Ok some might call me embittered over the way Harry Redknapp used and abused my beloved football club but I’m trying to keep an open mind. One thing that can’t be denied is that Harry Redknapp has arguably the best press of any manager in England due to the fact no-one dares criticise the Spurs manager. When a brave hardened (or more likely a young naive) journalist tries to say that harry might have made a mistake or two they get a roasting and promptly are never seen or heard from again in any capacity surrounding Harry Redknapp.
For example a journalist tried to question the end to Spurs’ season after they meandered their way down the stretch and instead of making the Champions League they only managed to make it into the Europa League. They had the squad and the fixtures to claim a top four spot but they failed to do so. When posed with that question Redknapp retorted that the fans had seen the club have its best ever season and they everyone should be extremely proud of what they achieved. Now I’m not sure but considering Spurs have won both domestic championships and silverware both at home and on the continent then isn’t that a better performance than finishing fifth in the top flight and making the last eight of the Champions League where in all honesty they got torn apart by a far superior Real Madrid side?
Of course it is but we can’t be thinking that. Not when Harry Redknapp is the manager. Now the end of the Spurs season was a mess. The club should have done better but these things happen. However there seems to be a bit of an issue with the wage bill at Spurs and the chairman would prefer to move a few out before bringing in any. This isn’t exactly how Harry likes to do things. At Portsmouth he jumped ship the moment the purse strings were drawn shut. The club still hasn’t recovered and whilst I’m not putting the blame solely at our former manager (the likes of Peter Storrie and Sasha Gaydamak deserve just as much, if not more blame for allowing such reckless spending) it should be noted that similar things are happening at Spurs.
Failure to reach the Champion League is a blow both in terms of prestige for the club but far more troublesome is the money aspect. The club will have budgeted for a deep run in the competition and the money they receive from the Europa League is chicken feed in comparison. So Redknapp has a problem with bringing in who he likes so needs something to help make the chairman bend over backwards to accommodate him and what is better than a more lucrative position at a bigger club?
Chelsea need a manager and for all his pitfalls I will not deny that Harry Redknapp is both a good tactician and an extremely good motivator. However his biggest weaknesses are a bargain and believing in his team if he really doesn’t think that they can win. I saw him on umpteen occasions because throw a game by not picking the best team in games he saw as problematic. That wouldn’t be much of an issue at Chelsea and it would actually be extremely interesting to see him go there.
If he did go there then that would surely end the speculation of him landing the England job wen Fabio leaves in 2012 which looks likely so if Chelsea does come calling then it will be a dilemma. Choose the chance to really compete for the title or stick with a Spurs team where the purse strings are tighter than my wallet. The bigger question though is whether or not Chelsea have any interest. They have been extremely quiet on the matter and is Roman really willing to spend £15million on Redknapp (the fee Daniel Levy has apparently put on Redknapp’s head) and give him the open cheque book he would desire?
I am skeptical. This smells of a Redknapp manipulated media storm to me but maybe – just maybe – I am just one bitter Portsmouth fan at the end of the day.
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