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Fingers Crossed

3 min read
by The Fighting Cock
Context is a killer because in 10 years time people will look back upon the Redknapp era and say, ‘Why? Why would you get rid of a man who took you in the champions league and got a lowest league finish of fifth?’ Now, thanks to The Fighting Cock podcast, you will see a host […]

Context is a killer because in 10 years time people will look back upon the Redknapp era and say, ‘Why? Why would you get rid of a man who took you in the champions league and got a lowest league finish of fifth?’ Now, thanks to The Fighting Cock podcast, you will see a host of reasons why perhaps the results alone are not the whole story.

But then, take another step further back, in recent history the only managers to win proper silverware for us are Juande Ramos and George Graham, now, as a Spurs fan I don’t look back to those managers with any great fondness. Juande Ramos oversaw an underachieving Spurs side which took it’s foot off the gas the moment we had that iconic win over Chelsea and in fairness he gave us the 5-1 win over Woolwich too but in the league it wasn’t all smelling of roses. As for George, he could never win the love of the fans, he could never wipe away his Woolwich past and even a league cup could not win the fans over to chanting his name.

Go back even further to our last decent league and cup manager, Terry Venables, now funnily enough by all accounts his departure was not for footballing reasons. He got Tottenham up to 3rd and took our last FA Cup over 20 years ago, that makes depressing reading doesn’t it? Oh and if we’re looking for more parallels when Graham Taylor was given the England job in 1990, Venables was overlooked, due to his ‘probity’. All just a little bit of history repeating.

[linequote]Let’s be fair, Harry gave us a surprise and I think the board too, they reacted to a terrible run of form by getting Redknapp in, scrapping the Director of Football model and almost by happy accident that turned in to the best run of league finishes in over 30 years.[/linequote]

I have some fears about our next manager. I think that no one at the top of the board thought that Redknapp was going to do anywhere near as well as he did, I must admit I thought he’d come to steady the ship while the board decided what they were going to do the following season. Let’s be fair Harry gave us a surprise and I think the board too, they reacted to a terrible run of form by getting Redknapp in, scrapping the Director of Football model and almost by happy accident that turned in to the best run of league finishes in over 30 years.

When we planned for a whole new system under Jacques Santini, he left and his assistant Martin Jol turned out to be a decent Manager, again he was never intended to be the main man, so the best appointments our board have made have been through an unintended accidental route.

Football is, to quote Greavsie, a funny old game and that old devil context can also bring up the weirdest unexpected appointments to turn good. Brendan Rodgers left Reading by mutual consent at the end of 2009, 7 months later he was at Swansea, he turned them in to the first Welsh Premier League Club and created a really pleasing style of football at a higher level and now he’s just walked in to a job at Anfield. Everyone, literally to a man, could not believe that Newcastle would lose their saviour Chris Hughton to Alan Pardew, who when he took over had a backing of just 5.5% of Newcastle fans (this was the skysports poll between 40,000 Toon fans in December 2010) and he has taken them up to a top 6 finish. In football someone unexpected can come in, with the right attitude and tactics, they can do great things, so while I have my doubts about our club’s ability to pick the right man, you never know, they might accidentally get it right.

[author name=”78Spur” tag=”78Spur[/linequote]

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

6 Comments

  1. SP
    26/06/2012 @ 9:15 pm

    An interesting article.
    One thing, however: I believe Martin Jol ‘was’ always intended as the replacement for Santini. Jol was brought in at the insistence of Frank Arnesen. It was Daniel Levy, who wanted a more high profile name, apparently, who wanted Santini. I believe Arnesen made it clear from the start that Jol should be groomed as Santini’s successor.

  2. Tommo
    26/06/2012 @ 9:43 pm

    Well summarised and accurate post.

  3. tmwnn
    26/06/2012 @ 9:59 pm

    If we follow the same pattern (Santini – Jol; Ramos – Redknapp), then our next decent manager will be the one after whomever is appointed now.

    Might as well save a few a quid and make Sherwood the sacrificial lamb. God only knows, the press won’t be happy until they’ve finished the next poor sod off.

  4. cookiebun
    27/06/2012 @ 12:49 am

    Let it be David Moyes, he’s the best available Manager in the Premier league. AVB is much too risky, however I think he’s going to be appointed.

  5. Nicholson 61
    27/06/2012 @ 2:15 am

    I agree! AVB is far to risky! For me, Blanc will command an instant/greater respect in the
    dressing room. He would be equally as attack minded as supposedly, as AVB was, but will
    also have a plan B!

  6. Spurs4Life
    27/06/2012 @ 2:36 am

    Personally, it’s not totally about where we finished in the league under Harry’s reign that I will miss. It’s how I’ve witnessed the best, gorgeous football, by the Spurs, in my life time.

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