Yo.
On the last blog I gave a Arry a dig in the ribs. For me what grates are the self indulgences presumably prompted by his defense mechanism. The mood at The Lane when things fail to go swimmingly is fine blend of angst and lynch mob.
Football managers do not benefit from speech writers or spin doctors and consequently they have probably provided the world with more ‘interesting’ uses of the English language than George Bush.
But if you can suspend your disbelief at his belief in 3MP, and your rage at being told you’ve never had it so good you can actually see that he’s done a good job.
I’m not 83 but when I was a kid qualifying for Europe was the one. Bill Nicholson said if we’re not in Europe, we’re nothing. We’re nothing. I’ve always loved the way his words and those of Danny Boy have transcended time and become our scripture.
But the quote on Europe is rarely mentioned. I never see it as a ‘signature’ on forums. Always the ‘Aiming high…’ one. And so it seems I guess that the expectations in the modern game have changed. Not just in the top flight. There was a fella on the radio the other day saying that in the lower leagues the life expectancy of a manager is now averaging 14 months.
14 months. Managing a team comprised of men who aren’t very good at playing football, with no financial resources and piddle poor facilities. Heh, yeah. Change the manager. That’ll crack it.
So Redschnapps out then. I’m not surprised. Let me state that from the start. He and his mate 3MP currently owe me 2 television sets a piece.
Arry has done well in places. The quarter finals of the Champions League is an excellent achievement. Finishing 5th or 6th was heralded as ‘fab’ under Jol. JOl fans told us is this hourly for about 6 months after he was chopped. But the expectations of fans now have overtaken common sense.
Arry has done poorly in places. He is so media friendly he is bound – by the law of averages – to end up bugging someone. For every quote that makes us grin, there will be one that prompts us to violently swear at him. That 2 points from 8 games line has gone from being a badge of honour to a life raft.
There is of course the inevitable, ‘it’s Levy’s fault’ element within the lynch mob. A wage cap means fiscal control which means you don’t get bought out by chicken wholesalers. Fiscal control means you don’t get relegated with £40M worth of debt tucked into your underpants by a pair of porn barons.
Anyhoo, I’m not selling Arry. I’m selling reason. I got chill down my spine yesterday looking at some of the Arry replacements some supporters online have lined up. Let the shipwrecks of others be your marker in the storm, I say.
Let’s have a look at the runners and riders.
Carlo Ancelotti
Aside from his chances of wanting to join us, this has to epitomise the ‘I want it now, mummy!’ screaming fan mentality. Arguably one of the best managers and proven football minds in Europe. Fwank his 20 goals a season star missing for months plus Drogba his 46 year old striker out with Malaria. Yeah, sack him and send him over.
Villas Boas
Portuguezzer. One game away from an undefeated season. League title winner. Navy suit wearer. This guy is golden. Ramos 4.0. Just pledged his future to Porto. Get him in and we’ll turn his glittering career into a smoking, smashed up, twisted car crash.
Gus Hiddink
He’s used to managing turkeys :-p . The name on the lips of anyone comprising a managerial wish list. He’s been linked with Cheatski so long even he must wake up some days and think he must have managed them at some point. Gus Hiddink’s blue and white army! unfortunately doesn’t scan.
Jose Mourinho
Ah, the fantasy. The Special One actually requires a near bottomless pit of money in order to weave his unique brand of specialness. We would invoke not trophies from him but barbs. ‘I am a manager with only one hand. Daniel keeps my other hand in his bank. What can I do?’ – Where have we heard that line before….?
Over to you…
I think it all comes down to Levy. If someones available with a proven winning pedigree, i.e, Hiddink / Ancelotti etc and they’re willing to come then i think he’d get them in. With Harry’s unclear long-term commitment (which he has form for) is he going to give him money to invest?
If we don’t push on from here then we really have could have missed the boat. But above all I’m afraid we have to spend, and is Levy willing to do that? If we don’t pay out for top players and their wages then we wont compete. Liverpool have large amounts of cash now plus their worldwide status, City are going to go transfer mental, and the Scum and Utd are well settled into a top four preservation system.
Arry isn’t here for the long term and everyone knows it, so why should DL give him the money to invest when he knows he’ll have to do it for next summer’s replacement?? What he’ll say is you can only spend what you sell, we won’t get the invest we need as we will spend all summer trying to sell the players to generate money and then do the same thing we always do and try and sign someone on the final day once we have sold a few. If we don’t have the squad to keep up with man city arsenal and liverpool next season we won’t get CL again and Bale, Modric and VDV will be off with Rednapp that summer and we’ll be back to rebuilding for god knows how long. Sorry to be a pestimist but this is what I can see playing out if we don’t see the bigger picture and find a replacement this summer. We have one last chance to cement ourselves competing at the top and that’s next season, we need to get it right.
Coys
“Let the shipwrecks of others be your marker in the storm” I read that line somewhere else recently, where did you lift it from? Pratchett? It’s bugging me that I can’t remember, good line though.
As long as we keep Modric I don’t really care what happens, that guy is a wizard!
I stole it from an episode of Hancock’s Half Hour.
Hoddle was right the other night,the chink in his armour is he can’t score a goal.Someone of his ability should have put that chance away against City.
Levy’s in an awkward position,how can he give Harry loads of money when it seems he will have to get a new manager in a years time who will want to make there own mark,if as most people believe harry’s gonna be the next england manager it makes sense to let him go now
David Moyes every day of the week for me. The other four are clearly unrealistic, though if Ancelotti were to pop over I’d send Levy camels bearing imitation gold and plastic trinkets, best I can afford. But after looking at the 09/10 season review dvd again…we did play some good stuff…maybe it is possibly my rage and incandescent anger will fade after the next two losses, and I’ll accept that ‘one win in fifteen’ statistic, and give him another chance. Maybe. Unlikely though.
Agreed – One in 13 is awful. And Harry’s mind is not on Spurs anymore – he’s got far too FA friendly for my liking – the Chelsea lino incident, Bale getting chopped – both should have resulted in some passionate comments, not the piss weak acceptance we saw. If Ancelotti were to come, I’d chip in with a few Burj Khalifa paperweights…… Otherwise any of Van Gaal, Klinsmann, Rangnick, Deschamps, Moyes would do.
I’m pretty sure that when Bill Nick came out with that ‘Europe’ quote he wasn’t talking about a format where the two finalists started in a completely different competition.
The Europa League isn’t a competition, it’s a farce.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t be aiming to finish the season as high as possible, and then worry about what to do if we do qualify for the EL.
The ‘who to replace him with’ question is redundant. When it happens, we won’t have a say in it. The same with ‘who should we sign up front?’. But if Levy does have a replacement in mind, and he’s available now. I’d rather he kicked Redknapp out now and gave the new man the chance to build.
Which side of the ‘in’ or ‘out’ divide you’re on has nothing to do with sanity, but whether you believe Redknapp has the ability to improve the team and move it forward. Judging by what I’ve seen, I don’t believe he can.
Europa is indeed a well of sorrow. 18 games. Crap sides. Crap venues…
why Moyes he has won nothing he has kept an average club in PL thats all
crap playing days Thursdays
Chuck in the youngsters and give them some Euro experience. Simple. Saying that, I don;t see us finishing above Liverpool now so even simpler.
Harry really does need to make some sort of statement of commitment or we need to make a statement of intent by getting in someone for the long-term. Otherwise players like Bale and Modric will be more likely to have their heads turned by people like old red nose and incoming players will be less likely to sign to play for a manager who isnt going to be sticking around.
Modric and Bale have both come out and stated their commitment to the long term project at Spurs. This is what will keep players and attract players.
I think you’ll find that we are top of the fair play league (that may be one of the reasons we’re not top 4), we’re in it no matter what.
Hells bells… Maybe we could unleash Joe Jordan out on the touchline against Liverpool to create some havoc to put pay to that one??
LOL amazing idea.and sack harry redknapp. and for new strikers bring in sandra redknapp :)