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Redknapp's Autobiography

Crouch always had it hard from fans, and I always thought it was harsh. Its the same people who devalue his brilliant England scoring record by dismissing who the goals were against.
 
ledley's knee injections said:
And he's back with more...

In the second part of a serialisation of his forthcoming autobiography, Redknapp has revealed in the Daily Mail the part he played in transforming Bale from a talented young player to the superstar he is today.

He managed Bale during his time in charge of Tottenham Hotspur and insists he never had any doubts about his ability, although it was necessary to toughen him up.

Redknapp said: "There is some right old rubbish talked about Gareth Bale's time with me at Tottenham. Was I ever going to sell Bale? No. Was I going to loan him? No.

"Whatever faults I may have, I do know a player. I would never sell Gareth. All he needed was to be toughened up to emerge as a star player.


"We had to tease that combative streak out of him because, at that time, he was regarded as a left-back and was up against Benoit Assou-Ekotto, one of the best in the Premier League. Gareth seemed too soft to be a defender so we decided to try him further forward.

"He drove me mad in training. Technically, he was outstanding but he always seemed to be playing with his hair. It was never right. He'd be flicking the fringe or wiping it out of his eyes and I would be going quietly mad, just watching. 'Gareth, leave your barnet alone! Gareth! Stop touching your hair!'

"It was the same pattern every morning: Gareth would tumble and stay there, and they'd all go running over. In the end I told them just to leave him alone.

"Don't worry,' I said, 'he'll be fine in two minutes. If it is anything urgent we'll soon know'. That's what they did and, as predicted, Gareth got up, got on with it and got better and better."

Bale spent most of his time under Redknapp on the left wing and really came to the attention of a European audience with his performances against Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League.

Redknapp recalled: "I predicted he would be our Cristiano Ronaldo. And that's just what he was. I don't think I have ever seen one player terrify a team so completely as Bale did Inter Milan.

"I felt sorry for their Brazilian right-back. It was embarrassing. By the end of it the fans were singing, 'Taxi for Maicon,' and I don't think his career has ever recovered."

While Bale enjoyed the finest season of his career last term under Andre Villas-Boas after being given more freedom in a central role, Redknapp remembers when he first gave the player the opportunity to play in such a position.

He said: "I had talked with our coaches for a number of months about using Gareth this way because teams were crowding him out on the left flank, putting so much traffic in his way that it was just getting harder and harder.

"I remember the new plan coming together against Norwich City on December 27, 2011. He was magnificent, scoring twice as we won 2-0.

"Unfortunately, Gareth's switch then coincided with a few dingdongy results for us and a few people, looking for easy answers, put two and two together and ran out of fingers.

"Of course, a year later when he was scoring for fun in that position in Andre Villas-Boas' team, it was hailed as a genius move."

Biggest test
Bale sealed a record-breaking move from Spurs to Real Madrid this summer and Redknapp is interested to see how he will cope with the extra scrutiny of playing for one of the world's most high-profile clubs, admitting that his confidence could suffer if his partnership with Ronaldo does not flourish.


Queens Park Rangers manager Redknapp explained: "His biggest test will be to step out of the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo with confidence. That won't be easy.

"Ronaldo is a huge star at Madrid and will probably want to take nine out of 10 free-kicks - at least. Gareth will have to assert himself and that will require a strong mind.

"It is a tricky balancing act. He will have to be ready for the matches when he goes it alone, has a shot, misses and Ronaldo starts throwing his arms up in the air.

"His relationship with Ronaldo is the key to it all, because if the football is going well then all the added stresses are a minor irritation and nothing more.


"If Ronaldo feels threatened by Gareth's arrival, Madrid could be a lonely place so he will need to lean a lot on Ancelotti, who speaks good English, and Paul Clement, Carlo's assistant, who is English.

"Madrid must guard against Gareth falling into the role of support act. He had a little trouble adjusting to the bigger environment of Tottenham after leaving Southampton and this is 10 times as great as that move.

"If I have a worry it is that I remember the days when Gareth's confidence was draining fast at Spurs and there were genuine fears he might not make it. He wasn't the strongest of characters back then and he cannot be allowed to fall into that same negative state of mind.

"The positive is that Gareth has grown a lot since his earliest days at White Hart Lane. His performances improved but so did his attitude.

"He has to take that maturity to Madrid, though, or it will be hard."



http://www.football365.com/tottenha...helped-to-toughen-up-Gareth-Bale-at-Tottenham
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He's right about that. Bale is a pansy and although he does get kicked a lot, he needs to accept that is part of the game. He could learn a thing or two from Messi in that respect, he has dived before, but most of the time he just gets up and gets on with it, and he gets kicked far more than Bale does. He's probably too loyal to Ronaldo and up his **** to take pointers from Messi's game though.

I guess Clive Allen is lying then because he said Bale's move to Nottingham Forrest was close:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23947384
 
Jurgen the German said:
He's right about that. Bale is a pansy and although he does get kicked a lot, he needs to accept that is part of the game. He could learn a thing or two from Messi in that respect, he has dived before, but most of the time he just gets up and gets on with it, and he gets kicked far more than Bale does. He's probably too loyal to Ronaldo and up his **** to take pointers from Messi's game though.

I guess Clive Allen is lying then because he said Bale's move to Nottingham Forrest was close:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23947384
Click to expand...

:lol:

There will be plenty more 'liars' as this novel unfolds...there again, Harry will be laughing as here's one mug who will absolutely make sure he put this on his Xmas list. Another book sold. Still, I suspect it'll end up reading very much like a Stephen King novel when all's said and done...;)

BTW, and not related to your comments on him mate, I just want to add that I always thought Crouch was under-valued and personally, I value the contributions he made to our club greatly. I suppose it's hard for me not to given that night in Manchester...
 
thfcsteff said:
:lol:

There will be plenty more 'liars' as this novel unfolds...there again, Harry will be laughing as here's one mug who will absolutely make sure he put this on his Xmas list. Another book sold. Still, I suspect it'll end up reading very much like a Stephen King novel when all's said and done...;)


BTW, and not related to your comments on him mate, I just want to add that I always thought Crouch was under-valued and personally, I value the contributions he made to our club greatly. I suppose it's hard for me not to given that night in Manchester...
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Done us no harm at all, bloody good Pro.
 
Have to hand it to him, this book will be a belter of a read for sure...but Ill ask the Doc before taking it on as the liberal pinches of salt I'll need with every page could be damaging. Nonetheless...
 
I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life the night I went to watch Chelsea win the 2012 Champions League final.

You all know what happened. Chelsea were outplayed by Bayern Munich — as they had been by Barcelona and by Napoli in previous rounds — but they won the trophy.

It meant Spurs hadn’t qualified for the following season’s Champions League, despite finishing fourth — two points above Chelsea in the Premier League. They took our place as holders. I was distraught. I felt like crying.

Jamie invited me over — he said Sky had a box at the game and I should go as his guest.

Ruud Gullit was there and was carrying on right in front of me like a lunatic. He had nothing riding on the game — Chelsea had sacked him, for heaven’s sake — but he didn’t care.

Ruud was jumping around, cheering, singing, banging on the windows to draw the attention of the Chelsea players — and, when they looked up, in the background was me, feeling probably at my lowest as a football manager.

In the end, I think Jamie got quite upset on my behalf.

‘Ruud, do us a favour, they sacked you, didn’t they?’ he said to him. ‘Ah, yes, but that was different people,’ said Ruud and then carried on oblivious.

I felt embarrassed, really, as if I was spoiling the party, but I still think his behaviour was over the top

As I left, I thought: ‘Get a top-class front man in for next season and the sky’s the limit for us.’

Little did I know I had 25 days left as Tottenham manager.

We had been through a lot together that year. There were people from Tottenham in the Crown Court every day during my tax evasion trial and our season had gone so well until the injuries intervened.

Even taking away Chelsea’s Champions League win, we were close, just a point in it between us and Arsenal in third place

My departure wasn’t straightforward by any means.

It certainly wasn’t a case of walking in and being sacked.

In fact, we had previously been talking about extending my contract.

Having had these discussions, I went to see chairman Daniel Levy again. ‘What’s happening, Daniel?’ I asked. He seemed very unsure. ‘Maybe, Harry, we’ve just come to the end.’

I wasn’t happy, but I had to accept it and I wasn’t going to let it cloud my memories of my time at Spurs. I loved every minute of it. And I am proud of my record there.

They had never seen Champions League football until I arrived — and haven’t since — and it’s not as if they were a top-four Premier League team in the recent past, either.

Spurs had finished behind West Ham three years on the spin when I was at Upton Park.

I got on fine with Daniel. I still do. He loaned me some of his players last season with QPR.

People think Daniel Levy and I were always clashing over players, but it wasn’t like that.

Yes, he has his own views, but he never signed a player who wasn’t run by me first.

He didn’t always fancy some of my choices, such as Scott Parker or Younes Kaboul, but I got most of them.

He was the first person to ring me up to wish me luck when I took over at QPR, and even on the night I left Tottenham, the car phone rang and it was Daniel.

‘Harry, let’s keep in touch,’ he said. ‘I hope we can still be friends.’

I thought, ‘He’s got some front. He’s just sacked me and now he wants to be mates.’

But we have stayed in touch. I’m not one for grudges
 
Jurgen the German said:
You not rating him is fine, I didn't rate him either, but you're making yourself look like a prat trying to devalue his two most important goals for the club. Even if they were easy chances you still have to be in the right place at the right time.
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Why don't you try following the conversation before throwing the big words around.

You're entitled to your opinion as am I. My opinion as I stated but you've ignored is that he scored some important goals for us, probably the 2 most important goals in the last 20 years.

But he wasn't very good and those 2 goals are great due to their importance, not due to any great work on Crouchs behalf.
 
Are there any chapters of the book the Daily Mail arent publishing? Could save myself a few quid if they keep this up...
 
Redknapp has some face, i said on here when the England job was still open that the FA would never consider Redknapp for the England ( and they never did) and i got shouted down by many who thought he was odds on.

He was never approached and never will be, as for Crouch i have seen all our CF's since Smith and without a doubt Crouch was one of the worst i have seen.
 
thfcsteff said:
:lol:

There will be plenty more 'liars' as this novel unfolds...there again, Harry will be laughing as here's one mug who will absolutely make sure he put this on his Xmas list. Another book sold. Still, I suspect it'll end up reading very much like a Stephen King novel when all's said and done...;)

BTW, and not related to your comments on him mate, I just want to add that I always thought Crouch was under-valued and personally, I value the contributions he made to our club greatly. I suppose it's hard for me not to given that night in Manchester...
Click to expand...

Haha you're so right!

Count me in as well.
 
thfcsteff said:
:lol:

There will be plenty more 'liars' as this novel unfolds...there again, Harry will be laughing as here's one mug who will absolutely make sure he put this on his Xmas list. Another book sold. Still, I suspect it'll end up reading very much like a Stephen King novel when all's said and done...;)

BTW, and not related to your comments on him mate, I just want to add that I always thought Crouch was under-valued and personally, I value the contributions he made to our club greatly. I suppose it's hard for me not to given that night in Manchester...
Click to expand...

I didn't rate him before we signed, was actually annoyed at Redknapp for signing him, didn't rate him when he was at Spurs but I always acknowledged that he gave us something different; an aerial threat which we don't really have now. Scara said we were a long ball side when Crouch played but that was mainly down to Dawson, I like him but he does he love a long diagonal pass doesn't he? He couldn't help himself as he looked up and saw a 6 foot 7 inch giraffe playing up top :lol:
 
parklane1 said:
Redknapp has some face, i said on here when the England job was still open that the FA would never consider Redknapp for the England ( and they never did) and i got shouted down by many who thought he was odds on.

He was never approached and never will be, as for Crouch i have seen all our CF's since Smith and without a doubt Crouch was one of the worst i have seen.
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The FA don't know what they are doing most of the time, especially when it comes to picking managers. I don't think the results would have been better under Redknapp than Hodgson has achieved, but he's a better manager than Roy in my opinion. Like I said earlier in the thread, the biggest mistake they ever made was not appointing Brian Clough who like Redknapp was bit of maverick and didn't tow the line, albeit a far better manager than Arry.

I'd like to see the FA add some young people to the higher echelons of their organisation with a more modern view of the game rather than old dinosuars.
 
Superted said:
Why don't you try following the conversation before throwing the big words around.

You're entitled to your opinion as am I. My opinion as I stated but you've ignored is that he scored some important goals for us, probably the 2 most important goals in the last 20 years.

But he wasn't very good and those 2 goals are great due to their importance, not due to any great work on Crouchs behalf.
Click to expand...

I agree with you about him not being particularly gifted, but I just didn't think there was a need to try and belittle the most important goals he scored. They could have come off his **** for all I care. The only ex Spurs players that I mock are generally the ones who disrespected the club and the fans and who used their agents to help them engineer moves by any means necessary, even if that meant refusing to play/train.
 
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