Joe Walton

This time last year, Harry Redknapp was working out a deal to sign Jermain Defoe at Portsmouth.

This this time this year, Harry Redknapp has worked out a deal to sign Jermain Defoe from Portsmouth.

One of them sulks to the media when he doesn’t get his way, doesn’t turn up to training, follows the money and goes back to a club he left in rancorous circumstances. The other is Jermain Defoe.

After going to the press on numerous occasions, putting pressure on his erstwhile colleague Tony Adams, Harry Redknapp has brought back to Tottenham the same player that left a year ago, but for nearly double the fee.

After the shoddy way both have treated Adams, Portsmouth and clubs before, they deserve each other.

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.

by Michael Sinnerton 

With all four Premier League teams either top of their Champions League groups or having taken maximum points it's time for that age old argument about the best league in the world.

The Premier League is the most watched league in the world, has the European Champions, the European runners-up and the top four have all made the Champions League final in the last 3 years.

The League still has a veil of unpredictability with Arsenal already losing to Fulham and Hull, Liverpool being held by Stoke and Manchester United by Newcastle. Admittedly the top four will probably end up the same as last year (Aston Villa may challenge Arsenal) but then Spain's top four is likely to contain at least 3 of Barcelona, Sevilla, Atletico and Valencia whilst Italy's will surely contain at least 3 from Inter, Juventus, Fiorentina and Roma.

However the league's second tier sides are where the argument has weakness. With Everton going out of the UEFA cup to Liege, Tottenham bottom of the league and struggling past Wisla. (The two teams to most closely challenge the top 4 in recent years) whilst Valenica and Espanyol (Getafe amongst others) regularly do well in Europe as do AC Milan, Sampdoria and sometimes Lazio.

Having said that Valencia struggled last year, and it may be that Aston Villa and Manchester City may be the Premier League's next strongest representatives rather than an Everton team who may have peaked (at least temporarily). Both Vila and City have the finanical capacity to go one step further something which Spanish and Italian teams probably lack.

The League's wages are higher, the clubs spend more money on transfers and this is bound to attract the best players and managers. If England had Spain's climate there would be very little reason for foreign players not to move.

Despite this there were less goals/game in the Premiership last year than in most of the other European leagues, with the Bundesliga the best value for goals. La Liga still has an element of the unknown and is the breeding ground for young South American talent. The likes of Messi, Aguero, Fernandez and Dani Alves (to name but a few) were always much more likely to join LA Liga, partially due to a technical capacity for football that can arguably not been found in the Premierships  "kick-and-rush" culture.

I am a huge La Liga fan but I don't think you can beat the Premiership for pure excitement and adrenalin.

But my favourite League in the world, despite it's dimunitive size and lack of status has to be the Isles of Scilly (where else) Football League which is a scilly little league with only two teams.

http://www.worldssmallestleague.co.uk/html/league_table.html

The Garrison Gunners and the Woolpack Wanderers make up the League (a massive 12 game fixture list) as well as having four cup competitions. The league whilst perhaps more predictable than the Premiership (the same two teams make the finals every year) has a charm about it that I can't help but love. Obviously I've never seen a game but the Gunners are running away with the league this year largely thanks to the hugely unheralded Adam May, a part-time retailer who you shouldn't expect to be gracing our shores any time soon despite his impressive goal record.

The Garrison Gunners against Manchester United for a best league in the world title? Don't count on it.

by Stuart Gillespie

So, where are we at? Well so far Cherno More have beaten Sant Julia 9-0 on aggregate, Man City have played about 15 games (all unconvincingly), Young Boys have spunked on some Hungarians at the Wankdorf, and it has been announced that this 38th edition of the mind-boggling competition will be the last.

And we haven't even reached the group stage yet.

Are our teams likely to get there? Let's find out...

Aston Villa (3) v Litex Lovech (1)

Put simply, yes, Aston Villa are likely to get through. It was a kind draw and the Premier League high flyers have gratefully placed one-and-a-half feet in the group stage at the expense of the unknown Bulgarians.

Man City (2) v Omonia Nicosia (1)

Omonia Nicosia may not be a household name, but they are no mugs and City did well to leave Cyprus with a first leg lead. Of course a lot has happened since then, with defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Wigan seeing Sulaiman-ia dampened somewhat. But with that crucial advantage from the away leg and the talent they have at their disposal, City should have no problems progressing to the next phase.

Motherwell (0) v Nancy (1)

Mark McGhee's side did well to hold relative giants Nancy to a one-goal advantage in France, though they remain underdogs going into the second leg. But despite their struggles in the SPL this season, Well have a good group of players and are by no means out of this tie.

Standard Liege (2) v Everton (2)

Everton look to have the toughest task ahead of them if they want to reach the group stage. Their lack of summer spending has seen them eclipsed by rivals Villa, Man City and Portsmouth in the Premier League, and their uncharacteristic defensive frailty this season was evident in the first leg draw with the Belgians. Liege came so close to putting out Everton's city rivals Liverpool in Champions League qualifying and will rightly be confident of piling more misery on already worried Toffees fans.

Vitoria Guimaraes (0) v Portsmouth (2)

Harry Redknapp's men have a good advantage from the first leg, but in that match Guimaraes missed a penalty at 1-0 that would have given the Portuguese an intriguing away goal. As it stands they'll still be a danger at home, though it'll be a surprise if Portsmouth are unable to finish the job.

Wisla Krakow (1) v Spurs (2)

Where to start with Tottenham? Much has been written elsewhere (including on this blog) about their horrific start to the season. Whoever's to blame (and, as usual, it's probably a combination of factors), things won't be any easier in Poland tonight. Between 2001 and 2006 Wisla went 73 matches unbeaten at home, and although they haven't had much success in European competition recently, a tricky trip to Krakow is undoubtedly one of the last things Spurs need at the moment. Of course successful negotiation of this tie could kick-start Tottenham's season. But, on current form, the more likely scenario is the overturning of their slender 2-1 lead and yet more pressure being heaped upon on Juande Ramos.

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So there we have it. Britain should have a few representatives in the asymmetrical group stage, and possibly more than a few. But the competition is in desperate need of next year's long overdue revamp. The Europa League may be more of a gentle tweaking than the rebranding suggests, but the changes should be for the better. The Intertoto Cup will be absorbed into the qualifying rounds and the group phase will come at the beginning of the competition, rather than in the middle, featuring even numbers of teams with home and away legs. 

Cherno More? Unfathomable format no more, with any luck.

by Joe Walton 

Juande Ramos is in trouble. The media and crucially the Tottenham fans are starting to turn against him and there is good reason for this. Spurs are in trouble. As their terrible start to the season continues commentators are finding it harder to claim that this is just a poor start and that Spurs will inevitably improve.

The problems of every football team are initially laid at the feet of the manager, but at Spurs doubts about Ramos have taken a while to surface given that his delivery of the Carling Cup at the expense of Arsenal and Chelsea so soon in his tenure gave him instant credibility. But, rumours about him being homesick, his public discussion of his job security and his inability to give interviews in English, and concerns about his tactical nous have taken the initial shine off. When these sort of rumours abound it is a strong or lucky manager that gets through unscathed. As for Gus Poyet being sent out for post-match television interviews like a junior minister being sent on News Night, Ramos looks like he is bottling it when it comes to criticism.

Another major problem for Spurs is the team that Ramos has put together. Their midfield, whilst showcasing some impressive attacking midfield talent, is woefully short of balance. Didier Zokora is an incredibly combative midfielder, however, he is no Makelele and cannot possibly be the defensive lynch pin of a midfield full of players who's natural inclination is to attack. Tom Huddlestone who has the potential to be a very good holding midfielder is clearly not fancied by Ramos, despite being the sort of player Spurs need. The summer signings of Modric, Bentley and Dos Santos simply gave Spurs more of the type of player that they currently have an abundance of. And whilst an attacking midfield may seem attractive, Spurs don't have the defence for it. Woodgate is prone to mistakes, King, too injury prone to build a defence behind and the full-backs, arguably the position where Spurs have the best options, are often played in roles unsuited to them.


Up front, there are more worries. The transfer saga which left Spurs without Keane and Berbatov, the partnership that produced 90 goals over the past 2 years, is one of the worst things to have happened to the club in years. Whilst Keane and Berbatov have found it difficult without each other, Spurs are left with a partnership of Bent and Pavluchenko which hasn't as yet offered the slightest hint that they can replicate the pairing that came before. If Ramos wants to play with 1 up front, neither look capable of holding up the play well enough either. Fraizer Campbell looks like a good prospect but the daunting challenge of performing for Spurs will require instant maturity from the 21 year old who is as yet untested in the Premiership.

Off the pitch things aren't any better. There is much talk of a possible takeover, with Joe Lewis, the man who owns Spurs, reportedly losing a $800 million and the almost constant criticism that follows Damien Comolli and Daniel Levy since the sacking of Martin Jol has brought a steady stream of uncertainty. The expectations of the fans and the media that followed Spurs' impressive pre-season has proven to be incredibly damaging. If the fans genuinely believe that they have the team to challenge the 'big 4', aside from being deluded their expectations have meant that every defeat has hurt more, leading to a worsening of the atmosphere on match days. The burden of expectation is a massive thing for players and fans alike to deal with.

Spurs may get relegated. Despite them having some very good players, a highly sought after manager, good support and a generally well run club (look at their impressive balancing of the books), any positive can be turned into a negative surprisingly quickly when a team finds itself at the bottom of the league. West Ham proved that no team is 'too good to go down'. The longer a team languishes, the harder it becomes to lift performances and therefore the mood. Ramos must work out how he wants his team to play, he must play players where they want to play and he must improve a poor defence. If not, he could be out of a job and Spurs could be out of the league.