Harry fucking Redknapp

[Guest LFD]

[silverlining]

Anyone see the article on the BBC about Redknapp and the england job, taken from a few months ago in his office, he has two mobile phones on his desk... the same guy whos never sent a text message in his life?

 

Maybe he makes and takes phone calls on his phones

[xerxes]

[Hooch]

[a stoner]

Well if the rumour I heard is true then the England job will be well below Arry.

Apparently he is changing his name by deed poll following his great escape from tax evasion to Harry Redknapp-Houdini or HRH for short and he also intends to be the next king of England rendering any ideas of appointing him England manager null and void.

[Newport]

Surely his Englishness will secure England trophies for at least the next ten years.

[Wembley74]

And when the players yet again show that they can't pass or keep hold of the ball ,which is so vital and fail miserably watch the good old Arry boys of fleet street rip him a new arse!

[Horus]

Excellent article from John Nicholson @ F365

 

 

 

 

 

Okay deep breath. Settle down. Fabio Capello has gone. Harry Redknapp will replace him.

 

It won't affect much. England won't be any better or much worse. The players are still the players and still won't be able to retain possession but will have enough quality to win some games. The same old story.

 

There is a case for Redknapp as England manager. Many don't like him and think he's not good enough, others do. It's like that with most managers.

 

But it is an appointment campaigned for by large swathes of the press and most of the broadcast media output; a triumph for favouritism over meritocracy.

 

They seem psychotically desperate for him to take over; they want it with a lust that I have never known at any other time. They talk about him as though he is a family member. It is nothing less than a determined, concerted campaign and like any political campaign; they protect their candidate from any criticism. Henry Winter says 54 and a half million Englishmen want Harry Redknapp and the other 500,000 are Spurs fans who don't want him to leave. This is just untrue but it was asserted on Radio 4 this morning as though it was. This is the mood music. A story has been created and nothing which does not fit the plotline is being reported. It is a Stalinist whitewash to get one man elected.

 

Serious critique of Redknapp's management of almost any club he's been in charge of has always been very limited because presumably, no-one likes to criticise a friend. But this is not good enough.

 

Simply put, almost all media outlets and employees seem biased in his favour. Nothing which paints him in a bad light is published. When Spurs play badly it is never his fault. When they lose, it is the players who lose. When they win it is his talent. His Spurs reign has been described by slavering acolytes as 'magnificent' and 'extraordinary'. It is in such hyperbole that this awful favouritism reveals itself.

 

He's done a very good job, but not an extraordinary job. No manager is this perfect. Everyone does things wrong. Redknapp is no exception. He is being rated far too highly. This isn't to say he is without qualities nor even that he shouldn't manage England, but the way he's talked about across the media you'd think he'd turned water into wine, Michael Dawson into Franz Beckenbauer.

 

Think otherwise? It will never be raised in the media. The voices against him are muted and not given a platform, Right away, as soon as Capello resigned, there was a media maelstrom, telling us 'everyone' wants Redknapp as manager, when that just isn't true. Even the normally excellent Mark Chapman on 5live got caught on this media-generated story arc said it was 'unanimous' before, to give him his due, qualifying the statement somewhat. There is always a tendency for a collective group think in football where assumptions are made by a few and adopted by many others. This must explain why Capello, win ratio of 67% and all, is being described as though he was a failure and a bad manager, a bad man, even.

 

There are and always have been fans who have questioned Redknapp's abilities and there are even now. You don't have to hate him or think him useless to think and understand that he is far from perfect. But we are painted a picture as though he is capable of transforming ordinary talent into worldbeaters, of making players feel so good that they perform extraordinary feats.

 

Stan Collymore was reporting players' favourable response to a Redknapp appointment as though this in itself would justify it but surely he is not so dumb as to not realise that players always back the new man, just as they always back the old man right up until he is sacked or resigns. They gravitate to the power. It is proof of nothing and even if it was, should the FA really appoint a manager on the say-so of the players?

 

"The foreign managers have been useless," one caller said to 5live. This is the dumb level reached. This is who supports the Redknapp appointment.

 

The anti-Capello sentiment, like the anti-Sven sentiment before it, is nothing less than vile. His achievements are wiped away in this media frenzy which re-writes history in the same way a totalitarian regime does.

 

Today's arrogant bully, let us not forget, was appointed to instil discipline into a side indulged by Steve McClaren and Sven. It is a bitter irony that Sven was castigated - by those who now accuse Capello of being too cold and aggressive towards the players - for indulging the WAG culture and not showing enough emotion. What is a man to do? These two men took England through five qualifying campaigns and lost just two games. The Englishman in the middle of them lost three in just one. To ignore this fact as an inconvenient truth is an emblem of the stupidity on display here.

 

It now seems forgotten that the players had grown fearful of the shirt and of playing at home before Capello arrived. All was not sweetness and light before the evil Capello snake polluted the Garden of Eden.

 

The impression we are being given, as ever, is that it's not the players' fault we're losers at tournaments, it is the manager. But it's not the manager, it is the players, players who - like Redknapp - are all too often and easily over-rated.

 

A quick example: Joe Hart. A great shot-stopper, now regularly called the best keeper in the world on TV and in the press. However, Hart comes for and flaps at a lot of crosses; the world's best keeper wouldn't. This awkward fact is just totally ignored, is not commented on, and the great shot-stopping is focused on instead. So when he plays for England and he flaps at a cross, and someone scores as a result, it will be presented as though it is out of character or that he's playing worse for England than his club. He's not. A false impression has been created.

 

I hope Redknapp's legendary man-management powers will transform England from also-rans into champions. I see no reason why, if true, it would not work immediately. Presumably he will be sacked if this is not the case. Virtually the only quality assigned to him by his followers is man management, so if that is proved bogus, the reason for his appointment evaporates.

 

We've been down this populist manager route before with Kevin Keegan who, oh, he was English and could speak English fluently. It never ends well.

 

This whole affair is far too emblematic of the hysterical, bi-polar, idiot culture which underlies the national game.

 

But this love will end in tears. It always does with England. They will turn on the man they now vaunt and adore. They eat their own, this mob. It is sick.

 

They think they have won but more truthfully it reveals we are all losers.

[Guest davelfc]

[WaltonRed]

The grief he gets is sort, arry's ok, i hope he does boss now just to piss people off

[goatboy59]

Dear Internet,

 

If I see one more hilarious Harry Redknapp scrawled letter, I will kill you.

[Anubis]

 

 

 

I concur.

[silverlining]

Hahahaha

[razor]

The grief he gets is sort, arry's ok, i hope he does boss now just to piss people off

 

I'll be one. Can't stand him or them.

[polymerpunkah]

[llego]

 

10 quid for the trainers? Fack off! Theyre good as new!

[JozMan]

 

Looks legit.

[RobbieOR]

Back in football. Advising Bournemouth. After he nearly bankrupted them why on earth are they letting him back near that club?

[moof]

Defoe and Crouch to Bournemouth in January?

[Joe Le Taxi]

They'll sign Chimbonda on a 6 month deal in January.

 

I'd love to put money on that.

[milky]

Rosie the dog's new Cayman Island account in for some activity then.

[Manny]

If ever a man was destined for an 'advisory' role, it's Harry Redknapp.

[lifetime fan]

I couldn't stop laughing reading this.

 

 

Harry Redknapp: 'Too many QPR players earning too much'

 

Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp has criticised the club's transfer policy before he came to the club.

 

Redknapp, who replaced Mark Hughes as manager in November, questioned recent signings after a 1-0 loss at Newcastle.

 

"There are a lot of players at this club who earn far too much money," he said. "Far too much for their ability and what they give to the club.

 

"I don't really want to see the owners have their pants taken down like they have in the past."

 

Redknapp, 65, says the club's wage bill is too high and certain individuals in his squad are earning more than players at his former team Tottenham.

 

"A lot of agents made money out of them [the club's owners]," Redknapp said.

 

"I fined a player last week and he was earning more than any player earned at Tottenham. You shouldn't be paying massive wages when you've got a stadium that holds 18,000 people.

 

"Newcastle holds 52,000 and most of their players will be nowhere near some of the wages some of the players are earning here."

 

Redknapp pointed to the example of Portuguese full-back Jose Bosingwa, who has been fined two weeks wages for refusing to sit on the bench for last weekend's 2-1 victory over Fulham.

 

The 30-year-old, who was part of the Chelsea squad which won the Champions League last season, has started just 12 Premier League matches for the Loftus Road club but his future now appears in doubt.

 

"He didn't want to be on the bench and didn't want to be a substitute, so he went home," said Redknapp.

 

"He has been fined two weeks' wages, £130,000. Not too bad for two weeks - decent isn't it?"

 

Asked how he might handle a player like that, Redknapp said: "We'll find out in January."

 

The January transfer window could see plenty of movement at Rangers, with Redknapp admitting his side need to strengthen if they are to have a realistic chance of avoiding relegation.

 

QPR are five points from safety, after taking just 10 points from their first 18 league games. However, their form has improved under Redknapp - with three draws and a victory coming in the new manager's first four matches.

 

"Let's not kid ourselves, it's a hard job we have got on here," Redknapp added. "We have got to try to improve a little bit in the transfer window to give ourselves half a chance.

 

"We are short of options in one or two positions. If you look at Newcastle [on Saturday], they can go and bring a couple of fresh forwards on to make the difference but we haven't got that option really.

 

"We have got Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson out with long-term injuries and we are desperately short of one or two bodies.

 

"Hopefully we can get to the window, get another result or two before then, and let's see what we can do in January."

[Baltar]

But of a shit thing to do to reveal the guys wages. But he does have a point.

[lifetime fan]

I couldn't stop laughing reading this.

 

 

Harry Redknapp: 'Too many QPR players earning too much'

 

Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp has criticised the club's transfer policy before he came to the club.

 

Redknapp, who replaced Mark Hughes as manager in November, questioned recent signings after a 1-0 loss at Newcastle.

 

"There are a lot of players at this club who earn far too much money," he said. "Far too much for their ability and what they give to the club.

 

"I don't really want to see the owners have their pants taken down like they have in the past."

 

Redknapp, 65, says the club's wage bill is too high and certain individuals in his squad are earning more than players at his former team Tottenham.

 

"A lot of agents made money out of them [the club's owners]," Redknapp said.

 

"I fined a player last week and he was earning more than any player earned at Tottenham. You shouldn't be paying massive wages when you've got a stadium that holds 18,000 people.

 

"Newcastle holds 52,000 and most of their players will be nowhere near some of the wages some of the players are earning here."

 

Redknapp pointed to the example of Portuguese full-back Jose Bosingwa, who has been fined two weeks wages for refusing to sit on the bench for last weekend's 2-1 victory over Fulham.

 

The 30-year-old, who was part of the Chelsea squad which won the Champions League last season, has started just 12 Premier League matches for the Loftus Road club but his future now appears in doubt.

 

"He didn't want to be on the bench and didn't want to be a substitute, so he went home," said Redknapp.

 

"He has been fined two weeks' wages, £130,000. Not too bad for two weeks - decent isn't it?"

 

Asked how he might handle a player like that, Redknapp said: "We'll find out in January."

 

The January transfer window could see plenty of movement at Rangers, with Redknapp admitting his side need to strengthen if they are to have a realistic chance of avoiding relegation.

 

QPR are five points from safety, after taking just 10 points from their first 18 league games. However, their form has improved under Redknapp - with three draws and a victory coming in the new manager's first four matches.

 

"Let's not kid ourselves, it's a hard job we have got on here," Redknapp added. "We have got to try to improve a little bit in the transfer window to give ourselves half a chance.

 

"We are short of options in one or two positions. If you look at Newcastle [on Saturday], they can go and bring a couple of fresh forwards on to make the difference but we haven't got that option really.

 

"We have got Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson out with long-term injuries and we are desperately short of one or two bodies.

 

"Hopefully we can get to the window, get another result or two before then, and let's see what we can do in January."

 

 

 

Course 'Arry. Course.