Mash It Up Harry

by Joe Walton

What a week it’s been in the Redknapp household. Harry has got a new job which he’s doing rather well in; Jamie has been granted access to a bewildering amount of media with which to praise his dad; and Louise has mastered Mario Kart on the Wii, who would have thought that flopping about like a pissed homeless was the perfect technique?

But anyway back to Harry. 

When I heard that Harry had left Portsmouth for Tottenham I was initially shocked, however that quickly passed as I realised just how much sense it all makes. Throughout his career that cheeky chappy Redknapp has made a point of turning his back on clubs who’s financial clout doesn’t live up to his expectations and moving on to greener pastures. As one website’s headline had it, ‘Rat sinks (another) sinking ship.’

When, just two weeks ago the media was suckling at Redknapp’s teat, as so often they do, talking about how great his 25 years of management have been, nobody mentioned that he left Bournemouth just before they hit real financial trouble. At West Ham he demanded at £10m transfer fund, something he knew he couldn’t get and which made his relationship with the board untenable. At Portsmouth he muscled his way into the job through the role of director of football at the expense of Graham Rix and then quit when Avram Grant was appointed to the same role. Now, just when Portsmouth have financial worries, exemplified by the appointment of Tony Adams on a cut price contract, Redknapp has done it again.

The media coverage of his move has been nothing short of scandalous. There are a number of unanswered questions and concerns. Journalists working for national newspapers should be questioning the time line of the whole affair. Ramos was sacked in the evening and Redknapp was appointed only hours later, however, he claimed that leaving Portsmouth was the ‘hardest decision of his life’. Is it really believable that he could have made this decision so quickly, without some prior contact with Spurs? How much compensation was given to Portsmouth and how has this deal been hammered out? What wage is Redknapp bringing in?

If it is possible, the converage of Spurs now that Redknapp is in charge is even worse.

At the end of Setanta’s coverage of Spurs’ victory against a profligate Liverpool side, Jon Champion closed with “What do we call him? Harry Houdini, Harry Hotspur or just plain Happy Harry?” Someone needs to inform Mr Champion that the use of a prefix does not make ‘Happy Harry’ a plain moniker, it does the opposite. This remark is symptomatic of the incredibly sycophantic coverage that follows Redknapp wherever he goes. Just because he has a laugh and joke with the journalists does not allow them to give him an easy ride.

Worse still are the pundits. It seems that anybody who has ever played football has been obliged to praise ‘Arry and his man-management techniques. Everybody knows that he is a top motivator, but what is he doing specifically at White Hart Lane?

For his part, Redknapp has been fairly understated in the press and has heaped praise upon his players. However, in an interview with Goals on Sunday he told Chris Kamara that he decided to join Spurs because it was his last opportunity to join a ‘biggish club’. A strange statement to say the least. Could he possibly be giving himself space for a bigger move in the future when he outgrows Tottenham?

It will be interesting to see what happens now with Redknapp, not least to see how far his strict recruitment policy of only appointing members of his backroom staff from the Setanta match day team. They still have the same players and the same problems with balance, but they now have a manager who can communicate well, something that Ramos was woeful at. Redknapp needs to keep picking up results until he can redress the balance of the team in the January transfer window.