Ardiles, Gross, Santini, Jol and Ramos are just some of the men who have went through the revolving door at Tottenham Hotspur in an attempt to restore pride and stability to the club, and none have been able to do so. What can Harry Redknapp bring to the fold, in an attempt to reinvigorate a club with a rich tradition, that is fast becoming a circus?
The enigmatic Tottenham Hotspur, despite mediocre league positions and empty trophy cabinet shelves in recent times, seem to have a bottomless bag of money at their disposal. Many managers have came, and bought some big players in an attempt to put their own imprint on the team, only for a new manager to come in and undo all the work. Clubs like Tottenham, and Newcastle, suffer from such a lack of continuity. It seems that the Premier League is fast becoming like the cut-throat world of European football, where managers are not given the time to develop their own team, due to the financial climate of the game.
Martin Jol has been one of the more successful managers at the club, taking Tottenham to two consecutive fifth-place finishes in the league, only narrowly missing out on the Champions League in one campaign. Jol's clinical mistake was telling the top four to watch out the following campaign, and thereby attracting a media circus to White Hart Lane. It was to be too much for some of the average players that plagued the squad, and they failed to qualify for the UEFA Cup. And as is often the case, a change in level of success, often means a change in manager.
Juande Ramos' curriculum vitae was one of the most impressive in world football when Tottenham flexed their muscles to bring him to North London. Two consecutive UEFA Cups and lofty La Liga positions with Sevilla, whilst playing some tremendous football, were enough to send the Tottenham fans' pulses racing. Their excitement was soon proven to be warranted, with a tremendous day out in February.
Not many gave Ramos' side a chance against a strong Chelsea side in the Carling Cup final, despite dispatching Arsenal 6-1 in the previous round. However, couple Chelsea's league ambitions with Ramos' knowledge in cup competitions, be it European or domestic, and it was clear to see Tottenham stood a good chance. It was Jonathan Woodgate who grabbed the winner for Spurs in extra-time, and gave the fans a piece of silverware to cherish, as opposed to the nostalgic flashbacks of previous Tottenham teams.
As if he had not learnt from his predecessor's mishap, Ramos issued a warning for next season to the top four following their cup triumph. After off-loading Jermaine Defoe in January, Tottenham sold Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane in the summer, further weakening their striking resources. Although Berbatov and Keane had their hearts set on moving on, the main problem fell when Tottenham tried to replace such talismanic players.
Roman Pavlyuchenko was the man with the 14 million pound price tag, who was told to fill the striking void, but it remains a task, that he has failed up to this point. The player's lack of clinical instinct was prevalent in the European Championships in 2008, where the Russian wrote his name on the score sheet three times, but in the process missed countless opportunities. Mexican prodigy Giovanni Dos Santos was also signed from Barcelona for an initial fee of 4.6 million, and despite seeming a bargain at the time, his impact been negligible. Used as a sweetener in the Berbatov deal, Frazier-Campbell went out on loan to White Hart Lane, yet like his Mexican counterpart,he too has failed to make an impact.
The Berbatov transfer saga that inhabited White Hart Lane during the summer, was neighboured by that of Pavlyuchenko's ex-team mate at Zenit St. Petersburg, Andrei Arshavin. Maybe if Spurs would have secured the services of the Russian playmaker Arshavin, things may have worked out differently for Juande Ramos. As it were, they were unable to persuade Zenit to part with their key player, and a considerably weaker squad buckled under the pressure yet again.
However, Ramos divided the Tottenham fans, some of whom believed he was a world-class manager who was simply adapting to the British game, and others who thought he could never grasp it. It seemed that the board were reluctant to terminate Ramos' contract in the knowledge that another managerial tenure ending at Tottenham signified the club's decline into the cut-throat market. In spite of this, the board had seen enough, and decided to pull the plug on the 25th of October.
Harry Redknapp was the man who was chosen to succeed the Spaniard at White Hart Lane. Redknapp, no stranger to the relegation fight that Spurs found themselves in, managed to quickly add much-needed stability to the club, dragging them out of the bottom three. Harry has already proven his managerial class at Tottenham, guiding them to two wins in close proximity against title-chasing Liverpool, and a Carling Cup final which they lost on penalties to Manchester United.
Despite Juande Ramos having won more trophies, Redknapp's CV is equally as impressive. The long path, paved with achievements, started for Redknapp back in 1994, when he took the managerial post at his beloved West Ham United. He brought stability to the club, and the jewel in the crown came in 1999, when he guided the London side to a fifth-place finish. The following campaign, the Hammers managed to win the Intertoto Cup to qualify for the UEFA Cup.
He moved to Portmouth in 2001, where he managed to win the now-antiquated Divison One and establish them as a Premier League side, despite having to fight some relegation battles in the process. However, given that Portsmouth did not have a big fanbase, nor the money to compete with such financially-powerful opposition, this was an achievement in itself. Like West Ham, Redknapp left due to internal disputes over appointments made by the Chairman. Soon after, he moved to Portsmouth's bitter rivals Southampton.
Southampton is one of the few blemishes on Redknapp's CV, as he was given the task of maintaining the club's Premiership status, yet he failed to do so. In the following campaign, he was unable to see Southampton back into the play-off places after a mass exodus of the club's biggest talents. Proving he could sometimes be a sinner and not a saint, Redknapp moved back to Portsmouth.
He was re-appointed Pompey's manager in December 2005, and was not able to turn the club's fortunes straight away. It seemed the club was destined for relegation, but a fine run of form near the end of the campaign was enough to secure the club as a Premiership side, and cement Redknapp's nickname as “Harry Houdini”. Soon after, money was given to the South-coast club, and Harry developed Portsmouth from a relegation-battling side, to a European side. They soon registered their highest ever league position, followed by a famous FA Cup win in 2008, qualifying the club for Europe.
This was the CV of one of the most talented managers in English football, which seemed very attractive to Tottenham, who secured his services in October last year. To them, it represents a last resort in many ways, because if Redknapp is not able to bring stability to such a yo-yo club, it is hard to see who is.
In his first season, he has managed to get to a Carling Cup final, which will be seen as a relative success, but many have slated his transfer policy at White Hart Lane. In a rather bizarre January, Redknapp started to re-sign players that Ramos had let go in the summer, such as Chimbonda, Defoe and Keane. However, for aforementioned reasons about Ramos' weakening of the team, I personally do not see this as a step backwards for such an ambitious club. Harry Redknapp is one of the most renowned managers in the world when it comes to the transfer market, an example being the introduction of prolific goalscorer Yakubu to English football. He once again proved his talents with the astute signing of Carlo Cudicini from Chelsea in January. In many ways, Cudicini was the forgotten man at Stamford Bridge, long before Shaun Wright-Phillips earned that title off the press. Cudicini was in sparkling form for the pre-Abramovich Chelsea, but it was Ranieri who decided Petr Cech would be a better base for his team.
Analysing a manager's wisdom in the transfer market is one way to measure his credentials, and another thing you can say about the enigmatic Harry Redknapp is, he is never out of a job in football. This alone tells you the attraction of such an enthusiastic and experienced manager. If he is not able to reflect his own enthusiasm and experience onto the players he manages, White Hart Lane could truly still be awaiting it's Messiah. However, no man can be expected to perform such miracles with such little time, and it is imperative the executives at Tottenham are patient with their new man, otherwise, they will have passed the point of no return.
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