How wrong I was about Harry Redknapp
Spurs' European campaign has many of us reappraising Harry Redknapp, writes Jim White.
Hands on: Harry Redknapp is adept at getting the best out of his players Photo: ACTION IMAGES
By Jim White 7:06PM GMT 11 Mar 2011
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Here's a telling statistic: on Wednesday, Harry Redknapp became the first Englishman to take his team into the quarter-finals of the Champions League (formerly the European Cup) since Terry Venables led Barcelona in 1985. For 25 years, the cup has been dominated by Italians, Dutchmen, Spaniards, Portuguese, even the odd Scot – but the English have been woefully absent.
Frankly, if anyone had suggested three years ago that Redknapp would be the man to break the duck, the men in white coats would have come calling. Back then, Redknapp – or 'Arry, to give him his proper title – was almost an amusement. A jolly, friendly, easy-going fella, fond of quick quips and quicker deals, he seemed the archetypal Cockney chancer, reckoned by many to be a no more than a managerial lightweight. The former West Ham teammate of Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Bobby Moore seemed destined to patrol the secondary tiers of the game.
But then, in 2008, something unexpected happened to 'Arry: he won the FA Cup. Talking to the Portsmouth manager that evening, as he stood in the bowels of Wembley, it seemed a just reward for one of the game's more genial souls. But that, I thought, would be about it: English football was now so completely enamoured of foreign coaches, of professorial Frenchman and swanky Italians, that the top jobs would be closed off to a man of Redknapp's homely credentials, especially one already in his sixties.
How wrong I was. A switch from financially imploding Pompey took 'Arry to Tottenham Hotspur, who were then bottom of the Premier League. Two seasons on, his team have just knocked Milan, the seven-times champions, out of the European Cup.
What a transformation he has wrought – and he has done it by more than the application of bonhomie. Sure, his man-management is excellent. But behind the amiable facade lies a sophisticated football brain. Embracing the best of modern technology and sports science, Redknapp has a sizeable squad working on things like fitness, nutrition and preparation, leaving him free to foster team spirit and generate tactics. He has done it so successfully that this week he outwitted one of the aristocrats of the European game.
So successful has 'Arry been lately that the bookies have more or less conceded that when Fabio Capello departs, there is really only one candidate to succeed him. Imagine that: an Englishman once more coaching the England team. And a clever, switched-on, sharp-minded Englishman at that.
There is only one obstacle in the way: in July, Henry James Redknapp will appear in court, charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue during his time at Portsmouth. Lose, and his apparently unstoppable late ascent up the ladder of reputation would stall in an instant. The dream of 'Arry, St George and England would be shattered: after all, the FA would never hire the footballing equivalent of Lester Piggott.
Which leaves Redknapp a man in a hurry, keen to make his mark while he can. And what better way than to advance further in Europe's premier competition? Become the first Englishman since Joe Fagan in 1984 actually to win the European Cup, and at Wembley, too? As 'Arry would say: why not?
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