Redknapp’s Loyalty vs. The Fans
From the stands you can say what you want about a team; only you know what kind of fan you are. Just be willing to give a shade of support if someone has shown qualities that deserve your following….and make no mistake, Redknapp HAS earned this. From a stand point that had most fans calling for the sale of over half the players currently being lauded as CL calibre, to now having a an almost total turnaround from that perspective Redknapp has shown a trust in his own squad through necessity and man- management experience that has produced some remarkable results
Whatever he is doing behind the scenes is WORKING.
With this in mind, does one have to wonder why Redknapp made the choices he made for the Manchester game? A game where a statement needed to be made probably might have called for more ruthlessness as opposed to the sentimentality reflected through his player selection
Those at the centre of this controversy as to first 11 team selection for the match gone were Robbie Keane (our Captain), Crouch (a Redknapp Loyalist), Tom Huddlestone (The Private that answered the Corporal call for Harry) and Niko Krancjar (The New Guy)
There is a timeless saying that goes something like this
“If it ain’t broke, DON’T fix it”
Somewhere between waking up to the memory of a lovely wife that gives fabulous headers that puts to shame a Bent man and handing the team sheet to another potential Man United Employee, Redknapp decided to demolish and then set fire to this idea. Needless to say the changes raised quite a few questions
One would hope that by incorporating these players together Redknapp is showing loyalty to the players that have gotten him his good results over the past 8 months and in Crouch’s case repaying the loyalty and service that has been provided to our resident wheeler dealer in the past years. If this is the case then it isn’t really surprising as to the new lease of Life experienced by our players, they obviously want to play for him and quite possibly because of the faith, trust and loyalty he has shown them through briefly troubled and good times.
In most of these incidences, pertaining to the ruling body’s decisions that are outside the general consensus of the people, the fan that “wants” will find themselves at odds with the “will” of the manager. The question is though
What does HARRY want? and does THIS come head to head against the will of the fans?
Well, there are two main things I feel a manager should strive for….
- A Successful Football Club
- Creating Proud and Happy Fans
Unfortunately these two don’t always go hand in hand, in-fact they rarely do. The reason being is that the average fan, most of us, is never satisfied and is lacking in perspective and appreciation. Whether this has to do with culture or just a baseline human instinct is a discussion for someone else but one thing that can be guaranteed is that there is nothing a manager can do to escape harsh criticism the second something goes wrong irrespective of all the good done in the past.
“Two points from eight games” “worst start in spurs history”
“4 straight wins to start the season” “best start in 49 year”
Does it matter that the most humiliating first half to a Spurs season was rectified, the good form carried into the next calendar season and the club given the best start to a league season in half a century by the same person?
Does it matter that his team selection brought about this change?
Does it matter that the players selected delivered the desired results that brought some pride back to our club?
The answers to these questions vary depending on what type of fan YOU are , I,e What kind of fan did you become when we went on the miserable run?, when we started to see the daylight?, when we had a brilliant start to the season?, but more important to this article………
What kind of fan did you become when you saw Robbie Keane in the Left Mid position and Crouch starting up front?
The way it works in general is that you have a baseline expectation, with Tottenham fans it’s to reclaim the glory days, and then you build on that through criticism and demands. You don’t actually have to know exactly how things will turn out just as long as you exercise your right to those two things is enough. We criticised to the point of lynching when we were losing and once we started winning we made demands to keep is winning, one of those demands was to drop our Captain and promote our new purchase to starter alongside the inform striker of the nation for the Man United game, we should probably look into that quickly before you fall into a coma
Chapter Two and Robbie Keane………………………..