Back To Square One
The above image is ‘borrowed’ from a Mirror column (from Feb 2012) that advocated that the English FA sack Fabio Capello and appoint Harry Redknapp as England manager immediately! Of course, Capello subsequently resigned and Redknapp was installed by the media as the favourite to replace him. Redknapp himself encouraged this speculation, talking up the England job non-stop. This had a devastating effect on Spurs’ season, then sitting comfortably in third position, a good ten points clear of Arsenal.
By the time the English FA snubbed Redknapp and appointed Roy Hodgson instead, Spurs were in freefall allowing Arsenal to overtake them and even looking over their shoulders at Chelsea and Newcastle for fourth place. Spurs did finish in fourth place but were denied Champions League qualification due to Chelsea’s unlikely winning of the competition.
At the time, I was positively livid with Redknapp for dropping the ball, losing his focus on Spurs (who were paying his salary) and dreaming instead of managing England. After every defeat, Redknapp would make excuses – blaming bad luck, poor referees and refusing to take any responsibility for the utter drop off in form whilst with same breath talking about the England job. It became so ridiculous that Spurs had to place a representative at press conferences to stop reporters from asking Redknapp about the England job (a topic which Redknapp encouraged). Here’s a good example from Sky Sports website. So Redknapp failed to do what he was hired to do (manage Spurs) and allowed the England speculation to affect himself and his players. This failure ultimately cost Spurs millions of pounds. For this reason, Redknapp had to go and rightfully so.
The crucial question now is – who will the club replace him with? Hopefully, this will be sorted out very soon and not dragged out which would jeopardize pre-season plans. I would personally go for David Moyes. He has worked wonders at Everton on a shoestring budget. He is loyal and committed and is not interested in a high media profile (unlike Redknapp). And although his Everton team has had made a bad habit of poor early season form, his sides have consistently beaten the ‘top’ teams and that is a quality that Spurs need as well. Perhaps with better players and better transfer kitty, Moyes might find a suitable platform at Spurs to excel. But who knows of course…
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