Redknapp Is Forcing A Revised Opinion Harry Redknapp may be a figure of derision to many, but Matt Stanger is impressed with his pre-season plans at QPR thus far. It might be time to give credit where it's due... It might be time to revise our opinion of Harry Redknapp and QPR. The former Tottenham manager is derided almost every time he opens his mouth - or Range Rover window - but criticism of his plans this summer is misplaced. Even a move for Rio Ferdinand has been met with knowing groans on Twitter and talk of Redknapp failing to learn his lesson but, with reported wages of £40,000 a week, recruiting a player of Ferdinand's experience could prove excellent value for money in QPR's survival bid. Of course, there is a strong chance that Ferdinand will play fewer than 20 matches, but the education he can provide fellow new arrival Steven Caulker on the training pitch is priceless - for the R's and England. For a one-year contract at a total cost of around £2m to owner Tony Fernandes, this makes perfect sense from both a football and business perspective. An unusual occurrence at QPR, for sure. Redknapp's role in the business side of the game is largely responsible for his negative reputation. His wheeling and dealing is a key feature of deadline day, as his face pops up on Sky Sports News with promises of transfers in the pipeline. Without Redknapp, the entire phenomenon would not exist as we know it. Perhaps it would never have grown into the event we're now accustomed to, lacking the characters on which to base a tapestry of entertaining tittle-tattle. But Redknapp's desire for a done deal isn't always conducive to a shrewd recruitment policy. Just ask West Ham fans about Florin Raducioiu or Marco Boogers, or Southampton supporters about any of the five new signings in January 2005 - including relegation specialist Nigel Quashie - en route to the club dropping into the second tier for the first time in 27 years. At Spurs, a ten-point gap to Arsenal in the race for fourth was surrendered in style in 2011/12 after Redknapp brought in Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen in January while deciding to allow Roman Pavlyuchenko, Steven Pienaar, Vedran Corluka and Sebastien Bassong to leave. 'Strengthen while you're ahead' is one of football's famous mantras, but Redknapp weakened Spurs' grip on third, ultimately losing a place in the Champions League as well as his job. Instead of England or the Champions League in 2012/13, Redknapp found himself suffering relegation with QPR as his career threatened to peter out. There wasn't much sympathy. However, there is a case that he has been tarred with the same brush as Mark Hughes at Loftus Road - accused of over-spending on over-the-hill players when the Welshman was certainly more guilty of that mistake than his successor. It wasn't Redknapp who signed Jose Bosingwa on a three-year deal for reported wages of £65,000 a week. In fact, although Redknapp gained a pitiful 21 points from his 26 games in charge that season, the closest QPR came to saving themselves was the manager's £8m deal for Loic Remy in January, the striker scoring six goals in 13 matches to earn himself another year in the top flight with Newcastle. Similarly, a loan move for Andros Townsend briefly lifted performances, while Christopher Samba came and went for a jaw-dropping £12m. Ultimately, it was no loss to the club other than a six-month gamble on the defender's wages. Apart from a £5m deal for Matt Phillips, Redknapp spent wisely in the Championship, securing promotion at the first attempt, and it would seem steady progress is set to continue. As well as moves for Ferdinand and Caulker, the R's are reportedly close to sealing a loan for Juventus full-back Mauricio Isla, and have been linked with talented but affordable stars such as Mathieu Valbuena (who has since joined Dynamo Moscow for £6m) and Steven Defour. Meanwhile, the wage bill has been reduced with the departure of five first-team players, including £14m worth of Hughes recruits in Stephane Mbia and Esteban Granero. If Redknapp's plans continue to take shape in the current fashion, he will deserve a decent amount of praise for carefully preparing QPR for a lengthy survival battle. Promoted clubs often splurge on a new striker before shrewdly addressing the transfer market - such as Cardiff's £8m acquisition of Andreas Cornelius last year and Leicester's similar outlay on Leonardo Ulloa in this - but Redknapp has acted sensibly in strengthening his defence first. Of course, it would surprise no-one if he returns to form with a deadline-day splurge to throw all sense out the window, but at the moment it would seem he is smarter than most care to acknowledge. It might be late in the day for Redknapp to restore his battered reputation, but he deserves credit for everything he has done thus far this summer - be it grudging or otherwise. http://www.football365.com/faves/9405271/F365-Says And even more astounding, I don't actually disagree with it - apart from the implication that Phillips was a bad signing. Can someone please rip it to shreds? Otherwise I may not be able to look Stan in the eye.
Nope, a good article, I feel, apart from (as you have said) the suggestion that the acquisition of Phillips was a bad 'un. The author may think £5 million was too hefty an outlay, but he should be careful not to let his judgement be tainted by Phillips' season-ending injury, just when he was hitting some sort of form too. Cheers Roller.
I always give positive stuff when I can Do I agree with this article? well I would choose to use different words which had different meanings in different formations I would start it Harold is the Snake but it's not his fault ... He descended from the lizard sperm
I would feel a lot better, if we had got 2 or 3 more in by now, but, and still a big but, the touted incomings are all promising prospects. Little reason for any excessive exuberance, at this stage.....those first ten games are crucial
When you consider West Ham have offered Eto'o £100k a week and he's turned them down it shows we've moved on from that sort of lunacy. I'm confident Harry will have us competitive and that's all you can ask for at this stage...
Holy Crap ODDBALL i said to stay outta the sun and lay of the feckin' grape juice and stop watching conspiracy progs on the telly !!!!!!!!!!
I must say that I find it peculiar that DT is so resolutely visceral about Redknapp and yet was possibly the last person on here to see Hughes' tenure at QPR for what it ultimately was, when the former has had to pull the team up from a death dive that the latter brought about. He is also the first one to sound the rallying cry to get behind the players, yet will not do the same for the manager.
I hear what you are saying, but I'd rather sign no one than the wrong players. If the delay is because our initial targets were not interested, available or wanted too much, I'm happy to wait. If we only end up with say 3 good long term signings and a few good loanees to fill the void, I'd suggest that was progress. We all know that we are hopelessly weak, re-building slowly in this manner strikes me a pretty sensible approach.
Nice write but the doors haven't even opened yet. Performances have been very mediocre against poor opposition and the squad is bare. Still there is time yet to get Adel and Remy on board and onside, and to bring in the 3 or 4 midfield players and a striker we still need.
Spot on. It's not quantity of signings that matters. And more importantly, if we do go down at the end of the season at least we go down solvent. It's not the end of the world. That is what long-term building involves sometimes. Tony will get his dream - he just might have to wait for it to happen. I'm not quite ready to shower Redknapp with adulation and I'm certainly not convinced that if he had things all his way we would not by now have bought a shipload of players some foreign but whom nobody has heard of but who are all apparently worth millions and a few old tried and trusted pros that Harold knows. As for pre-season friendlies, they give absolutely no clue at all as to how things are shaping up. They're only intended to develop fitness and breed some familiarity between the players new and old.
Totally agree, just we know it takes times for new players to gel. The longer the induction process, the greater the potential for a slow start. Thats my concern.
The article claims he is smarter this time but I don't think it's just him. I think the owners are making him be more smart!
He has a month to return to form, and as others have pointed out it's the owners who have imposed the sensible policy. Agree with this bit though.
I agree that if those two could somehow be re-integrated back into the squad, and firing on all cylinders, given the skills they possess, together with the rest of the players, that the team would have the potential to be a real power-house.
That is exactly what you would hope, is the case. Harry and the Board, all working together improving the club.
