Moyes has had no budget to do anything at Everton, TMT. Virtually nothing spent on transfers and an uncompetitive wage bill, too. Redknapp's done well with the resources that he's been given, but Moyes has never been in that position. Redknapp hadn't before he joined Spurs, either.
The numbers dont lie though HIAG. League final positions over time. please log in to view this image Redknapp has you closer to Arsenal than you have been in a long time and has improved your standing as a club worldwide.
I think that Levy's improved a lot of things at the club during his tenure as chairman though, Jayram. Redknapp's arguably had a better group of players to work with than many, if not all, of the other managers during the Premier League era.
I cant remember the circumstances for Jol leaving... he also had Spurs competing...Why did Levy get rid of him?
Jayram, all your little graph tells me is that it has taken us time to adjust to the fact that you have been able to pay/bribe better players to come to your club and to stay there longer, and now we've worked you out and we have not only closed the gap on you, but we have slowly but steadily been reeling you in. Now that the like of Chelski and £ity are able to blow you out of the water for wages, all you have been over the past couple of seasons is a feeder club for £ity's billionaire Arab playboy owner. Last season, you were lucky that RVP was not only on such hot form but that he remained free from injury, because without him you would have finished below 'Pool. £ity has set about destroying your club bit by bit, and when RVP leaves they will have finally succeeded. You are going to struggle to finish in the top 4 next season, not to mention the looming prospect of CL humiliation. But don't be sad about it. You've had your day in the sun. Enjoy it for what it was. Moreover, please do not blame Whinger; it's not his fault that all of your best players have given up on AFC ever winning anything, and are choosing to jump ship. He's doing the best that anyone could do, in his circumstances.
It tells me that Spurs have closed the gap, but not quite gone past us yet. The main driver of that has been Redknapp in my view. This may have been proven wrong if you had kept hold of Jol, who was a good manager, but it would seem as though you panicked when he started poorly the year after two successive 5th placed finishes. As for us, we have plently of challenges - not least of which is £ity trawling our club for players. It remains to be seen how we cope with that, but i would not be so sure we'll be out of the top 4 next year. Its been said every season for a long time, and never been correct.
That is true. However, the only reason you didn't finish outside the top 4 this season (even with RVP) is because (a) Chelsea's mad-dog Russian oligarch owner - a man with an ego bigger than planet Earth - completely screwed up by insisting that Chelsea need a new manager, and then appointed AVB; and (b) Harry let dreams of leading England to Euro Cup glory send us into a 13 game dip, from which we found it difficult to recover, at the business-end of the season. If we can build on the squad we already have - and it looks like we are already doing that - we'll remain very competitive next season. Plus, I cannot see Chelsea making the same, or as many mistakes as they did last season. If you don't have RVP - which is looking increasingly likely - you are going to struggle.
We have closed the gap but we need that manager of higher profile to take us that step further and to me Moyes hasn't enough experience to do that and to play in Europe too.
I know this might sound a bit controversial but what exactly do we know Harry did when there was all that speculation about him becoming England manager? We know he said "I've always said it'd be an honour and..." and stuff like that. But apart from that I can't think of what "all his flirting with the FA" and self-promotion and "taking his eye off the ball at Spurs" really comes down to. The only real evidence is that it came at a time when we started getting bad results. Against better teams than we'd played for a good two or three months. And come on - whilst it was frustrating and we should have played better and players were mis-used we were still unlucky with many of those games. I think Harry messed up a little bit in that period. But he/ the team were also unlucky. Both of those things can be true. And it can also be true that he messed up and he was not actively pursuing the England job to the detriment of his Spurs job. Harry's not perfect but he's done better at Spurs than any other manager in a very long time. Three more years of finally challenging the top places and playing very good football is just fine by me. the biggest drawback could be the renewal of England talk if Hodgson goes after the Euros. I, however, would be surprised if this came up for two reasons: 1) The FA just wouldn't want to look so foolish as to sack someone after three competitive games (assuming we go out in the group stage). Nor pay the severance package all over again, never mind the compensation package to the next manager's current club. 2) Even if they do decide to take the massive step of sacking Roy after three competitive games I think they'll only do that if they want to take a big change of direction. They won't sack a 60-odd Englishman with no razzmatazz and little experience with top teams just to appoint another one. And anyway we can just make sure that the FA know about the huge compensation clause in Harry's new three-year deal.
I don't think that the FA will sack Hodgson after the Euros Lenny, but if they go badly, then the press will start pushing for Redknapp to replace him. If he does nothing to suggest that he won't take the job, then it could unsettle the side, again.
Nobody has mentioned our new training facilities. I think it is best to keep Harry (though i'm sick to the back teeth of his mouthing off, lack of rotation, and tactical ineptitidude) as it will help make the transitiion to our new facilities much easier. Give him a 1year deal, then if he has a good solid year, give him the other 3to build on. by then we should also be moving into a new stadium, and i think given all the turmoil and upheaval we've had over the years, some consistancy in the manager and squad dept with all these off field moves will be helpfull. We need to decide quickly though, as there are lots of transfers we need to get tied up. Gio Bently Jenas King? Corluca (think he should stay for games where we need a sold rb that can link up with lennon) Niko (think he can be rotated) newcb (verthonghen hopefully) new st new st new winger
Hodgson will not be sacked even if we lose all 3 group games, all the excuses are there, being given the tournament at the last minute, no prep time, injury and suspension problems. I'd be surprised if our media called for his head in these circs. No, Woy has pretty much said he's looking ahead to Brazil, so the qualificaton games for that will be when he's scrutinised. Agree with a fair bit of Lenny's last post, HR was side tracked after Capello, but self promotion?...I doubt he could spell it let alone carry it out. Lenny is also right here aswell imo... The fixture list last year backs that up, as does another subject seldom discussed 'a good time to play a team'. eg. When would you rather play City/United? a) sandwiched between 2 tricky CL games while they have injuries, in the middle of an indifferent run,....or b) no injuries, not lost in 10 games, and after a weeks rest. You don't really want either when they're all fresh at the start of the season, while your best player turns your club upside down trying to get out of a 6yr contract he's just signed, and doesn't want to play United because his head isn't right! It was too many draws last term for us (as usual!), our losses were only 9, and 5 were against the other top teams around us, 4 of them v the Manchesters, very poor really, only beating the Goons at home. After the Mancs, our fans enjoyed the most home wins, but if we're going to be serious, we have to improve the away record, Hiag will be mortified Liverpool won more away than we did. This is why we're not in the CL, not because of Capello.
Smart has had his mindset from which he has not changed. Nor have have us on the opposing side. Although it is interesting to note that Harry's support is around 55% whereas when I did a poll it was about 70%. His support is falling, how long before the majority back his going? The new season will sort that out tout suite.
