stuff though, in their best positions, which counts for a lot too.

Wasn't he ready to let Bale go last January? I could be wrong but I think I remember reading something about that at the time.

Morzadec

homer_simpson wrote: »

What world class players did harry bring to spurs?

Just the one, VDV... I mistakenly thought he had signed Modric and BAle, my bad

Hannibal

flahavaj wrote: »

Also you say Spurs only made 4th because Liverpool had a bad season, but conveniently forget they also beat City into 4th aswell, a club that spent hundreds of millions more then them.

I didn't conveniently forget City, imo City have spent a lot of that money disastrously.

Morzadec wrote: »

In fairness to Harry he broke the top 4 dominance which was looking unbreakable for a long time. This was a big achievement.

There's a reason he got the 'wheeler-deeler' tag. VDV at 8m was an absolute steal. Modric and Bale weren't cheap but are also looking like bargains now and would certianly make a hefty profit if they were to be sold on. He's brought some World Class players to Spurs. I can't think of many former Spurs players in the 90s/00s who were really top top players.

The top 4 dominance wouldn't have been broken if it wasn't for Hicks and Gillett handicapping Liverpool to an extent where they were competing with one hand tied behind their back. Spurs and City both had more expensive squads and bigger wage bills than Liverpool last season so there was every reason they should've finished ahead of them.
Even this season Liverpool had Hodgson in charge for 20 games and they have at the moment won more games than Spurs and scored more goals than the great attacking Spurs team as the media would have you believe. Spurs are away to Chelsea this week and Liverpool are home to Newcastle so there's a very strong chance Liverpool could be 5th at 2pm Sunday.
Harry didn't buy Bale or Modric, Jol was in charge when Bale arrived and Ramos for Modric although it's likely Comolli had a large hand in both deals.
Looking at their present squad: Modric £16m, Bentley £15m, Pavlyuchenko Sandro £14m, Keane £12m, Palacios £12m, Crouch £10m, Hutton Defoe £9m, Corluka £8.5m, Gomes Bassong Kaboul vdVaart £8m. It's not quite in City's price range but they should be challenging every year with an outlay like that

flahavaj

shano_88 wrote: »

Wasn't he ready to let Bale go last January? I could be wrong but I think I remember reading something about that at the time.

He was off on loan to Forest I think, then he played him wide left and look what happened.

flahavaj

Dotsey wrote: »

I didn't conveniently forget City, imo City have spent a lot of that money disastrously.

Why fail to mention them then? Finishing above a team with their outlay is a considerable achievement.

The top 4 dominance wouldn't have been broken if it wasn't for Hicks and Gillett handicapping Liverpool to an extent where they were competing with one hand tied behind their back. Spurs and City both had more expensive squads and bigger wage bills than Liverpool last season so there was every reason they should've finished ahead of them.
Even this season Liverpool had Hodgson in charge for 20 games and they have at the moment won more games than Spurs and scored more goals than the great attacking Spurs team as the media would have you believe. Spurs are away to Chelsea this week and Liverpool are home to Newcastle so there's a very strong chance Liverpool could be 5th at 2pm Sunday.
Harry didn't buy Bale or Modric, Jol was in charge when Bale arrived and Ramos for Modric although it's likely Comolli had a large hand in both deals.
Looking at their present squad: Modric £16m, Bentley £15m, Pavlyuchenko Sandro £14m, Keane £12m, Palacios £12m, Crouch £10m, Hutton Defoe £9m, Corluka £8.5m, Gomes Bassong Kaboul vdVaart £8m. It's not quite in City's price range but they should be challenging every year with an outlay like that

I know a chap who'd be more than happy to discuss this team's relative net spend with you if ya like.;)

homer simpson

Morzadec wrote: »

Just the one, VDV... I mistakenly thought he had signed Modric and BAle, my bad

Ah i hadn't read the posts below that one, although i would say one thing, Van der Vaart is good for sure, has been most of the season but is he world class? One good season doesn't make you world class IMO.

Hannibal

flahavaj wrote: »

Why fail to mention them then? Finishing above a team with their outlay is a considerable achievement.


I know a chap who'd be more than happy to discuss this team's relative net spend with you if ya like.;)

Yeah it is an achievment finishing ahead of City but with City's outlay they should be hitting around 80 points not the 67 of last season and they've presently got 59 with 5 matches left. I think City and in particular Hughes and Mancini should be ashamed of themselves to be so reliant on one player after spending that amount.

Well that chap who had a net spend of around £60m over 6 seasons was this time two years ago on course for I think 86 points and top scorers in the league and beating Madrid 4-0, United 4-1 and Villa 5-0 in the space of 10 days. With two European finals, 2 semi finals and a quarter finals in that period aswell is a record that deserves respect considering the sums Chelsea and Man United were spending when he arrived and the sums Spurs and in particular City were spending when he left. He did finish ahead of the great Wenger in 3 out of 6 seasons, and I would have to agree with what Fabregas is alleged to have said last week about Wenger being a lucky boy to still be in a job

Predator_

Wait until he becomes England manager and fails, they will make a fool of him. The English media are a bunch of upper class posh nationalists who look down on footballers in general.

whatawaster

That Spurs squad has cost a fortune to assemble. Far more than the one, say, Benitez put together at Liverpool.
Yet Rafa was criticised year on year for not challenging for the title and (only) getting top 4 time after time.

Since Comolli left Spurs and Harry has been in charge of transfers, their buying policy has made no sense.
Buying back Keane and Defoe for the money they did was hilarious and worthy of ridicule. On transfer deadline day in January he was cluelessly chasing after every decent striker in Europe, seemingly regardless of their suitability for Spurs. Then at ten to 12 he decides (wrongly) that his squad needs Charlie Adam. Crazy.
It's like they have no long-term vision any more.

I'm not saying he has not done well with Spurs. But when he took over, 20th was a false position. They had finished 6th two years in a row before that.

Spurs getting 4th with the money they have spent and the quality they have is no surprise.

The fact that they are only just above Liverpool (and a Liverpool who had to suffer Hodgson, a takeover and court-cases mid-season) is fairly terrible. It is as bad as Rafa's performances with Liverpool last season and warrants similar criticism imo.

I said this on the Liverpool thread on Saturday - I hope to god Mancini and Harry keep their jobs. That is our best chance of getting back into the CL places next season.

Einhard

It's funny the way some posters here criticise the English media for expecting too much of managers, and then turning on them when their inflated expectations can't be met, and yet, Harry Redknapp gets his team to 5th (possibly 4th) in the PL, has an excellent Champion's League, and all on a fraction of the budget of City, Chelsea, and even United, and is suddenly to be lampooned as some sort of failure! I'm neither an 'arry fan, nor a Spur's fan for that matter, but to deny him credit because he hasn't leap-frogged the established teams ahead of him, or a City with hundreds of millions in transfer funds, is ridiculous.

whatawaster

Einhard wrote: »

It's funny the way some posters here criticise the English media for expecting too much of managers, and then turning on them when their inflated expectations can't be met, and yet, Harry Redknapp gets his team to 5th (possibly 4th) in the PL, has an excellent Champion's League, and all on a fraction of the budget of City, Chelsea, and even United, and is suddenly to be lampooned as some sort of failure! I'm neither an 'arry fan, nor a Spur's fan for that matter, but to deny him credit because he hasn't leap-frogged the established teams ahead of him, or a City with hundreds of millions in transfer funds, is ridiculous.

but contrast the money Spurs have spent with the money Liverpool spent in the last 4/5 years. And then contrast his treatment on here and in the media with that of Rafa Benitez.

population

Sat in on an interview with Harry just before Pompey won the FA Cup. A few things struck me. He is an extremely affable character and extremely enthusiastic about the game. He is very polite and chatty with journalists. He remembered where the Journo I was with went on holidays and asked what he thought of the place for a quick break. Now for the Journalist in question this was like having a pint with a mate. Not pulling teeth or wrestling with a bear, like the experience with certain other managers. The next Journo who went in as we were leaving, Harry asked him how his wife was.

I do think this is something Harry plays expertly and it does help to deflect criticism no doubt, but I do not think anyone can deny he has done a decent job with Tottenham. A lot of teams who qualify for the Champions League for the first time find the weight of 2 competitions just too much and in fact some have plummeted right down the league table. But Spurs imo will be 5th, there is only one place in the difference. Hardly a complete disaster.

Einhard

whatawaster wrote: »

but contrast the money Spurs have spent with the money Liverpool spent in the last 4/5 years. And then contrast his treatment on here and in the media with that of Rafa Benitez.

But how much has Harry spent personally? I look at where Spurs were before he took over, and their current position. That's my primary benchmark, and in that context, I think he's done an excellent job.

population

whatawaster wrote: »

but contrast the money Spurs have spent with the money Liverpool spent in the last 4/5 years. And then contrast his treatment on here and in the media with that of Rafa Benitez.

Media treatment of Benitez was disgraceful. But that is not exclusively an English thing. The Italian papers gave him a very rough ride over here. Benitez does not do "lets be mates" with journalists. Harry does and it is a fickle world in football where a harsh word said to the wrong journo can initiate a campaign against you.

whatawaster

Einhard wrote: »

But how much has Harry spent personally? I look at where Spurs were before he took over, and their current position. That's my primary benchmark, and in that context, I think he's done an excellent job.

You can't take 20th when he took over as a benchmark. Not for that squad. It was a freak position. 6th the two previous seasons and since then he spent a lot of money on Keane, Defoe, Crouch, Palacios and Van Der Vaart