Topspurs on Harry

yiddo59

Slightly taken over by events but still relevant especially the bit in bold at the end

13th June 2012 – Manager update

Being away during silly season is usually a good idea, but the twitter rumour that Redknapp had been dismissed reeled me back in. The rumour, like most football related stuff over the summer turned out to be cobblers turned, more froth to keep the internet sites who deal in this stuff ticking over in advertising revenue, but the denial from Redknapp ended up being quite candid. Read it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18418066 the salient bits are below:

"The simple situation is I've got a year left on my contract. It's up to Tottenham whether they want to extend that contract or not.

"If they don't extend it and I go into my last year, it's not an easy one when players know you've only got a year left.

"It's not a case of me looking for security. What it's about is players knowing you've only got one year left on your contract and knowing that it doesn't work, basically.

"I think it's a situation of 'well, he might not be here next year'. You don't let players run into the last year of their contract if you think they're any good and you don't let managers run into the last year of their contract if you think they're any good.

"It's up to Tottenham. If they think I'm OK and I've done a decent job and deserve an extension, they'll give it to me."


Its very honest stuff – back me or sack me.
If supporters guessed there was something simmering beneath the surface, its very much in the open now. Spurs first new signing of the summer will be the manager – Redknapp or someone else. No doubt supporters who prefer soppy platitudes over honesty will find reason to be outraged once again.

Given how Spurs form fell apart when the managerial uncertainty occurred after the England position became vacant, Levy would be foolish to let this uncertain situation rumble on into the new season, or very much longer if summer signings bedded in before the start of the season are to happen.

With a record of 71 wins in 144 league games and 1.74 points per game Click here for Redknapp at Spurs, the first time three consecutive top 6 finishes for over 50 years etc, not only does Redknapp not have any peers in the modern era, it is also the best record of all Spurs managers http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-managers-index.htm
As the table shows, not only does Redknapp have the best record, apart from the legends Billy Nick, Arthur Rowe and General B he is now the longest serving manager since the war, which should surely quash any of this idiotic ‘disloyal’ stuff and is surely deserving of respect. Redknapp does not ‘love’ Spurs like most of the fans do between the endless bitching/never satisfied moans. Professional people in football rarely have the affection a fan does for their employer, but he has done a good job and seems to be very honest about his motivations and the repercussions around the uncertainty over his contract. Fans should judge footballers by their own standards in everyday life, if you’ve stayed at one place for 20 years forsaking better career opportunities/money, feel free to cast the first stone but if you have, well …. Hmm

The problem is that the England situation/loss of form/4th not being good enough for CL has created a bit of an issue. While Redknapp’s record is excellent, with an old keeper, injury prone centre backs, transfer uncertainty over two best midfielders, and no CL quality strikers on the books – are Spurs in good shape to reproduce the form of the last three seasons next year? Can Spurs afford to remedy these issues on their budget? Is the Harry magic on the wane naturally (as most managers become less effective over time)?

Just because Redknapp has been an excellent manager over the previous four seasons, the upper management at Spurs should (and don’t seem) to harbour any sentiment over the future. Hopefully having learned the lessons from Santini, Ramos and the disaster of the director of football arrangement and how quickly good can go bad, if Spurs are going to replace Redknapp – it has to be with a real top notcher, and backed with a budget to remedy the squad issues identified before.
If there is no money available for squad upgrades, Spurs may be on course for a decline anyway and whoever is in the managers seat has a tough task.

In someways its similar to the Jol situation in 2007 – stick with generational high league finishes (5th/UEFA) or twist for something better. If Spurs can get Mourinho/Guardiola and back them with finance for CL quality players, everyone should welcome the upgrade (as long as the finance is sustainable) but if its Martinez with a bargain budget, perhaps Redknapp & the mini golden era will finally get the respect he deserves with the benefit of hindsight.

And of course, either of those alternatives is better than a summer of uncertainty, no one signing, a poor start and Redknapp sacked after 6-10 games, which has happened four of the last nine seasons under Levy

Spurs need to be bold, keep striving for excellence but only change for an upgrade and not for the sake of it

Hatch99

Yes read it earlier today, some will agree, some won't... that's football fans for you...I'm still of the opinion we have done the right thing.

yiddo59

Hatch99 wrote: »

Yes read it earlier today, some will agree, some won't... that's football fans for you...I'm still of the opinion we have done the right thing.

We'll see if it's the right thing when we know who the new man is!

tippspur

Mourinho or Guardiola with a big budget?? he's in f****n dreamland.David Moyes with a small budget more like.

yiddo59

updated after the sacking

14th June 2012 – Redknapp sacked

Its been coming. Undeserved, but coming and if one there is one consolation the uncertainty is over and Spurs have plenty of time to prepare for next season. Levy may have basked in the reflected glory of the success Redknapp delivered to the club but has not been a big enough person to be able manage the first serious tensions with Redknapp without sacking him. The inevitable outcome of the weaker man being in a position of greater authority.

Levy has now sacked a manager at half time during a UEFA Cup game and now one via rumour on twitter/Sky Sports news. Very classy, well done.

The facts of the matter are Spurs have sacked a manager who has just guided Spurs to 4th place and has won 10 of the last 12 points. In his reign, Spurs improved from 2 pts in 8 games to finish 4th/5th/4th his full seasons in charge - the first time since the early 1960s Spurs have achieved this, has the highest points per game record of 1.74 of any Spurs manager ever, got Spurs to the last 8 of the Champions League - the first appearance in Europe’s top competition since 1962, a League Cup final lost on penalties against Manchester Unite and 2 FA Cup semi finals – and for the most part playing attractive football in the best Spurs traditions
…but he did n’t ‘love’ Spurs or say the right things at press conferences – boo ****ing hoo

His ‘crime’ was to only finish 4th – let down by a very suspicious display from Marton Fulop and Chelsea’s unlikely CL victory. Most of the ungrateful masses forget Spurs won 20 of their 38 games that season, only beaten by the 21 of 09/10 (manager HJ Redknapp) which is a lot for a team without a billionaire backer. Arsenal nicked 3rd place by a point and for all the collapse after the England job stuff, it just came down to not being able to beat a **** Aston Villa side, even with 10 men. That draw felt like the worst result of the season at the time and so it proved.
People say Arsenal were **** this season but to get 3rd, Spurs would have needed to equal or better 70 points with a plus 26 goal difference which is something Spurs have managed once in all the EPL seasons (Manager HJ Redknapp 09/10). And conversely, something not achieved but any number of other managers in the other 20 years. Too many people focused on the games lost rather than the points accumulated. And lets not forget, Spurs are the first team ever to be denied a CL place after reaching the start of the season criteria – there were some huge elements of cursed luck involved.

Some fans reckon that Redknapp has no tactics and was holding Spurs greatest ever squad back. I don’t see that – Redknapp was getting a very good return out of a very good squad, but it was a world away from the sort of players Man City/Utd were going after – Spurs best forward was on loan from one of em! Maybe we’ll find out now under the new man or will we? as players will use this incident to demand a new contract or a reason to bugger off if they are any good as Ruddock did when Sugar cut Venables loose in 1993. More instability

If Levy somehow delivers a Mourinho level manager (and backs them with sustainable money), so much the better onwards and upwards. There should be respect for achievement but no room for sentiment in helping Spurs progress. But can Levy deliver something better? Lets check

So far Levy (and dear old Kemsley) spent 9 excruciating months scouring Europe to come up with Jacques Santini (sacked after 6 goals in 11 games) but was bailed out in that Arnesen had already got Jol to the Club in 2004. In a similar situation to this one in 2007, Levy sacked a consistent league manager for another manager who struggled with the lingo in the bizarre Ramos who left Spurs with the infamous 2 points from 8 games less than a year later. Confidence cannot be high that this sort of decision making is going to bring Spurs a better replacement.

Of the current front runners, Moyes is a Scottish Curbishley, who has played drab football and not even got a League Cup final out of 10+ years with Everton. Martinez has presided of huge numbers of defeats at Wigan and seems to have no credentials whatsoever on his CV, Benitez is a crap snide, AVB was poor at Chelsea, Pardew a lucky Curbishley and when you get to Steve Bruce its time to call the Samaritans instead.
Perhaps Capello or Deschamps may have something to offer – but are they definitely better than Redknapp on Spurs budget over the course of 38 game season? In the unlikely event Spurs get Mourinho/Guardiola or one of those lads, fair play but Spurs won’t as they can’t, as Spurs are not the biggest club in the world as some fans fail to remember when calibrating their expectations.

I’ve been guilty of it on here, but the cult of manager is getting out of hand. They get too much praise when things go right and too much crap when they go wrong. Sorting Ramos shambles into a winning formula shows where a manager can have an impact but Redknapp has a massive team of coaches at Spurs (more compensations which wont go on transfers) and pretty much makes the players feel good, claps his hands at 255pm and says good luck lads as they go out and deals with the press after. It was the players who fell apart and also by the same token the players who put together the #WWWWWWDWWWWW sequence.

Aside from Ramos weird spell – Spurs results have gone pretty much like this for the last 8 years. Under Jol, Spurs win a lot of games at home against all the crap and quite a few away but rarely beat the elite sides and get circa 60-65pts. Under Redknapp, Spurs maintained the wins against the crap but added a few more wins against the elite and edge up the points from 62-70points http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-league-history.htm

In 2007 I was skeptical that someone could build on Jol’s good work and take Spurs higher and after the Ramos experiment, Redknapp did deliver. Now in 2012 – can Spurs get a manager (and a beefed up the squad) to take Redknapp’s 70 points and turn them into 75, 80 or even the 85 points required for the title. On Spurs budget, that seems very unlikely but we live in hope. Looking the other way, it would take a total clown to take Spurs back beyond the Jol threshold of 60 points given the resources available.

Whoever Spurs get, lets hope they are a genius who can take Spurs higher (or keep things at current levels) as no matter what everyone’s thoughts on Redknapp, Levy, the players etc – the most important thing is that Spurs do well.

With a raised bar: 68 points or less and 5th or worse is failure. Something Spurs have achieved twice in 20 EPL seasons, both under Redknapp.

Good luck & here’s the challenge ahead



And when defining the fine line between success and failure – here it is. Bill Nicholson and Harry Redknapp after 144 League games using 3 pts for a win. One is a Tottenham Legend who won the double in the period shown with Spurs greatest team & the other one sacked and hated by half the fans

Hatch99

The piece I like most is..

no matter what everyone’s thoughts on Redknapp, Levy, the players etc – the most important thing is that Spurs do well.