Now, first things first... 1) I think Harry Redknapp has done a great job as our manager. After our worst league start in our then 126 year history we had 2 points after 8 matches and were already cut adrift at the foot of the league. We were a side in free fall and there was no silver lining in sight. By the end of the season we had just missed out on qualifying for the UEFA cup by just 2 points. 2) In his second season we came 4th and got to the semi final of the FA Cup. 3) The following season we came 5th and got to the quarter finals of the Champions League. 4) Last season we again came 4th and got to the FA cup semi finals. However... 1) Harry clearly wanted the England job. 2) The media clearly wanted Harry to be the England boss. 3) The speculation started in mid February when Capello quit as England Manager. We were sitting 3rd in the league , 3 points of 1st place and 10 points clear of 4th place. Before this we'd lost 2 matches in 23 games. While the speculation continued we won just twice in 10 league matches and got battered in the FA Cup Semi Final 5-1 by Chelsea. 4)When the speculation ended after Hodgson was given the post saw Spurs win 3 and draw 1 of their last 4 matches. We finished just 1 point behind Arsenal in 4th place. If we had got just 1 more draw in that terrible 10 match run we would have come 3rd and not missed out on Champions league football (we lost to Norwich, Arsenal, Everton, Man Utd, QPR and drew with Stoke, Chelsea, Sunderland, Stevenage in the FA Cup, and beat Swansea and Newcastle). 4) Roy Hodgson is already getting a rough ride, even though he has won his first 2 friendlies in charge and as soon as things go wrong on the pitch the media, especially the press, will turn on him and the clamour for Harry for England will gain momentum again. Harry is currently making noises that as he is in the final year of his contract Spurs ought to give him a new one and that failure to do so will lead to player unrest and instability. In one way his is right but there is another issue here, namely; Harry will NOT turn down the England job if it comes up in the near future (which I think is very likely) and we can not have another promising season suffer an implosion due to the instability that his desire to be England boss will create. As I said Harry has done a great job but if he can't guarantee to see out any contract offered to him then I honestly think it may be impossible for him to stay as Spurs boss. I have a lot of sympathy with Levy ... Harry has been our best manager for years but due to his England ambitions I think a parting of the ways is becoming inevitable.
A good read and I completely agree with everything u say. Levy has a massive decision to make which is probably why we haven't heard anything yet.
After being snubbed last time there is zero chance of Harry accepting or the FA offering him the England job. As a manager he is head and shoulders above Hodgson and so the fact he did not even get an interview means they don't want him. So whatever you think about Harry staying, the England job should not be a factor. Besides Hodgson will not get the boot however poorly England do. This is not his team, he is finishing off for Capello. You can only judge him after a 2 year qualification campaign and tournament, and the FA will not accept they made a mistake. By then Harry will be 67/68 and surely too old to be anything other than a stopgap.
I can't see the England job coming around again soon, perhaps after the 2014 World Cup but that will atleast be in the off season giving us a bit of time to sort out a successor. If it does happen like this season then Levy has to learn from the problems created last time and give the FA a deadline of say a week to decide whether 'Arry's their man and if so then get the deal to get him out done quickly so everyone can move on.
Even Harry will now realise that, even if he was the last man on Earth, the FA would be looking for their first woman manager. It was only ever going to happen in Harry's mind. What rankles with a lot of fans (me included) is the fact that he treated us like mugs; and he's continuing to do it by (a) failing to admit that he was at fault for our slide down the table, during February, March, and April, and (b) speaking bollocks to the press in order to put pressure on Levy to cut him a new deal. I couldn't care less if he was the best manager in the world - which he most certainly is not, by a long, long chalk - he's bang out of order.
The other thing that sticks in the craw was that the FA treated us like mugs, HIAG. West Brom were virtually safe by the third week in February, so why the delay with the appointment, amid a ton of speculation about Redknapp?
The only thing I can say to the Op is that Harry has done a good job not a great one. We were showing slow signs of improvement under Ramos which I think would have continued but it's all history now. Harry is a Jack the lad character who is good at taking teams up but not sustaining challenges for long. He's a good saviour who tends to tarnish the teams which he manages. Even though acquitted his own reputation is smudged at least. He and us should part company even if top players go too,we can always replace them in time. I hope Hodgson is successful because if Harry stays at least then there will be no England vacancy to distract him. I repeat,a good job not a great one.
I sometime despair... I despair at the way people read into things that aren't said. Believe him or not, how can you interpret the text above in any other way to what Harry's said? Qatar - he's said it's bollocks Running contracts down - captain obvious Tottenham's choice on giving him a job - it doesn't work any other way, for any job Levy's choice - yes, the man with the money is in charge. Does it ever get any more black and white than that? After all the bollocks about him being England manager a few months back, the spin machine is still in motion, and everyone is taking a turn spinning. "what Englishman wouldn't want to be England manager?" is less than 10 words and yet it's still being pulled apart. There.is.no.doublespeak. After everything he's said, pinpointing where he's lied is impossible. It's not a trait of his personality. As for Harry not admitting to being **** - c'mon, are you seriously expected that from a man?
i seem to have no more energy for the Harry fiasco. need to clear my head..then i can back my team with a smile. the way i feel now im lookig for things to prove my displeasure with how so much seems to be in the air at the moment.
Pointless article, the England job will be Hodgsons through World Cup qualifying at the least and Harry now surely realises that he will never be England manager (or at least whilst the current morons are running the FA), this was Harrys moment and the FA snubbed him. If Harry has any pride he would tell the FA where to go (if they ever came calling after Woy makes a mess of it). What I would like to hear is Harry come out and say he no longer has any ambition to be England manager, and his only ambition is to take Spurs to a Championship.
I forget who it was who said Germany would take a day to name a new coach. I believe it and it annoys me. What's so *ing hard about having a next choice manager ready at all times? It takes a group of responsible adults who are willing to go about their jobs in a professional manner.
The very aptly acronymed F. A. are a bunch of no-hopers, who couldn't find their own arses with both hands, a map, and a compass! Poor old Woy is the latest sacrificial lamb to be fed to the ever hungry gutter press. I really do hope that I'm wrong, but I see Hodgson falling flat on his face. His only chance of redemption is to play in the defensive manner - a la Chavs in the CL - that we have seen some evidence of, so far. And, I'm not sure that I really want to see that kind of football again.
