2 wins and a draw; 3 young, hungry players signed alongside some expereince and the possibility of a couple more to come; squad happy; and still in the cup. Probably shouldn't be so hasty with the sound bites but overall I'd say HR's doing alright for now - long may it continue.
I think it's plain from Redknapp's insistence that no-one should be loaned out that none of these deals were anything to do with him. It also seems to me that he is a reluctant Ale supporter.
Personally, I find these sort of comments very odd. How can HR be a reluctant supporter of Ale? Surely he would simply not select him rather than pretending for some inexplicable reason that he's an important first-team player. I understand your determined to take away any credit Roller might be (reluctantly?) bestowing upon Redknapp for the loans, and in a way you're right as it would have been far better for HR if those players were sold and their fees added to the transfer fund. But, still, seems a bit pedantic to show you hostility towards HR over such a point.
I just get the feeling that he is not as much in control of transfer policy as he would like to be, and he resents it. His bleating to the press betrays this.
Yes, you're probably right about not having full control: the loans are bizarre, in my opinion. Redknapp probably feels the same way - you could even say it undermines him to a certain degree.
Are you sure about that? NW is a footballing dinosaur, he set us back three years in 3/4 of a season.
I think the loans are good business. How good would it be to have Taraabt and Remy back next year in the PL?
Those two I would definitely take back, though I don't see it happening whether we're in the PL or not. It's more the Park and Granero loans I don't understand. These should have been permanent deals, in my opinion.
True. A sorry situation to be sure. Hopefully we'll sign a player or two in the next couple of weeks - there must be some loans available too. When do the PL teams finalise their 25?
Thats interesting. I was under the impression that he had done ok at Leeds? Nothing spectacular, but did ok on a fairly tight budget? I would be interested to hear how Leeds fans perceive his time as manager - doesn't sound like it would be good? I do think when NW was sacked by us it was the right time - it seemed he had lost the dressing room. But if he had been able to sign a few players in the January window he may well have kept us up.
Don't really about his time at Leeds, but one thing that impressed me about NW was his ability to build a team round Adel. Was a master stroke really, and the shape of the team was quite progressive too. Overall, though, Ch. is probably NW's level.
