Harry Redknapp: The Aftermath

[milo]

Harry made it pretty clear himself (although you never know if you can trust him) that VdV was Levy's doing and he just said ok.

I think that is a prime example of people taking a quip that Harry made at face value. We were in for him earlier in the summer but the price was too high and IIRC Bayern Munich were also sniffing around and in the driving seat. When Bayern dropped out and with the window about the close, the deal came together.

 

[harr1984]

If you can show me where you logically drew those conclusions from what I wrote, I'll answer your question.

By saying 'felt like he was concentrating on us' I took that as you suggesting his focus hasn't been on Spurs of late which I don't believe for a second.

If my interpretation of what you said was wrong which by your response sounds more than likely, I apologise.....

 

[totman]

No need for apologies, I took a little bit of offense thats all.....Im a Harry Lover

 

[harr1984]

No need for apologies, I took a little bit of offense thats all.....Im a Harry Lover

Haha well I shouldn't of made assumptions, just get fed up of people going on about Harry and England!

 

[braineclipse]

I think that is a prime example of people taking a quip that Harry made at face value. We were in for him earlier in the summer but the price was too high and IIRC Bayern Munich were also sniffing around and in the driving seat. When Bayern dropped out and with the window about the close, the deal came together.

Obviously impossible to know for sure. But I seem to remember some quotes from outside the club kinda confirming that VdV was offered around to quite a few clubs at the last moments of deadline day.

 

[thfcsteff]

Not really mate, we've identified plenty of affordable players, but Levy didn't feel the package was right. Look at Rossi, we were close on that one. Admittedly Redknapp made the call on Suarez, but what a lucky escape that was, the bloke's an utter tool. If you look through the news in the last 18 months we have been in negotiations for quite a lot of players. Some turned us down, some we turned down, some we couldn't come to agreement on.

But to say that Redknapp is not doing his job of creating a meaningful target list is utter gonads. And to say that it in any way has a majority of "known" Premiership players on it is almost certainly gonads too.

OK...


Rossi...no-one was sure at that price. Harry too. Harry has a fear of seeing players arrive for massive fees in case they flop. Apparently, Harry's list of targets has not been as amazing as some people might want to believe, and as such, the last two windows, the board have ben a bit worried. Sorry, but it's true. Just as Wenger has a blind spot with massive money players...agreed re: Suarez, said at the time I didn't want him and was in a massive minority. Ditto Carroll.

 

[thfcsteff]

Harry can't win really. He signs experienced, older players like Friedel, Gallas, Parker and Saha who are proven in the Premier League and he's criticised for being too short term. He signs highly rated youngsters like Sandro, Naughton and Walker and he's criticised for none of them being inspirational enough. He signs Van Der Vaart and people say it was all down to Levy. He publicly states that he's after Mata, Rossi, Remy, Hazard etc and people say he's going for targets that are way out of our league.

The fact is, he's got restrictions in place. He said last summer that lots of top players are interested in joining Spurs...provided the money is right. When we can only pay ?ú70k and there are three or four other clubs in the same division who will pay double that, he's always going to be tinkling into the wind. Our only option in these cases is to go into "wheeler-dealer" mode and sign players who's stock is low either because they're ageing (Parker), considered to be problematic (Adebayor) or both (Gallas). It's made us very successful so far. Imagine what we could achieve with another year of CL qualification under our belt and a bit more money to play with.

Look, I admire what Harry has done for us, but let's look at a couple of things. He did not sign Sandro alone, Sandro was brought to him as a suggestion and he agreed to take him on. Would you believe me if I told you that, in fact, he tried to loan him out early last Jan? We're lucky it didn't happen...further, it's very convenient for Harry to tout about that we're after Remy and this and that, because this way if it doesn't happen, he can absolutely keep banging the drum of 'restrictions'...very convenient. The Van Der Vaart thing came about because of Levy's relationship with Madrid (i.e. good enough to get us on the same tree as a half dozen others for those sorts of phone calls)...Parker and Gallas were brilliant signings and they were 100% Harry; he was nailed on with those. Adebayor too, even though we all wanted him.

The truth is that with the squad at his disposal, Harry could be doing better. He could have cemented third by now and he hasn't. You have to ask why. Indeed, you could ponder why we're not top, but alright alright, a bit of reason for the man I suppose...

He finally came back around to round pegs in round holes on Saturday. Excellent. I wonder what happened to make him lose the plot so comprehensively prior to that for a month?

 

[totman]

OK...
Rossi...no-one was sure at that price. Harry too. Harry has a fear of seeing players arrive for massive fees in case they flop.

Redknapp confirms record Rossi bid
(PA) Tuesday 1 February 2011
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Harry Redknapp has confirmed that Tottenham Hotspur made a club-record bid for Giuseppe Rossi yesterday - and fully expects the club to be in the market for a marquee signing again this summer.

Redknapp spent most of yesterday at the club's training ground hoping to land a big name to add to a strikeforce that has struggled in front of goal in the Premier League this term. Rossi, Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Llorente and Atletico Madrid duo Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero were all targeted but none signed for the club in what otherwise turned out to be an uncharacteristically quiet deadline day for the Spurs manager.

In a move contrary to Tottenham's prudent past, club chairman Daniel Levy made a ?ú38.5million bid for Argentina forward Aguero and a ?ú35million offer for Villarreal striker Rossi. Had either bid been successful, Tottenham's transfer record of ?ú16.5million for Luka Modric, would have been smashed.

Redknapp insists Tottenham were serious about paying such high fees and expects Levy and owner Joe Lewis to fund a similar purchase if he deems it necessary when the transfer window re-opens.

Redknapp said: "Daniel always said that if we found the right player then we would have gone for him but it was difficult. He tried something with Rossi. I think he offered ?ú35million in the end. It's hard to get top players unless you pay top money. You couldn't get Rossi because Villarreal don't want to sell you him.

"The chairman would have bought someone for ?ú30million though, for sure. He wanted to bring someone in. There was no doubt that he wanted to do it. He wanted to get somebody in and if Daniel and Joe Lewis can find the right people they will have a go again."


FIFA.com


Looks like both Levy and Harry were sure at that price, but they didnt want to sell.

 

[thfcsteff]

Redknapp confirms record Rossi bid
(PA) Tuesday 1 February 2011
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Harry Redknapp has confirmed that Tottenham Hotspur made a club-record bid for Giuseppe Rossi yesterday - and fully expects the club to be in the market for a marquee signing again this summer.

Redknapp spent most of yesterday at the club's training ground hoping to land a big name to add to a strikeforce that has struggled in front of goal in the Premier League this term. Rossi, Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Llorente and Atletico Madrid duo Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero were all targeted but none signed for the club in what otherwise turned out to be an uncharacteristically quiet deadline day for the Spurs manager.

In a move contrary to Tottenham's prudent past, club chairman Daniel Levy made a ?ú38.5million bid for Argentina forward Aguero and a ?ú35million offer for Villarreal striker Rossi. Had either bid been successful, Tottenham's transfer record of ?ú16.5million for Luka Modric, would have been smashed.

Redknapp insists Tottenham were serious about paying such high fees and expects Levy and owner Joe Lewis to fund a similar purchase if he deems it necessary when the transfer window re-opens.

Redknapp said: "Daniel always said that if we found the right player then we would have gone for him but it was difficult. He tried something with Rossi. I think he offered ?ú35million in the end. It's hard to get top players unless you pay top money. You couldn't get Rossi because Villarreal don't want to sell you him.

"The chairman would have bought someone for ?ú30million though, for sure. He wanted to bring someone in. There was no doubt that he wanted to do it. He wanted to get somebody in and if Daniel and Joe Lewis can find the right people they will have a go again."


FIFA.com


Looks like both Levy and Harry were sure at that price, but they didnt want to sell.

Aguero they all agreed on...I don't want to get into it further, needless to say, don't believe everything Harry says in the press mate, we've all lent that over the years...

Sort of shifting the focus, if not the topic of Harry and the press, I still find it unbelievable that he has not had to answer the simple question as to why Aaron Lennon was fit enough for the bench at the effeminates but not the pitch, ditto Rafa. We might just about get away with it, but for me, it remains a moment of enormous horror in our season, going there with a fully fit side and playing 4-4-2 without our best players on...

 

[totman]

Aguero they all agreed on...I don't want to get into it further, needless to say, don't believe everything Harry says in the press mate, we've all lent that over the years...

So do you have inside info that "no one was sure at that price"?....or did you read it in a paper....or did you make it up?

Its no good people people dismissing Harry as you cant believe a word he says, and then slaughtering him for his words when it suits.

 

[Hotshot-Tottenham]

Not really mate, we've identified plenty of affordable players, but Levy didn't feel the package was right. Look at Rossi, we were close on that one. Admittedly Redknapp made the call on Suarez, but what a lucky escape that was, the bloke's an utter tool. If you look through the news in the last 18 months we have been in negotiations for quite a lot of players. Some turned us down, some we turned down, some we couldn't come to agreement on.

But to say that Redknapp is not doing his job of creating a meaningful target list is utter gonads. And to say that it in any way has a majority of "known" Premiership players on it is almost certainly gonads too.

Harry can't win really. He signs experienced, older players like Friedel, Gallas, Parker and Saha who are proven in the Premier League and he's criticised for being too short term. He signs highly rated youngsters like Sandro, Naughton and Walker and he's criticised for none of them being inspirational enough. He signs Van Der Vaart and people say it was all down to Levy. He publicly states that he's after Mata, Rossi, Remy, Hazard etc and people say he's going for targets that are way out of our league.

The fact is, he's got restrictions in place. He said last summer that lots of top players are interested in joining Spurs...provided the money is right. When we can only pay ?ú70k and there are three or four other clubs in the same division who will pay double that, he's always going to be tinkling into the wind. Our only option in these cases is to go into "wheeler-dealer" mode and sign players who's stock is low either because they're ageing (Parker), considered to be problematic (Adebayor) or both (Gallas). It's made us very successful so far. Imagine what we could achieve with another year of CL qualification under our belt and a bit more money to play with.

=D>

well said the pair of you.

honestly could not agree more.

 

[DanishWhite]

Gallas, for all his bitching and complaining and outright sulking for Chelsea and Arsenal has been a purebred rolemodel in his time at Spurs.

Wants to win and lets everyone know it.

Wish we had him and King as centreback for the last 8 years, to be blunt.

 

[Hotshot-Tottenham]

Aguero they all agreed on...I don't want to get into it further, needless to say, don't believe everything Harry says in the press mate, we've all lent that over the years...

Sort of shifting the focus, if not the topic of Harry and the press, I still find it unbelievable that he has not had to answer the simple question as to why Aaron Lennon was fit enough for the bench at the effeminates but not the pitch, ditto Rafa. We might just about get away with it, but for me, it remains a moment of enormous horror in our season, going there with a fully fit side and playing 4-4-2 without our best players on...

surely that's quite straight forward?

player returns from injury but isn't 100% match fit. they think they might get 30 mins out of him, so it's better to go for the last 30 than the first and have to replace him in the first half.

they're unlikely to want to replace him that early in the first half, so push through to half time and as such, he risks overplaying, tweaks his injury again and is out. add to that we'd gone into that game in really good form, so i'm sure Harry would also have been slated for changing it up.

this isn't a new thing. and look at when Gerrard first came back this year - iirc started 3 games on the bench, and now seems to be fit and starting each game from the beginning.

by all means disagree with Harry about playing a 4-4-2, but questioning his not playing Lennon does just seem like a stick to beat him with.

 

[SUIYHA]

Look, I admire what Harry has done for us, but let's look at a couple of things. He did not sign Sandro alone, Sandro was brought to him as a suggestion and he agreed to take him on. Would you believe me if I told you that, in fact, he tried to loan him out early last Jan? We're lucky it didn't happen...further, it's very convenient for Harry to tout about that we're after Remy and this and that, because this way if it doesn't happen, he can absolutely keep banging the drum of 'restrictions'...very convenient. The Van Der Vaart thing came about because of Levy's relationship with Madrid (i.e. good enough to get us on the same tree as a half dozen others for those sorts of phone calls)...Parker and Gallas were brilliant signings and they were 100% Harry; he was nailed on with those. Adebayor too, even though we all wanted him.

Of course Harry didn't find Sandro. But how many young foreign players are actually spotted first by the manager? Do you think Wenger was actually the first person to notice Van Persie, Song, Szczesny, Oxlade-Chamberlain etc? He had scouts that alerted him to them. He then decided to sign them. Exact same situation with Harry and Sandro. But for some reason people use the fact that Harry mentioned Ian Broomfield noticed him first as a stick to beat him with as if he never wanted him in the first place.

As for the VdV thing, sure, it was Levy who got the call. But it's Levy who does the transfer negotiations. How do you think Madrid knew we were interested? Because Harry had mentioned Rafa as a potential target earlier in the summer, Levy had enquired and the price initially quoted was too much. At the last minute of the window, Madrid dropped their pants. They called the decision maker to propose the deal. Even if Harry had never mentioned it to Levy beforehand, Levy phoned Harry first to get his opinion on the deal and Harry said go for it. That counts as his signing as far as I'm concerned.

The tactics at the Emirates were shocking. But even the best managers make mistakes. Mourinho's tactics in the league game with Barca at the first leg of the Copa Del Rey were embarrassingly bad. But generally Harry has done things very well over here. We have beaten lots of teams under Harry that are supposedly better than us, and every season with the possible exception of last year's league form, we've far outdone what everyone expected us at the start of the year. Nobody has the divine right to beat everyone worse than them, sometimes players will under perform, the opposition will spring a tactical surprise or things just won't go right for us, but the fact is, we've become consistent for the first time in 20 years under Harry and we are outperforming bigger clubs with bigger budgets and supposedly better players than we have.

Until we can no longer say that we were expecting Harry to be doing better this season than we initially expected, then I'm happy to back him. And no I don't mean letting unrealistic expectations get the better of us and say "we were in the title race in January, we should still be in it". I mean looking at the long term. Nobody expected us to finish in the top eight in 2009 when he took over. Nobody thought we'd finish top 4 in 2010. Nobody thought we'd reach the Champions League quarter-finals in 2011. Nobody thought we'd be pushing for third place this year. That's the sign of constant progress and if he stays and is appropriately backed in the transfer market I see no reason why it can't continue.

 

[ArcspacE]

Harry can't win really. He signs experienced, older players like Friedel, Gallas, Parker and Saha who are proven in the Premier League and he's criticised for being too short term. He signs highly rated youngsters like Sandro, Naughton and Walker and he's criticised for none of them being inspirational enough. He signs Van Der Vaart and people say it was all down to Levy. He publicly states that he's after Mata, Rossi, Remy, Hazard etc and people say he's going for targets that are way out of our league.

He had never mentioned Rafa as a potential target and I doubt he even knew which club the latter played for since he'd never feature on MotD. Much like he dismissed Ganso recently. VdV was Bayern Munich bound but became available in the last minute. Levy was alerted and asked Arry if we'd be interested - and of course - he said yes.

You also speak of proven Prem players but half of those are semi-retired crocks who are simply not good enough for a club of our level aspirations. Nelsen and Saha couldn't get games at bottom 8 clubs, for fudges sake. In addition - some of the youngsters you mention are by no means his dealings but credit to him for blooding them in

I love what he's done for the club and no matter what happens in the summer he'd be lauded as one of our most successful managers but most of his transfer dealings have been nothing short of shambles and quite possibly his weakest aspect as THFC manager. Can't fault him for anythihing else that's for sure.

 

[Joesh]

If you change the question and ask how many managers could take us further when you consider that there are probably very few managers around who would be able to come in and with out major investment be able to get us anywhere near the title. Especially when you are talking of managers who have no PL experience or managers who havent had strict budgets or who dont hold playing attractive football as a main belief.

I think you have to ask are we under achieving by being in 3rd or 4th for most of the season considering the teams above us and their superior finances etc which Harry does point out every so often. As many have said in this thread, with our wage restrictions and current stadium problems etc, should the question be - Has the club itself reached as far as we can .

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

You are making to much fuss about wages and finances.

Of course they help you get further quicker, but they are no replacement for top class management and coaching.

I think Redknapp has done a quality job to date, but is far from flawless.

I also think a top class manager would have us top of the league right now. We have quality players, regardless of finance, and a well practiced system of play and some shrewd buys would see us much better off than we are now.

And where we are now is in a very good position, my comment is not that we are doing badly, just that we could be doing better...

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

He had never mentioned Rafa as a potential target and I doubt he even knew which club the latter played for since he'd never feature on MotD. Much like he dismissed Ganso recently. VdV was Bayern Munich bound but became available in the last minute. Levy was alerted and asked Arry if we'd be interested - and of course - he said yes.

You also speak of proven Prem players but half of those are semi-retired crocks who are simply not good enough for a club of our level aspirations. Nelsen and Saha couldn't get games at bottom 8 clubs, for fudges sake. In addition - some of the youngsters you mention are by no means his dealings but credit to him for blooding them in

I love what he's done for the club and no matter what happens in the summer he'd be lauded as one of our most successful managers but most of his transfer dealings have been nothing short of shambles and quite possibly his weakest aspect as THFC manager. Can't fault him for anythihing else that's for sure.

And yet Ruud Gullit was consulted by Jamie Redknapp regarding VDV a few days before he signed....

 

[ArcspacE]

And yet Ruud Gullit was consulted by Jamie Redknapp regarding VDV a few days before he signed....

Even if true - I'm not sure how that proves Redknapp was allegedly tracking VdV during that window - something which he himself seemingly denied

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

Even if true - I'm not sure how that proves Redknapp was allegedly tracking VdV during that window - something which he himself seemingly denied

He wasn't, we wasn't. According to the conversation between Jamie Redknapp and Gullit VDV was offered to several clubs as a loan deal. Harry was, obviously, very keen. Then all of a sudden they didn't want to loan him and it went quiet, and at the eleventh hour they approached Spurs and asked us if we'd like to buy him instead. The rest is history.

Hardly any players are "tracked". They don't have to be, as most deals are agent driven. You think how many scouts clubs employ very few players are "discovered".