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Spurs fan view on 'Arry

Discussion in 'Tottenham Hotspur' started by K3, Oct 9, 2013.

  1. K3

    K3 Member

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    Hey,

    I tend normally not to make threads, instead I lurk through the various boards but I'd like to ask a question.

    How is Redknapp viewed by Spurs fans in general for his time there? I've got a lot of customers who come into my store who have majorly conflicting views on your former manager.

    Some hate him for the capitulation after the whole '***ate' stuff and others think it was a mistake to let him go if you consider the two 4th place finishes and the acquisition of some great players (VDV is probably one of my favourite players to watch since Bergkamp).

    What's the general feeling you guys have about his time and departure?
     
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  2. Spurm

    Spurm Well-Known Member

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    Bit of both for me. He did well, the team played great football, but he had to go for constantly running his gob and that capitulation (which he is still saying was not his fault in the press).

    If the England job hadn't come up i think he'd still be here, i also think we might not have spent so much money as i get the impression Levy did not trust Harry and Harry would refuse a DoF.
     
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  3. PleaseNotPoll

    PleaseNotPoll Well-Known Member
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    Very good manager who gets his sides to play exciting, attacking football and pushes some of his players to levels they can't achieve under other coaches.
    Probably the best manager that we've had at WHL in recent years.
    His downsides are that he's pretty old school in terms of formations and tactics, especially with regards to squad utilisation, and he can't help but promote himself to the media.

    He uses the same players as much as he can, which means that they all gel well and perform consistently, but those outside of the regular choices may as well not exist.
    That means that they struggle badly if they're needed, missing fitness, sharpness and confidence, which I believe cost us badly on a few occasions.
    Might not be as much of an issue if he's managing a side that's not playing as many games as we were under him.

    I think that some of Redknapp's less well thought out chats with his mates in the sports media might have cost him a new contract from Daniel Levy, in the end.
    He seemed to be trying to pressure the chairman into it via his contacts and the timing was extremely poor.
    He doesn't know when to keep quiet, unfortunately. Ask him about anything and he'll give you an extremely usable quote, which is great for the hacks, but not necessarily for his club.

    Pluses far outweigh the misuses, but don't let him take charge of the chequebook and clubs will enjoy their time with him at the helm.
    Played some great stuff and were never boring.
     
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  4. Spursguru

    Spursguru Active Member

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    Hi K3...

    Overall you can't fault what he helped us achieve from where we were when he took over.

    Victory at the emirates, CL football, great football to watch.

    I think he did well when bringing in proven performers in the prem, I think we are struggling at the moment because of this. That side of:


    --------------Friedal----------

    walker---Kaboul---King---BAE

    Lennon--Parker--Modric--Bale

    --------------VDV-------------

    --------------ADE-------------

    Will really take some beating in terms of the flowing way they attacked and moved the ball about. I think Harry got the best out of players like Ade and VDV because of his laid back man management.....but therin lays his biggest flaw in my opinion. I don't think they team had the believe or the way of playing to really beat the best. We were great week in week out, but generally soft vs the utd's, Chelsea's and Madrid's of this world.

    I don't think he spent all that wisely for long term purposes either, ran his mouth too much and said things negative to the club that he shouldn't.

    Unfortunately I did agree that his time had come, as he was quite clearly chasing the England job (something which I think is proven by the fact he was 100% sure he had it in the bag). Whether he should have got it is another matter, but after courting it and quite obviously dicking around with our formations and tactics to impress, he threw away what should have been an insurmountable lead over Arsenal.

    Whether AVB is the right man to replace him is still out for debate. His track record of trophies is far superior, however his track record in the prem is not. We are keeping the ball better, but not scoring as well.

    so we will see.

    Will never forget the sound of the CL trumpets booming out at WHL though (through the TV unfortunatly) its just a shame he had to blow his own so much.
     
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  5. PleaseNotPoll

    PleaseNotPoll Well-Known Member
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    I think that he should have. It would remove most of his weaknesses, bar his love of the media fanfare.
    Getting a bunch of proven Premier League players to put in their best performances and play attractive, attacking football? It might not have won a trophy, but it would've been an enjoyable experience.
    He'd also pick experience over youth in a lot of cases, which would allow the U21s to use those that simply make up the squad for the first team, in most cases.
     
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  6. No Kane No Gain

    No Kane No Gain Well-Known Member

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    To keep it simple, I like him, I think he did very well for us and I think he should have stayed.

    It wasn't all great though and I had concerns about him staying, even though I wanted it. The major concern was him becoming distracted again by a job coming up that he wanted, particularly the England job. He appears to realise that he's not getting the England job now but had he continued to do well with us we could be going into this international break wondering if the speculation around 'Arry getting the job would pick up again. I also said at the time that I felt the time was right to change the manager, if there wasn't full confidence in 'Arry. With Modric leaving, King retiring and other players having interest in them I felt it was a good opportunity for a new manager to come in and make his mark.

    What's happened has happened though and I'm glad Redknapp's doing well at QPR, just as I'm happy for Jol when he does well at Fulham.
     
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  7. PleaseNotPoll

    PleaseNotPoll Well-Known Member
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    <laugh>

    "I wouldn't trust the FA to show me a good manager if their lives depended on it." - HR
     
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  8. Dier Hard

    Dier Hard G'day mate!

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    For me personally, I loved Harry. For a number of reasons:

    1) He's English, I always like having an English manager.
    2) He took us from a relegation battle to 8th when he took over.
    3) Season after we finished 4th and we done very well in the Champions League afterwards, picking up some very memorable wins over the Milan sides.
    4) He produced what was widely considered - the most entertaining team to watch in England.
    5) Our football was brilliant, we got to watch maestro's such as Luka and Rafa excel under him.
    6) I enjoyed his media antics, some times he went a bit over the top in his interviews but in general I found them entertaining.

    I didn't want Harry sacked, even though he clearly wanted the national job, I don't blame him for holding out for it. The England Manager Position is the pinnacle to any English manager, if he'd demanded a move to Chelsea or anyone else it's a different story.

    IF and please read the IF there, AVB left/ was sacked, I'd have Harry back in a heart beat.
     
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  9. PowerSpurs

    PowerSpurs Well-Known Member

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    Nobody is perfect and I was probably one of his biggest critics at times. But we were great to watch under Harry, and we did play in the Champions League so he deserves to go down as one of our legends. We only had two points when he joined, you know.

    Ironically I think he'd work very well with a Director of Football and as England manager where most of his weaknesses wouldn't matter.
     
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  10. No Kane No Gain

    No Kane No Gain Well-Known Member

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    Perhaps an understatement then :D I was disappointed that he did that as if Hodgson failed to qualify for the World Cup, I really don't think they could have overlooked him again for the job. As it is we now have no obvious replacement for Hodgson if it goes belly up.

    Good for QPR though.
     
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  11. Spursguru

    Spursguru Active Member

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    I was surprised by this quote as I also thought the same.

    After his comments about taking Brenton under his wings as well, I think we could have been looking at a very tactically astute, happy and confident England team with Harrys "we''ll av a go won't we..." attitude.

    Now we've got Roy's dull as ****e team and tactics.

    Bring back Hoddle I say!
     
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  12. BajanSpur

    BajanSpur Well-Known Member

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    A top top coach and is marvelous at man management. Unlike some, I enjoyed listening to him, especially when things were going well., which was most of the time here at Spurs. He has a pleasing personality with a sharp wit and I was sorry to see him go.
     
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  13. Tilly'sowner

    Tilly'sowner Well-Known Member

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    Never liked him, too much of a wide-boy...think of Terry Venables and Arthur Daley rolled into one.

    However, I respect what he achieved and at the brief moments where I was beginning to warm to him, he opened his gob again!
     
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  14. redwhiteandermblue

    redwhiteandermblue Well-Known Member

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    PNP and SG made most of my points already...not that that will stop me from repeating them...

    On a personal level I really liked 'Arry, as he was a real character. But having character and being one are two different things. I remember sitting there day after day hoping he would quash the 'Arry for England movement. And he just didn't do it, and we pissed away our lead over Arsenal. And yet even so it took me realizing that the whole thing might happen again to realize we had to send him on his way. As much as I liked him, enjoyed, and (I thought) understood his managing style, you can't have the manager of the twelfth-biggest-at-last-count club in the world wanting to be somewhere else.

    There's no doubt he had a gift for managing difficult players. Beni and Ade thrived, and VDV, who was probably the most difficult of them all, looked completely comfortable. It's the sort of knack that will get more important in the future, as the power balance continues to tilt towards the ever-richer players.

    While I would have very happily put up with his other foibles had it not been for Capello (Damn him!) quitting, it was troubling how we always seemed to look soft against the big teams. How many times did we get walloped by Madrid, the Mancs and Chelsea? I'm not sure there was much of a Plan B. It was express yourself, and if the other team is determined and talented enough to stop you, well then take your toys and go home. (Edit: I realize this implies I think AVB is better at making adjustments, which I don't. Harry was fair, AVB poor).

    So on balance, I still like him, I hope he does well, I'm grateful for all the team did when he was manager, but unfortunately when he decided he wanted the England job more, he didn't belong at Tottenham any more.
     
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  15. totsfan

    totsfan Well-Known Member

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    I like harry,I was pleased when he became manager,and he done well,but he was always after his dream job as England manager,so it was a big distraction,to our detriment, for him when it came up,and imo it cost him his job at Spurs.Glad to see he is still proving what a good manager he is at QPR,and bollocks to all those idiots on other boards who say he bankrups clubs he's been with,what a load of bullshit
     
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  16. notsosmartspur

    notsosmartspur Well-Known Member

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    Harry was perfect for getting us far as he did, some of the football was the best I've seen, but I just don't think we were going any further. Looking at it now, he only really made us and Pompey very good nuisances to the top4, I don't think we were ever going to replace Pool as a top4 regular, and we didn't...and still aren't! <whistle> He rarely outwitted the top managers with any regularity, pulled off the odd result here and there, but suffered too many odd results an all, sadly the home losses to the Wigans, Blackpools, Norwich's et al outnumbered the good ones.

    He'll get you promoted, and won't do a Hughes to you, he'll keep you mid-table I'd guess. I'm sure you'd take that if it was offered.
     
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  17. O.Spurcat

    O.Spurcat Well-Known Member

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    You suffering from amnesia ??

    He got us a top four place on two occasions and also gave us that great CL experience. Maybe I am suffering from amnesia here, but I don't recall a home defeat to Blackpool, but I do recall a shocking defeat at home to Wigan under AVB.

    We were a damn sight more than "nuisances" under Harry. Shocking assessment of his reign.

    I believe Kyle Walkwr performed better under Redknapp than he has done under AVB. The same could be said of Benoit, the same could be said of Defoe, the same could be said of Parker. It can be argued that Redknapp is the man who revitalised Townsend and we are now reaping the benefit.

    At least I was entertained by his style of play. I'll take that anyday over the boring stuff we have been served since he left thanks.
     
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  18. notsosmartspur

    notsosmartspur Well-Known Member

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    Amnesia? No, not really, 4th still wasn't good enough for a CL place was what I meant. And maybe it was a draw at home to Blackpool but you know the sorry loss I'm referring to...and the others. I'm not getting involved with individual players as again my post wasn't referring to any, but for the record I agree with what you say about those you've mentioned.

    The nuisance reference was that while the Manchesters were winning titles, we were just a nuisance to them, never really going to challenge....still wanna disagree with that?

    I also said some of the football was the best I've seen...what more do you want??

    The gist of my post is that Harry is a very good manager but not a top one, and I know I'm not alone with that view.

    The only shocking assessment is yours about my post. :)
     
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  19. O.Spurcat

    O.Spurcat Well-Known Member

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    You said we were not going any further. Well actually we were. In fact we have now gone backwards as we finished 5th last season when we finished 4th in Harry's last season.

    Still, at least we are being a "nuisance" this season in the Europa.
     
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  20. lennypops

    lennypops Well-Known Member

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    I genuinely do not understand how any Spurs fan can not have excellent memories of Harry's time.

    Actually he was rubbish - we never spent 100m on players when he was here.

    (Tongue firmly in cheek).
     
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