Yes Luke and if Berbatov had not been nicked by United and referees didn't make mistakes, the media had not promoted Harry for England, Bale had not started a nomadic existence, Adebayors goals had counted, balls going over the line were seen as goals, balls not going over the line were not seen as goals, Lennon had not been injured, King had good knees, Defoe knew the offside rule, Norwich had not played so well, we had killed off Wolves and QPR and Villa, Arsenal had an off day at the Emirates, The Stoke game had been correctly refereed,Defoe had been a micro second earlier at City, Chelsea were not so bloody lucky, we might have won the league. Harry would have been King and I would shut up. Didn't happen though did it!
Hmm, much as i dislike Harry Redknapp, the facts are 1) he took over Spurs when they were in real trouble and managed in his first part season to turn it around and finish 8th 2) he then finished 4th and took Spurs into the CL for the first time in their history 3) he finished 5th the following year - including a CL run that took you to the quarter finals 4) he finshed 4th again this year - and is odds on to have secured another CL spot. 5) he has improved Spurs every year since he took over The club appear to be going forwards on the footballing side. Your finishing position in PL history: 8-15-7-8-10-14-11-10-12-9-10-14-9-5-5-11-8-4-5-4 Just an 'out of the weeds' viewpoint.
Agree with this as much as I hate to admit it he's been great in the transfer market and has achieved pretty substantial results. With Roy in charge of England there really are no distractions for him (thoug I came across a pretty deluded article stating chelsea want him ) provided he gets his tactics right theres no reason to get rid of him really. As for the comments he's just being realistic and taking pressure off his side.
The fact is that once in a while "a team" comes together. Sometimes by design, sometimes by accident. At the moment we have more than the basics of that " team" if we can hold what we have together, and add a few missing pieces, we're there. I personally think we have the foundations of a team that can challenge all but City. I'd give Harry only part of the credit for that.
LDL, the difference with the list you've come up with is that all those (save the Kompany dismissal) are in the hands of the team and the manager. We have a very long list of very obvious mistakes by officials that cost us badly. And those mistakes didn't balance out over the season.
It not so much the finishing 3rd aspect but that we were up there so close to Man U & City for so long is what I meant. Ok we fell off in the end but flying as high as we were was great while it lasted I feel we should be looking to bring a new manager that isn't so easily lead when a new 'option' comes his way. He spent most of August convincing Luka to stay and then when his head is turned does the same. What does that make the players think? I know for one if my manager pushed for me to stay in my job when I wanted to leave & then starting going to interviews 6 months down the line then I would trust them to be looking out for my best interests.
Somebody should remind Redknapp of the club motto: To Dare is To Do it is not We Might but it's Difficult. Also he should remember what a truly great Spurs manager said: It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low - Bill Nicholson What should we remember Harry for: Well you have to be realistic we can't compete with Arsenal, Chelsea,Liverpool, ManU, or Man C, we don't have their money. The funny thing is we have competed and finished well above two of them.
To take samways 2 points, the first is how it should be viewed, we've never been within touching distance of the top 2 at Xmas before, so it does surprise me people thought it would carry on. We did brilliantly, can't we just be happy about that? its not the norm is it. Nobody expected it last August, if you'd said it on here then, you'd have drowned in a tidal wave of abuse! For the second, it wasn't long ago this was quite normal for a 'potential' England manager, they've left their clubs quite amicably before, (are WBA grizzling?) as it was seen as the one exception. The thing here is, a generation younger than me don't see the WC as important as it was 20+ years ago. You see it all the time now people saying they'd rather watch a CL/PL game. I'm not saying its right, but its hard to see what reaction you'd expect from an English manager very much from the 66 era, its gone now, so we should move on till Levy announces otherwise.
I can't see the phrase Nos posset sed est difficile catching on...unless you say it really fast, and it sounds like you're swearing in Turkish.
But if Harry had his way he would change the club motto to something like (apologies for the bad latin): Memor nos had duos cuspis ex duodeviginti ut Cepi super
I think we're all ready to move on, and up! Unfortunately, so was our manager who's naked ambition was a bit too obvious. I, and many others still think this was to the detriment of the club - his employers who pay his wages.
I mentioned it in the match thread, but did anyone else find it amusing when Hansen and Shearer nearly came to blows over this on MOTD last night? Lineker brought up the subject and Hansen agreed it clearly affected our form - but Shearer, for the sake of "balance" tried to BS it and say every club has a blip, and Hansen was clearly pissed off by it.
I tend not to listen to too much those two say. Fast forward gets used. However, I'm with Hansen on that one.
Or, to put it another way... Hansen: Gives a clear, concise reason about how Spurs' form was undermined and the squad unsettled by the england speculation, and pointed to our results during that period Shearer: Says that's not the case, but doesn't support that view and instead spouts some generic bollocks But that's generally how their punditry works - Hansen knows what he's talking about, Shearer doesn't know a damn thing.
Sorry - that was GHoddle10, as someone pointed out earlier. As I said - you'll have to forgive me and ignore that point. Well - at least we agree on something then, apparently!
We all make mistakes, and you've been man enough to stand up and admit this one. That's good enough for me
I am one of those who believe that to be the case, as I have openly said, on several occasions. However, for me, it's not the fact that Harry had ambitions to take on the England job to our detriment, it's the fact that he continues to wriggle and squirm and lie about it and the fact that it was the major factor in our dip in form, that's what greatly angers me. Every top manager, especially those who have actually won honours, like SAF, will emphasise how important it is, during the business end of the season, to maintain focus. Harry didn't; he screwed up our season, and he won't take the blame. If he did, I'm sure a lot of those of us who are pissed off with him would be more minded to forgive and move on.
