Where's 'Arry ?

[King Binny]

 

[Skullflower]

interesting if true.

 

[Ryan]

It's the most important thing by a fucking distance, that's why.

We were in a relegation battle when Dalglish took over, and in half a season he got us back to 7th. Plenty on here convinced themselves this was the sign of a miracle worker. The reality is a team has good and bad form over the course of a season and if a manager is not bad they'll end up where they should in the league (and we did end up where the squad deserved to be). Add in the proven effect that a new manager has on a team in the short term, the fact that the squad improved in January and the fixture list was significantly easier in the second half of the season and all the ingredients were there for people not to be fooled into thinking that Dalglish was a managerial genius. But all those things routinely get ignored.

Same goes for Harry, he didn't take over a relegation battling club and turn them into European contenders. Spurs were 5th in 07, 11th in 08. They started the next season badly having only taken 2 points from 8 games with stories regularly detailing how much the players hated working with Ramos. Essentially just like us Spurs relegation form was a false indication of how good they were and instead was a reflection of a poor run of form. They finished 8th that season.

Since then the groundwork that was done under Arnesen and Commoli came to fruition (Lennon, Bale, Modric etc ). And Harry happened to be the manager in charge to benefit.

Ryan I know you love the importance of tactics etc, Harry's tactical approach according to his players was to send them out on the pitch having only told them who to mark at corners.

So tell me what exactly am I supposed to give Harry credit for ?

He doesn't bother with tactics, his transfers dealings have been poor. His timing however has been excellent. So all credit to Harry for that.

The highlighted line is fantastic Ross. So Harry just "happened" to be there at the right time? Lucky him. Could have been any hapless manager riding that free wave eh?

Laughable.

He took them to 4th, 5th, and 4th - better than any manager they've had in the last 30 years, yet you're putting it down to a couple of DOF's - both of whom have pretty mediocre reputations in the game too.

And regarding the "tactics" piece, I'm not sure whether you're being deliberatly obtuse or just naive. Probably both.

They played wonderful, attacking football under him and tore many teams apart - in the league and Europe - and got their best results in 30 years by doing so. That doesn't happen by just throwing the players out on the pitch without instruction as you're suggesting he's done.

 

[Rosco]

Its a direct quote from VDV Ryan.

And most people in 'the game' simply dont understand it. So I'm not arsed about reputations. Look at the players that are behind the success and will continue to be behind it. None of them were Harry's doing.

 

[gkmacca]

The snag for AVB is that the 2012 David Brent Dance Contest is due to take place in Bruges this August, so Spurs would have to wait.

 

[Hyena]

Its a direct quote from VDV Ryan.

And most people in 'the game' simply dont understand it. So I'm not arsed about reputations. Look at the players that are behind the success and will continue to be behind it. None of them were Harry's doing.

It's precisely because he had a team bought by the previous regime that played so utterly shit, and brought them to the CL that he's a good manager. We'd have killed to be in their position and we have comparable if not better players. There's a whole lot more to managing then just buying good players (cf. Wigan, Swansea, Norwich, Blackburn, Bolton)

Btw I seriously doubt that Harry Redknapp just told them to "go out there and run around". He may have said it to motivate his players, or VDV may be joking...one thing you can be sure of is VDV is not going to lay out his manager's detailed tactics and training plans to the media.

HR might be dislikeable but there's a whole world of thought and preparation behind those victories.

 

[Wizardry]

Hahahaha. Levy isn't that stupid, surely?!

I could be missing something here but I reckon that would be a good signing. Spurs have the players (and the background/style) to play the way AVB wants to play. I could see him being a success there.

 

[Rosco]

Hyena - the Emporers new clothes comes to mind

 

[gkmacca]

Arry's squads always seem full of players who are only passing through, there never seems a strong core, so presumably AVB will have more freedom to bomb some out and recruit more pliable players.