The Official THFC thread

[Gazzler]

I'd be pissed if I was a Spurs fan too.
David Moyes!
Liverpool, Man U and Arsenal fans will be happy as there will be one less team in with a shout of 4th next year.

[Tony Baloney]

'Arry gone.

Strange that a manager finishes 4th and is gone the next year. If Drogba hadn't scored v Bayern would he still be there or was it purely about money?

Moyes to Spurs seems to be done deal according to Twitter which doesn't seem to be a popular move among Spurs fans. Hope he stays with Everton.

Moyes wouldn't be the glamour option but I wouldn't mind seeing what he can do with a decent team and a few quid to spend.

[Gazzler]

Any word from Dave Whelan about this yet?

[Captain Obvious]

I'd be pissed if I was a Spurs fan too.
David Moyes!
Liverpool, Man U and Arsenal fans will be happy as there will be one less team in with a shout of 4th next year.

Chelsea,Liverpool,Arsenal will be happy. The Manchester clubs are so far ahead of the rest in England that the battle for fourth won't concern them next year.

[tommysmith]

'Arry gone.

Strange that a manager finishes 4th and is gone the next year. If Drogba hadn't scored v Bayern would he still be there or was it purely about money?

Moyes to Spurs seems to be done deal according to Twitter which doesn't seem to be a popular move among Spurs fans. Hope he stays with Everton.

He was going either way Levy had enough of him.

He refused a new 3 year contact in February when he though he was going to get the England job.  He took his eye off his job and rolled down the window of the range rover to anyone that would listen telling them what an honour it would be to mange england.  He should have been saying he had a job and was fully commited to it.

Rumour has it he is off to the middle east/asia to earn big bucks.

[Bingo]

The biggest worry for Spurs will be the likes of Modric, Bale and VDV using this as another excuse to jump ship following no CL football. That will weaken them more than losing one trophy Redknapp.

I can't see him sticking round England, he'll sit and wait for the England job.

[brokencrossbar1]

He'll go somewhere that allows Canine Financial Services and will dodge tax there!  Spurs fukced and there will be bargains had in WHL this summer!

[Radda bout yeee]

I can see Spurs losing the majority of their key men now. Sad to see.

[nrico2006]

Tommysmith, I liked your post on him rolling down the range rover window.  Hugely over-rated as a manager though, you would swear the man won the league twice with Spurs the way some of his journalist buddies write about him.   

[Bingo]

Would Capbello be a contender for the spurs seat now? Might help keep some of the players if got in and a few quid to spend as spurs always seem to have.

He'd be a better option than Moyes or Martinez. Be interesting to see what Moyes could do with a few quid and bigger expectation.

[johnneycool]

Tommysmith, I liked your post on him rolling down the range rover window.  Hugely over-rated as a manager though, you would swear the man won the league twice with Spurs the way some of his journalist buddies write about him.

Go on 'arry, give us a story.

[Denn Forever]

ABV new manager.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18610066

Will Modric stay now?

[Evil Genius]

Tommysmith, I liked your post on him rolling down the range rover window.  Hugely over-rated as a manager though, you would swear the man won the league twice with Spurs the way some of his journalist buddies write about him.

Take a look at the graphic on this article - it's interactive, so if you click on all the other Spurs managers' names, you can compare their win rate with Harry's (49.3%):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/9333283/How-Harry-Redknapp-took-Tottenham-to-the-Premier-League-heights.html

His win rate is the highest since Bill Nicholson's and finishes of 4th, 5th and 4th (after saving them from likely relegation the season before, btw), represents the highest 3 consecutive top-flight finishes since 1964.

And it's not as if he spent/wasted money in the transfer market, either:
http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-transfers.htm

In fact, since he joined Spurs in October 2008, his big signings have been:
Defoe (£16m) - well worth it (imo);
Keane (£15m) - £5m profit on the deal with L'pool;
Palacios (£12m) - disappointing, but still got £6m(?) back from Stoke;
Crouch (£9.5m) - excellent signing, and a £2.5m profit from Stoke;
Bassong (£8m) - jury still out.

More importantly, he also signed Parker (£5m), VDV (£8m), Sandro (£6m), Kaboul (£5m), Kranjar (£2.5m) and Walker (£4m), Friedel (Free) - every one an absolute bargain (if not a steal) - as well as excellent loans in Adebayor and Saha etc.

Compare that with the the 3 1/2 years prior to Harry taking over, when Spurs signed Corluka (£8.5m), Pavyluchenko (£14m), Bentley (£15m), Gomes (£9m), Hutton (£8m), Woodgate (£7.5m), K-P Boateng (£6.5m) and Bent (£16.5m)... 

P.S. Am making no predictions about ABV, but he has a hell of an act to follow, based on all of the above.
 

[thewobbler]

In fact, since he joined Spurs in October 2008, his big signings have been:
Defoe (£16m) - well worth it (imo);
Keane (£15m) - £5m profit on the deal with L'pool;
Palacios (£12m) - disappointing, but still got £6m(?) back from Stoke;
Crouch (£9.5m) - excellent signing, and a £2.5m profit from Stoke;
Bassong (£8m) - jury still out.

EG you make some good points above but you defence of his transfer policy just about ruins it all

I'm really not sure how you can try arguing that the £60m above was well spent, when Harry himself either since sold each of them or else reduced them to a squad player.

His eye for talent is seriously overrated IMHO. Kranky went the same way.

Vdv, Sandro, Walker had nothing to do with him.

Parker had been a Spurs target since he was at Charlton.

Which to me leaves Kaboul as his only signing of note and worth. This is the Kaboul who had previously been brought to English football by Spurs.



Generally I liked Harry, but his transfer nous is beyond suspect.

[Evil Genius]

In fact, since he joined Spurs in October 2008, his big signings have been:
Defoe (£16m) - well worth it (imo);
Keane (£15m) - £5m profit on the deal with L'pool;
Palacios (£12m) - disappointing, but still got £6m(?) back from Stoke;
Crouch (£9.5m) - excellent signing, and a £2.5m profit from Stoke;
Bassong (£8m) - jury still out.

EG you make some good points above but you defence of his transfer policy just about ruins it all

I'm really not sure how you can try arguing that the £60m above was well spent, when Harry himself either since sold each of them or else reduced them to a squad player.

"Reduced to squad players" is it?

Football is nothing if not a squad game these days. The fact that Harry could keep the likes of eg Defoe happy, despite not picking him every week, speaks volumes for Harry's man-management.

As for Keane, we sold him for £20m, bought him back for £15m a few months later - cracking business for someone who was never going to be more than a squad player, anyhow. (As for his subsequent loan-out and sale etc, this was prompted by Keane acting the maggot over a banned Xmas Party, thereby leaving HR with no choice but to ditch him, if he were to maintain authority).

Re Palacios, I've accepted it didn't work out, but it was hardly a hugely expensive mistake; besides, every manager screws up occasionally (Ferguson/Veron?)

Crouch was a great purchase, but was determined to go to get regular 1st team football, and even then Harry turned a profit, whilst replacing him with a superior player on loan (Adebayor).

Bassong? Wait and see.

His eye for talent is seriously overrated IMHO. Kranky went the same way.

Harry bought  Krancjar as a squad player, at a price which was right for that staus. Krancjar demanded guaranteed 1st team football. He wasn't good enough for that considering the alternatives, so we sold him at a profit, which can go towards buying a replacement squad player. Seems like a result to me.

Vdv, Sandro, Walker had nothing to do with him.

Parker had been a Spurs target since he was at Charlton.

Which to me leaves Kaboul as his only signing of note and worth. This is the Kaboul who had previously been brought to English football by Spurs.

So when Spurs "waste" £60m on five players you don't like/rate, it's down to Harry. But when Spurs sign undoubted bargains, it's down to someone else, then?

Anyhow, re VDV I have it on very good authority that when Levy refused to sign Joe Cole on the last day of the transfer window, Harry went absolutely ballistic and demanded a replacement, which is why Levy relented and signed a player (VDV) whom he (DL) had previously declined to follow up.

As for Parker, the player had other offers, including apparently on more money, but he was persuaded to join Spurs by HR personally.

Generally I liked Harry, but his transfer nous is beyond suspect.

OK, look at it this way, do you consider the squad inherited by HR to be better/worse/the same as that which he is bequeaths to ABV?

I think there's only one answer to that. Of course, it could be argued that this was not essentially down to HR, except that when he took over, he made it a pre-condition that Spurs get rid of (Levy's) Director of Football, Damien Comolli*, so as to give himself more influence over transfers.

The fact is, the playing squad improved markedly under HR (without having to spend "silly money") and results subsequently improved accordingly.

There were no signs that this improvement could not have been maintained, but still he was sacked by the man who also eg sacked Martin Jol and replaced him with Juande Ramos...

As I say, I will reserve judgement on ABV, but if Spurs don't become an established Top 4 team in the next couple of seasons, then Levy's sacking of HR will unquestionably be proven to have been a (Christian) gross error. 


* - Since sacked from the same role by Liverpool, after a disastrous 18 months...