How is three years in a row properly competing for CL places going sideways? I just don't get this one little bit. This is a low point, no doubt. But **** me - if being fourth and with an FA Cup semi final lined up is a low point then we have come on in leaps and bounds under Harry! I'm not saying he's perfect. I'm not saying he's irreplaceable (though given our history I wouldn't bet on the next manager doing as well). But give the guy some goddamn credit! People have slated his lack of loyalty to Spurs (not entirely sure why) yet a few dodgy performances and/or results and people want him out! There is no loyalty in football full stop. Not from players to their clubs, not from managers to their clubs but also not from supporters to players or supporters to managers. As long as we all acknowledge this we don't have to be hypocritical. But it's not loyalty to Harry that makes me defend him - it's his record pure and simple. I say this not because I want the best for Harry Redknapp but because I want the best for Spurs.
i cant pull out stats etc lenny but you know that as we stand and for the last year or so Harry cant get us truly competitve with the big boys and makes some ridiculous calls,squad rotation etc......and i did not say it has always been sideways...not once i said that...but i will say as we stand now..he has demonstrated in the last year that he cant go a level up..therefore we will go sideways at best...i dont think he has it in him to improve us,he has improved us as much as he can.....people also forget that this is his biggest job ever....he has reached heights with our club that he could never reach in his previous jobs..because here he was given it all..money..fanbase...history...world class players etc.....he dabbled with it and took us where he could..beyond this for me he is out of his depth...nothing personal.....we just need someone who cab handle all that in order to move on. and as a principle i will never question another fans loyalty...because i know for a fact that the fan who gets vilified for his opinions will still be here in 10 years....supporting his team...you cant always expect everyone to follow blindly without having a voice. and i give him plenty credit...i dont hate the man etc..im purely thinking from the point of view tht i am only intrested in what developes our club.......however im happy to be proven wrong ..if Harry can take us onto our next stage of development then 'hurrah' but i doubt it.
As an onlooker I thought Harry had to go the day he mentioned that he hadn't been contacted by the FA with regards to the England vacancy. We all know Harry likes to do his business via the media and I'm afriad Tottenhams poor form appears to have coincided with Harry's comments. A month or so later Harry realised that he wasn't being contacted about the England job and then said that he didn't know whether he would accept the England job or not if it were offered to him, attempting to distance himself from England only a few weeks after going to the media to encourage the FA to contact him. There wasn't any other reason why Harry should have made these public comments, not many other manages have done so, so why Harry? How are these comments supposed to maintain morale with the squad at Tottenham?
Pretty much what i've been saying. All this speculation has put the players' minds away from the job in hand - not to mention the managers' i want this sorted out now!! If i were Levy, i would be very tempted to corner Harry and force him to give a direct, public, yes or No. The F.A. likewise, should either approach him, or publicly rule him out. It seems that what's happening to the club, and the potential cost, financial and otherwise, has become very much secondary to this ****ing Harry & England bollocks. I, for one have had enough of it. As far as I'm concerned, the clubs welfare should come first, the rest can fight over what comes second.
Wow - this is some turnaround! You have the opposite issue to some of our fans. Some of ours set their expectations too low and seem to be never disappointed even though we are failing year after year. You are setting your expectations too high. Arsenal should be challenging for trophies year in year out and have been underachieving. Spurs have been doing an amazing job to get into the mix for CL places. Take a look at your wages and you'll see it's a wonder that you have managed to attract and keep the players you have.
Just going on wages this is true, Arsenal are under achieving, but then I don't believe you are getting value for money when you look at the players that sit on your bench and are back up to the first team. But all this is blown out of proportion when you think that very average players like Gareth barry earn even more!
You are right in terms of current resources, Jayram. Chelsea, Utd and City should be well clear of the field and Arsenal and Liverpool should be battling it out for fourth with us engaged in a mid-table fight with the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle. But there is no absolute right why this should always continue. If we make top four instead of Arsenal or Chelsea then that really alters the financial balance for at least one season and if we build on that, everything can change. There is obviously frustration that we had this sewn up at one stage, before our bad run and Arsenal's exceptionally good one made a big difference. That this included our capitulation at the Emirates only makes it worse. Harry was never as good as people thought at the high spot and he is nowhere near as bad as some people think he is now.
I don't buy in to this 'over achieving' bollocks. Just because we haven't got 50k+ gates and the highest wage bill doesn't mean we can't compete. Look at Newcastle - good management and clever buys in the market and you will do well City have proven that it takes more then just money to be successful I much prefer the spurs of today to the one of 10years ago that was changing the manager more often then the modern day Chelsea and splashing millions in the market on duds We have built a capable squad but Harry deserves some of the stick he is getting because he has made the same mistake as last season in not utilising the squad properly. It's one thing making a mistake but it's another not learning from them. And that's where the faith has been lost.
It's all to do with frustration. Nothing more, nothing less. At this point in time, our squad is easily one of the best top 4 squads, but Harry is currently making us look like a mid-table side. On recent form, we are under-achieving, not over-achieving. And if anyone seriously believes that we should be losing at home to Norwich, they are here to do nothing more than wum our board.
I agree with this fully. My point was that despite the money difference you have built a great squad and are indeed competing. The expectation levels have been raised massively at Spurs since Redknapp took over because of this. However, the truth is, at the start of the season you would have taken 4th place at this stage, with a chance of CL football again, plus being in a cup semi, but its being portrayed as failure because of the last 2 months. Conversely, I would not have taken this position for Arsenal at the start of the season, and am not now calling our season a roaring success because of the last 2 months.
Newcastle fan here (thought i'd say that from the outset). I think you have the 4th best squad in the league (Man Utd and Man City top two) and arguably the 3rd best as its tight between Arsenal, Chelsea and yourselves. You are currently 4th in the league and two points off 3rd. Yes its fine to want to win the league, hell there's no point in settling for less as a Newcastle fan i want us to win the league but i'm aware it wasn't going to happen and it's not going to happen next year. Regardless of who is your manager next year and regardless of purchases and sales I think you're likely to have the 3rd or 4th best squad next season and to finish somewhere between 3rd and 5th again. I'm suprised there's so much Harry bashing here, personally i think a top four finish and a good cup run (perhaps even silverware) is a good season for you. What i would be concerned by is that Harry going would give some of your players an excuse to jump ship (Modric being the primary example, Bale to a lesser extent). When a players head had been turned they will jump on any excuse to justify leaving and it seemed relatively clear last summer that Modric had his head turned. Dream of bigger and better things by all means but i think some need to be a touch more realistic.
As I put on another thread, our motto is "To dare is to do" well recently, we haven't dared, and therefore we haven't done. Why Harry has adopted this cautious, let's settle for 3rd place, attitude over the last few weeks, I don't know - probably worried about his own reputation, or something. What I do know, is that it's blown up spectacularly in his face!
The best argument that can me made for any pro-Harry fan is that he is naive. Well, that's bad enough! We don't need a naive manager, because he isn't going to take us any further forward than we have been under Harry. It is time to change. I don't necessarily mean right now, but certainly come the end of the season, whether or not the FA offer Harry the England job. He's shown his true colours, and I have no more respect for him.
I think that is a key point NSIS: Consciously or not Harry is obviously trying to present himself to the FA selectors. So comes the mindset; now I don't want to do anything stupid here to spoil my chances! Then as you say it backfires big time. Good point
As with everything else in life, by trying not to do something stupid, you invariably do because your mind is fixated on it.
No i wouldn't swap Pardew for Harry, not because i think Pardew is a better manager but because i think sometimes people just seem to fit. Pardew is doing well for us and i wouldn't want to change that. Conversely, if i was a spurs fan i wouldn't want to swap Harry for Pardew either. No-one knows wha the next month holds but the fact that its the business end of the season and you could realistically still end up third and with a trophy in your pocket surely says its not as bad as some are making out.
yes there is always hope you are right...however most of us Spurs fans know how things usually go at WHL.......yeah we might win a trophy...but ive been there many times before...so now ill believe things when they happen as blind optimism can be a painful quality to possess.
