Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Rip Van We Go Again on March 06, 2011, 05:29:56 PM
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sportinglife.com
Harry Redknapp admits he has struggled to keep his mind on his work as Tottenham manager as he prepares to fight tax evasion charges which will come to court in July.
As Redknapp, who denies any wrongdoing, prepares his side for a Champions League clash with AC Milan the Spurs boss also has the court case with which to contend.
"If it wasn't me this wouldn't be happening," Redknapp told the News of the World."I'm not a paedophile and I'm not a bank robber. I've done nothing wrong.
"I'm hurt by it, and it hurts my wife and family.
"I just want to get it out of the way and move on. It has been difficult to concentrate on the job at times, but I've managed to do it."
Redknapp, whose house was raided by the police four years ago, claims what has happened to him has been treated with disbelief by people who know him.
The High Court later ruled the search warrant used by City of London Police for the raid was invalid and Redknapp received £1,000 in damages.
"If I had done something wrong I'd be the first to hold my hands up and say 'yeah, okay'.
"What I've had to go through is unreal, absolutely farcical. What happened to my wife, Sandra, was a disgrace.
"I'll wait for it to finish and then I'll have my say."
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I bet he is lol
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He really is shitting it about his court case.Nice.
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''I'm not a paedophile''
Seems to be a stock answer for people who HAVE done something wrong.
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Bet he sounded like Neil's dad from the inbetweeners when he said it!
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As long as you don't rape children or rob banks, you should be excused for breaking the law, then? Sure, Harry.
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People may knock him but he's a bloody good manager .
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People may knock him but he's a bloody good manager .
He certainly is.
I don't like him very much, to be honest, he's not the most naturally likeable of characters (unless you work in the media), but it is hard to denigrate his achievements with Spurs.
I also don't really like the way our fans seem to have developed some sort of running hatred for him. It makes us look a bit smalltime, to be honest.
He's a bit of a tit, but football is full of tits.
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I haven't developed a hatred of him, I've never liked the ******.
He is a good manager and he's done a decent job at Spurs but with the squad of players he has it's nothing remarkable. He inherited an expensive bunch of players and has had a lot of money to spend. At their best they are an exciting team to watch and they score plenty of goals but they also concede a lot.
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I haven't developed a hatred of him, I've never liked the c***.
He is a good manager and he's done a decent job at Spurs but with the squad of players he has it's nothing remarkable. He inherited an expensive bunch of players and has had a lot of money to spend. At their best they are an exciting team to watch and they score plenty of goals but they also concede a lot.
Their Champions League performance is pretty impressive, isn't it?
We sat around on here fantasising and arguing about doing it. They did it, then got right through to the final knock out stages, where they've got an excellent chance of beating Milan this week.
Incidentally, I loathe Tottenham, everything about them, i'm not above irrational hatreds at all, but it's hard to deny he's done some excellent work.
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Caaaaaaaannnnnntttttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!
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Not into this he's a good manager bit, he's been a manager for 28 years, and a league table which reads
clubs 4 but 5 if you include Portsmouth twice
clubs he left on the verge of bankruptcy 3
Trophies 1
Court cases which involve tax evasion 1.
compare that to gerard Houlier
6 months younger
clubs managed 6
clubs left on the verge of bankruptcy 0
court cases for tax evasion 0
trophies
Lyon
Ligue 1: 2005–06, 2006–07
Trophée des champions: 2005, 2006
Liverpool
UEFA Cup: 2001
UEFA Super Cup: 2001
FA Cup: 2001
Football League Cup: 2001, 2003
FA Community Shield: 2001
France U19
1996 European Under-19 Football Championship
PSG
Ligue 1: 1985–86
who would you rather have?
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who would you rather have?
Redknapp I'm afraid. Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool. He has also taken over at other clubs who were doing rather well before his arrival. When Harry went to Spurs they were 2nd bottom and within a year they are in the CL and pushing for 4th again.
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who would you rather have?
Redknapp I'm afraid.
are you sure after 20 games
The difference here is now he can afford anyone he wants. He tried that at a other clubs and what did it do for them?
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who would you rather have?
Redknapp I'm afraid. Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool. He has also taken over at other clubs who were doing rather well before his arrival. When Harry went to Spurs they were 2nd bottom and within a year they are in the CL and pushing for 4th again.
And all those youth team players were just that before he arrived, youth team players
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Not that keen on him as a person but you have to agree that Harry's teams always play some cracking football.
Hopefully he'll get a crack at the England job - he's the ideal man for it.
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who would you rather have?
Redknapp I'm afraid.
are you sure after 20 games
Absolutely 100% certain.
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Can't stand the man.
That said, I think he would be a better manager for us than either of the last two.
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Can't stand the man.
That said, I think he would be a better manager for us than either of the last two.
Last two? Not better than DOL or GT mark 2?
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I do hope he gets the England job though, just because xavi iniesta messi ronaldo et all arn't exactly English born wont stop Harry picking them for the national team.
Yeah Messi's always been English Sepp. his Mum's gotta a season ticket down the lane, err I mean Wembley
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Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.
And what did Redknapp inherit at Spurs?
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Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.
And what did Redknapp inherit at Spurs?
A quality squad that had underperformed for six months.
I can't stand the ******, he's been denegrating my club since he was a mickey mouse manager of West Ham.
If he gets the England job it may be a blessing, as the entire London media may well decamp permanently up his arsehole.
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I'm amazed some people would rather houllier than redknapp as manager- utterly astonishing.
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I'm amazed some people would rather houllier than redknapp as manager- utterly astonishing.
I'd rather you were manager over Redknapp.
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So would I leeb, so would I.
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So would I leeb, so would I.
:)
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Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.
And what did Redknapp inherit at Spurs?
It was a decent squad in places but quite weaken in certain other areas hence 2 points from 8 games.
A quartet of Bent, Dos Santos, Frazier Campbell and paylberbatov who'd just joined was certainly nothing to wrie home about.
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Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.
And what did Redknapp inherit at Spurs?
An average squad that had never been in the Champions League and were 2nd bottom of the table. He took them to the CL in 1 and a half seasons and added some real quality along the way. If Redknapp left Spurs tomorrow he would leave them a far better team than when he arrived. The same can not be said for Houllier's time at Liverpool. Gh did well there but Liverpool were already a good side. Redknapp, as much as I can't stand him, is a better manager imo.
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Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.
And what did Redknapp inherit at Spurs?
An average squad that had never been in the Champions League and were 2nd bottom. He took them to the CL in 1 and a half seasons and added some real quality along the way. If Redknapp left Spurs tomorrow he would leave them a far better team than when he arrived.
It was a squad that would have played Champions League football the season before he turned up, had it not been for the first team squad getting food poisoning the night before the last game.
Once Levi had bladed Jol after an iffy start to the next season, and bought in that clown Ramos, our 'Arry systematically plundered Spurs with money Pompey hadn't got, before leaving when the shit hit the fan and then buying them all back at the fraction of the cost.
If it wasn't for Harry's unblemished character, you'd almost think he'd had the nod from Levi 12 months before and conducted this elaborate stunt to line his and Spurs pockets.
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Whenever I hear the name Harry Redknapp the phrase `Chinese betting syndicates` always comes into my mind.
Im sure its a totally irrational reaction but I like it.
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Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.
And what did Redknapp inherit at Spurs?
An average squad that had never been in the Champions League and were 2nd bottom. He took them to the CL in 1 and a half seasons and added some real quality along the way. If Redknapp left Spurs tomorrow he would leave them a far better team than when he arrived.
It was a squad that would have played Champions League football the season before he turned up, had it not been for the first team squad getting food poisoning the night before the last game.
Once Levi had bladed Jol after an iffy start to the next season, and bought in that clown Ramos, our 'Arry systematically plundered Spurs with money Pompey hadn't got, before leaving when the shit hit the fan and then buying them all back at the fraction of the cost.
If it wasn't for Harry's unblemished character, you'd almost think he'd had the nod from Levi 12 months before and conducted this elaborate stunt to line his and Spurs pockets.
Would you say that Spurs are better now than they were when he arrived? I definitely would. It's early days for Houllier but I'm not so sure we'll be saying that about him when he goes.
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On the subject of other managers any opinions on fergie and his coaching staff refusing to speak to any Press or even rights holding media including mutv- clearly breaking the agreement with tv broadcasters .
I'd love to see the tv companies withhold tv payments to man utd , but as always I expect everyone is scared to stand up to him.
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Redknapp took a side that was in the bottom two and got them to the Champions League, where they're doing very well. Houllier has taken a side that finished 6th to a relegation battle, destroying the defence along the way. One's a very good manager indeed, the other isn't.
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Surely the fact the case is going to court means the police believe they have sufficient evidence to gain a conviction
Redknapp may be innocent, but I don't buy this whole "disbelief" attitude he has about it.
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If Redknapp left Spurs tomorrow he would leave them a far better team than when he arrived. The same can not be said for Houllier's time at Liverpool.
No? Didn't Liverpool win the Champions League the season after Houllier left? Spawny maybe but Benitez's team was full of Houllier's players.
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Redknapp took a side that was in the bottom two and got them to the Champions League, where they're doing very well. Houllier has taken a side that finished 6th to a relegation battle, destroying the defence along the way. One's a very good manager indeed, the other isn't.
I've waited almost two pages for someone to point this out.
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I think we need the opinions of some Bournemouth, Southampton and Port.smouth fans on here to temper his love in of a truly obnoxious man.
I have a golden rule. Any man who says lay off me you are upsetting my wife is a wrong'un. Never let me down yet.
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Redknapp took a side that was in the bottom two and got them to the Champions League, where they're doing very well. Houllier has taken a side that finished 6th to a relegation battle, destroying the defence along the way. One's a very good manager indeed, the other isn't.
So on the evidence of the last 12-18 months of their long careers, you come to this conclusion.
Why not bring it down to this weekend? Spurs drew at Wolves, where Houllier has won this season, and we lost 3-2 at Bolton, where they lost 4-2 a couple of months back, ergo Houllier must be better, full stop, no arguments, no comebacks, ner-ne-ner-ne-ner-ner.
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Whilst he attracts an extraordinary amount of pisstaking , Redknapp is a better Manager than our current one, his teams play excellent football - and players love to play for him.
With player power at an all time high, the latter is becoming all important.
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If Redknapp left Spurs tomorrow he would leave them a far better team than when he arrived. The same can not be said for Houllier's time at Liverpool.
No? Didn't Liverpool win the Champions League the season after Houllier left? Spawny maybe but Benitez's team was full of Houllier's players.
That team had gone from winning several trophies in the same year to winning just 1 league cup in the next 4 years until Benitez came and they won the CL.
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
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I just don't trust or like the man...
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
Did he really? I wouldn't have said so at all.
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
Did he really? I wouldn't have said so at all.
I would definitely have said so. Sure, some dross and a couple of big signings which needed to be made, but a better side and (this cannot be overstated) a side whose stars were still relatively young (Modric, Bale, even Gomes etc).
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
Did he really? I wouldn't have said so at all.
A better first team, perhaps, a better squad definitely. Without wanting to go down a well trodden route they have been spending at a high level on their squad for 4 or 5 years longer than us. He's also not been told to trim the wage bill.
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"I'll wait for it to finish and then I'll have my say"
Might as well ask the sun not to shine.
I think he's a fantastic manager and should be managing England. I also reckon there's a few good reasons they'll never ask him.
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Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.
And what did Redknapp inherit at Spurs?
An average squad that had never been in the Champions League and were 2nd bottom of the table.
Rubbish. He inherited a squad which had finished just outside the top 4 for two of the previous 3 seasons and had had another sh*tload of cash spent on it during the preceding summer.
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
Did he really? I wouldn't have said so at all.
A better first team, perhaps, a better squad definitely. Without wanting to go down a well trodden route they have been spending at a high level on their squad for 4 or 5 years longer than us. He's also not been told to trim the wage bill.
Yeah but the comparison is between our squad in September and Spurs when Redknapp came in for Ramos, not now. Therefore, I have to agree with Risso's raised eyebrows.
And as a perennial talker-upper of our team and management and someone who is adept at readily identifying other teams flaws I'm a bit surprised at your view.
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
Did he really? I wouldn't have said so at all.
Considering he inherited a squad with the likes of Modric, Bale, Bent, King, Gomes, Pavlyuchenko, Lennon, Woodgate and Dawson it suggests you think O'Neill left us with a pretty impressive squad then.
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He was awarded a grand in compensation, not a lot I know, but that said, it's admission that the police shouldn't have raided his house.
Let's wait for the case to be closed before judging.
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Houllier inherited a young Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.
And what did Redknapp inherit at Spurs?
An average squad that had never been in the Champions League and were 2nd bottom of the table. He took them to the CL in 1 and a half seasons and added some real quality along the way. If Redknapp left Spurs tomorrow he would leave them a far better team than when he arrived. The same can not be said for Houllier's time at Liverpool. Gh did well there but Liverpool were already a good side. Redknapp, as much as I can't stand him, is a better manager imo.
Really? The team Houllier left won the Champions League the season he left, so he left a fairly decent squad for the next man.
Redknapp inherited a bloody good squad, and unlike GH so far, has had a brilliant streak of luck to go with some good decisions. Examples being Pavylechenko and Bale being ushered out the door by harry for him to only keep them due to injuries, and them then playing way better than he expected them too. He has also pulled off some deals that have been well dodgy - Van Der Vaart for 8 million and how many paper bags I wonder.
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I would have to say Arry is a good manager, but like i have said before i like what GH is trying to do so we will just have to wait and see.
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
Did he really? I wouldn't have said so at all.
Considering he inherited a squad with the likes of Modric, Bale, Bent, King, Gomes, Pavlyuchenko, Lennon, Woodgate and Dawson it suggests you think O'Neill left us with a pretty impressive squad then.
For the last two years most people on H&V were laughing at Bale saying how he was shit and that Spurs never won a game with him in the side. Gomes was similarly seen as a laughing stock. King and Woodgate are crocks, and Lennon was/is no better than Young.
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
Did he really? I wouldn't have said so at all.
Considering he inherited a squad with the likes of Modric, Bale, Bent, King, Gomes, Pavlyuchenko, Lennon, Woodgate and Dawson it suggests you think O'Neill left us with a pretty impressive squad then.
For the last two years most people on H&V were laughing at Bale saying how he was shit and that Spurs never won a game with him in the side. Gomes was similarly seen as a laughing stock. King and Woodgate are crocks, and Lennon was/is no better than Young.
No but Young is our best player, Lennon isn't Spurs' and wasn't when he took them over. That was, and still is, Modric. I agree that I wouldn't quite include King and Woodgate in many fair comparisons because they may as well not be there for how often they play, though they did play much more in the earlier days of Redknapp's reign.
As for Bale, I imagine the same people on here who were laughing at him were the same people who wrote off Downing in knee-jerk fashion. He was a young, raw and very talented player, and one who must have been a joy to have in a squad when you take over and look at what you have (even though he only started to show that talent late last season). Gomes, again, always had it in him and Redknapp's undeniably done well to bring it out of him after that shocking start, but it's still a hell of a raw material to work with.
I also think that the type of players he inherited is important. These are players almost all of whom were capable of playing the kind of passing football which you need to play to get to the fabled next level. GH hasn't really inherited nearly enough senior players capable of doing so, and has still done a reasonable job getting some out of them so far.
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For the last two years most people on H&V were laughing at Bale saying how he was shit they were wrong and that Spurs never won a game with him in the side. Gomes was similarly seen as a laughing stock again, they were wrong. King and Woodgate are crocks they are, but they are still very good players, and Lennon was/is no better than Young. so one of their top six or seven players was only as good as our best player?
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I'd say that ignoring the shit form of this season, a squad of Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Collins, Ashley Young, Downing, Albrighton, Gabby, Carew, Petrov, Cuellar and Warnock is not of a massively inferior quality to the squad Redknapp took over.
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I'd say that ignoring the shit form of this season, a squad of Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Collins, Ashley Young, Downing, Albrighton, Gabby, Carew, Petrov, Cuellar and Warnock is not of a massively inferior quality to the squad Redknapp took over.
I could trot out the injuries line but I won't even want to do that. We're talking about sheer ability here? Well, I think the fact first of all that, like I mentioned a page or so ago, the ages of these players are important. Friedel, Dunne, Petrov, even Luke Young - they're all showing the signs of age (some more than others). Downing and Young are terrific, no question, and I would throw Cuellar into that category as well, but Gabby is a quite limited player for all his usefulness in other areas (along with NRC whom you haven't mentioned), Collins is decent but hardly what you'd call a top player, Warnock had started his downward spiral well before the end of last season, Albrighton is hugely gifted but is still raw and inconsistent (possibly due to lack of experience having ludicrously not been played under MON), and as for Carew, well, I'm surprised you're using him as an example of a quality player given his displays for a very long time now. GH had also come after the loss of Milner, a player even more important to us than Carrick was to Spurs when they sold him.
Again, it also shows the importance of the right kind of player. These players aren't really the sort used to playing possession, passing football. Even those with the quality to do so, like Downing and Young, have had to adapt their games significantly, and the midfielder most able to do so, Petrov, is seriously on the wane. MON showed what SGT has said he and Watford showed in the '80s: fiery motivation, solid organisation and a style based more on effort than ability can carry you so far, but only so far. The age of the squad left by MON is also a consideration as well as the style.
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I'd have taken our defence over theirs, their central midfield over ours, nothing much in it when you compare widemen, and possibly they had the better options up front, although Gabby and Carew were probably more consistent then than Bent and Pavluychenko. As I said, there really isn't a lot in it. For a team in the bottom three to achieve Champions League football, and for a team that finished 6th to fight relegation all season is a huge turnaround in both cases though.
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Redknapp's an undeniably good manager but he did inherit a far better team than GH has, so the comparisons are utterly worthless.
Did he really? I wouldn't have said so at all.
A better first team, perhaps, a better squad definitely. Without wanting to go down a well trodden route they have been spending at a high level on their squad for 4 or 5 years longer than us. He's also not been told to trim the wage bill.
Yeah but the comparison is between our squad in September and Spurs when Redknapp came in for Ramos, not now. Therefore, I have to agree with Risso's raised eyebrows.
And as a perennial talker-upper of our team and management and someone who is adept at readily identifying other teams flaws I'm a bit surprised at your view.
If we took this thread to a Spurs forum they'd piss themselves laughing that there are people on here suggesting that Gerard Houllier is a better manager than Redknapp. Let's ask them what they think. I'm sure they'd take a relegation 6 pointer as their next match over a Champions League last 16 clash against AC Milan (which they lead 1-0 by the way). ::). Last season we were in the race for 4th until the penultimate game of the season, now we are in a relegation battle and Spurs, having grabbed that 4th spot, are on the brink of the last 8 of the European cup. In fact, sod it, I'm convinced now, Redknapp is a crap manager and Houllier is a demi-God!
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I can't quite believe that this is even a discussion.
Redknapp, despite being a total tosser, is light years ahead of Houllier in the Management stakes.
The job Redface has done at Spurs is nothing short of superb, meanwhile GH was out to pasture with the FFA only to return to Management after 5 years to lead us boldly towards a relegation battle. We know the facts, much as they hurt us.
I want GH to succeed, I want the Villa to win every game we play, I can't stand Spurs and the media obsession with Arry but the levels of delusion on this thread are reaching record levels.
I recently had a bet with a Spurs supporting mate of mine that Redknapp won't be the next England Manager - too much of a gamble with all this going on for them I'd reckon.