Bloody Harry

Harry Redknapp

Whenever I look at him at the sidelines, biting his nails, tilting his head, blinking his eyes one at the time I really feel sorry for the chap. But should I?

Ok, the old Harry did have some rough times in his life and maybe that tragic accident in Italy during the 1990 World Cup, which killed five, and found Redknapp seriously injured is guilty for all the titling, clicking and nail-biting… he had his share of shitty luck throughout his life and with everything he’s been through he is holding on pretty well.

Former English footballer, born in Poplar, has a long career in football management having previously managed A.F.C. Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, then again Portsmouth and currently having a spell at Tottenham Hotspur. In his early managerial days, he didn’t have some noticeable success, but his hit-and-miss career has been marked by moments of controversy.

While at Bournemouth Harry focused on youth system and paid a great deal of attention on discovering new talents. This kind of approach, when he was helming West Ham later on, rewarded him with unearthing gems like Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole or his nephew Frank Lampard. However, reckless Harry what were you thinking? The sale of Rio Ferdinand to Leeds United left Hammers’ board questioning Redknapp’s transfer insight following his disappointing signings of Rigobert Song and Titi Camara which all resulted in a split at the end of season 2000/2001.

His first spell at Pompeys was also disappointing…he started molding a squad of youth and experience and despite being named the League Managers’ Association’s Manager of the Year after guiding Portsmouth to Premiership in 2003, the campaign ended in him resigning in November 2004, leaving the fans furious when he joined hated south coast rivals Southampton. Pompeys were left devastated…

But catch this! It appears fans are willing to forget and forgive since in 2005, Redknapp quit Southampton and rejoined Pompey once again. The second spell brought a lot of success. Harry saved the team from the drop in 2006 and then went on rebuilding the squad by adding new signings. Names like Kanu, Sol Camblell and David James were maybe questionable assets to the squad but the side finished in top ten which was the best result for Pompey since 1950s. And then again…controversies, what else…Allegations of corruption marred his 2007/08 campaign but they couldn’t over-shine FA Cup final triumph over Cardiff and Pompey’s first FA Cup win in 69 years.

We all know what happened next…after a mixed start to the 2008/2009 season making it to four wins, three losses and a draw with Pompeys, without saying goodbye to his ‘beloved’ fans, being paid 5 million pounds in compensation, Harry went on to replace Juande Ramos with Tottenham Hotspur. I don’t know maybe it is because he has always been a Tottehnam fan, training with the club at the age of 11-12, saying it’s a big, big club, but he is now magnificent. He looks reborn. He stopped biting his nails! He is happy he is jumping on the sidelines, he is smiling, he is doing great! In his first two weeks with the Spurs, he took the club out of the relegation zone defeating Bolton, Liverpool and Manchester City playing draw with Arsenal. His squad is putting on some classy performances, just remember the turn-over against Liverpool which, by the way, made my heart skip a beat, and his boys appear to be loving him. They are playing better and better, by the time you read this you will have known the outcome of the replay with Liverpool in Carling Cup, but I’m sure it will have been a huge nail-bitter.

His spell with Tottenham represents the thing he has always longed for – the opportunity to manage a genuine huge club. But, we all know there is a lot of bigger clubs, bigger than Tottenham and we can’t guarantee that his ticks and clicks would prevent him from leaving the Spurs overnight without saying or explaining anything. So, we should all just sit back and enjoy while it lasts…

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