Who'd a thought it eh? Spurs fans finished the season in a torment wondering if they were to lose the most successful manager they have had for decades to the England job. After the appointment of Roy they breathed a collective sigh of relief only to find that the Spurs board (Daniel Levy) have decided to relief him of his duties with a season left on his contract.
There were rumours that Levy had fallen out with 'Arry over his outspoken comments about what was needed in terms of spending etc to move Spurs on and enable them to truly compete with the Big Four (the new big four). Levy may also have been unhappy at the demise in Spurs' season once 'Arry was linked with the England post and how smug he looked for a month or two. Hard, in my book, to blame Redknapp. He certainly said the right things throughout and has appeared genuinely magnanimous towards Roy Hodgson and said having been offered the England job would have given him a real dilemma because his love of club football and the set-up at Spurs.
Still, Harry will presumably have another lump to add to his offshore bank accounts and will be in a new job before August. Squeaky bum time for a host of Premier League managers now. Somehow I pity the new Spurs appointment as he will have a nigh on impossible task to follow of winning Champions League football and finishing higher than Redknapp's fourth. One thing's for sure, it won't be Roberto Di Matteo who was finally given a two year contract at Chelsea. Timing eh 'Arry?
Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, the Portugese finally found their attacking impetus and beat Denmark (a game work prevented me from seeing) and Germany saw off the Dutch with surprising ease. Mario Gomez notched two routine goals during the first half-hour and Holland looked beaten. They managed a twenty minute burst in the second-half as RVP finally scored but they couldn't equalise.
Again, worth commenting that these Euro championships are shaping up to be the best in memory. There has been plenty of goals, ambitious football and plenty of evenly contested games.
Tonight it looks like mission impossible for Ireland against the World Champions and then we have Italy v Croatia which might not be straightforward for the Azzuri.
Finally, very interesting for me to hear from our CEO yesterday that BT had won three year rights to the non-Sky Premier League games. It will cost BT c £800m and after having sold on a fair chunk of that, we will need to sell a lot of Broadband and Vision packages to make a return. It's a tough business here but after years of having a disadvantage, we have at least taken the gamble. The good news is that we should arrive in the Premier League in time for me to take advantage of corporate freebies and insist on standing on the gantry or sitting in the BT box at the Valley.
There were rumours that Levy had fallen out with 'Arry over his outspoken comments about what was needed in terms of spending etc to move Spurs on and enable them to truly compete with the Big Four (the new big four). Levy may also have been unhappy at the demise in Spurs' season once 'Arry was linked with the England post and how smug he looked for a month or two. Hard, in my book, to blame Redknapp. He certainly said the right things throughout and has appeared genuinely magnanimous towards Roy Hodgson and said having been offered the England job would have given him a real dilemma because his love of club football and the set-up at Spurs.
Still, Harry will presumably have another lump to add to his offshore bank accounts and will be in a new job before August. Squeaky bum time for a host of Premier League managers now. Somehow I pity the new Spurs appointment as he will have a nigh on impossible task to follow of winning Champions League football and finishing higher than Redknapp's fourth. One thing's for sure, it won't be Roberto Di Matteo who was finally given a two year contract at Chelsea. Timing eh 'Arry?
Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, the Portugese finally found their attacking impetus and beat Denmark (a game work prevented me from seeing) and Germany saw off the Dutch with surprising ease. Mario Gomez notched two routine goals during the first half-hour and Holland looked beaten. They managed a twenty minute burst in the second-half as RVP finally scored but they couldn't equalise.
Again, worth commenting that these Euro championships are shaping up to be the best in memory. There has been plenty of goals, ambitious football and plenty of evenly contested games.
Tonight it looks like mission impossible for Ireland against the World Champions and then we have Italy v Croatia which might not be straightforward for the Azzuri.
Finally, very interesting for me to hear from our CEO yesterday that BT had won three year rights to the non-Sky Premier League games. It will cost BT c £800m and after having sold on a fair chunk of that, we will need to sell a lot of Broadband and Vision packages to make a return. It's a tough business here but after years of having a disadvantage, we have at least taken the gamble. The good news is that we should arrive in the Premier League in time for me to take advantage of corporate freebies and insist on standing on the gantry or sitting in the BT box at the Valley.
In terms of Harry. I heard that Tottenham were resigned to losing him to the England job and have taken steps down the road to secure his replacement.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible that Harry had all but left Spurs in Levy's head so the decision wasn't too difficult to make in the end.
The Exile - good point. Spurs wild have had to be ready to react had Redknapp jumped ship with them still in league contention although you would have to think that Joe Jordan would have been a safe pair of hands and lower risk than springing a new manager?
ReplyDeleteApparently Tottenham expect to pay Harry £3m in compensation, so after tax that works out at approx £3m
ReplyDeleteSpurs only needed 18 points from 13 games to finish 3rd - the one time he was expected to deliver from a position of strength, he failed.
ReplyDeleteTony - you make an obvious point that most of us will have over-looked.
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