Harry Redknapp - Charismatic and Lovable, or Offensive and Irritating?

My personal views on Harry Redknapp are as follows; I can’t stand the man, the way he patronises reporters with arrogant, sarcastic answers to reasonable questions, the way he undermines some of his players (David Bentley/Darren Bent) whilst overrating others (Jermaine Defoe/Gareth Bale), the way he constantly tries to unsettle other clubs’ players by talking about trying to sign them, his over-use of words such as ‘you know’ and ‘top’, plus his general attitude of ‘I’m just a regular, down-to-earth, east-end guy who’s everyone’s friend, just call me ‘Arry’ has me seething every time I see his smug, saggy face appear on my T.V screen.

Having read that, you may be forgiven for thinking that this post is just a one-sided attack on Redknapp but I know an awful lot of people who have entirely different opinions of him which I find hard to comprehend, so I will try and make this argument as balanced as possible. To illustrate my point that he divides opinion, I sent the same text message to two of my friends which read; ‘What do you like about Harry Redknapp?’ to which one of them replied ‘I like watching Tottenham play and he calls a spade a spade’, whereas the reply I received from the other friend who was faced with the same question just simply read ‘Nothing, he’s a prat’ before swiftly moving on to ask me an equally trivial query of his own, which was whether I would class a Panini as a sandwich.

There’s no doubt he’s doing a decent job at Tottenham, (as he likes to remind us on a regular basis) they were bottom of the Premier League when he took over and he’s taken them into the Champions League. He’s signed a lot of players since he arrived but he deserves credit for the achievement nevertheless. The style of attacking football Spurs have played in his time at the club and his ‘loveable and outspoken’ nature has seemingly won Redknapp and Spurs alike a lot of popularity with the press but a lot of football fans aren’t buying it. I belong to the group of people who feel his attitude comes across as arrogant and cocky, and not in a Jose Mourinho ‘twinkle in the eye’ type of cocky, more in a patronising and smug way.

Examples of him disrespecting reporters are common. Whilst conducting a post-match interview following Tottenham’s home defeat to Wigan at the end of August 2010, Sky Sports’ Rob Palmer innocently began a question to Redknapp with “You’ve made your name as a wheeler and dealer…” to which he interrupted by saying “No I’m not a wheeler and dealer – fuck off” then he started to walk away from the interview, which led Palmer to needlessly apologize, then Redknapp responded with “I’ve not made my name as a wheeler and fucking dealer, don’t say that, I’m a fucking football manager.” Rob Palmer was right though; Redknapp has made his name as a ‘wheeler and dealer’ and has been dining out on this tag for years.

His sarcasm and belittling of people doesn’t just stop at journalists though as his own player Darren Bent found out when he missed a headed chance to score the winner for Spurs in a game against Portsmouth. Redknapp ridiculed his player Bent after the game by saying, "My missus could have scored that. David James had given up on it. He had turned his back and was getting ready to pick the ball out of the net.” "He did not just have a bit to aim at; he had the whole goal to aim at. What can you do?” Many people would respond to comments such as those with, ‘Good old ‘Arry, he always tells it like it is!’ and then proceed to describe him using well coined clichés such as ‘He’s a character’ and ‘What a breath of fresh air’.

His perceived lack of respect for journalists and players isn’t his only crime (literally in some cases (allegedly)). Another thing that has got people’s backs up is his apparent lack of loyalty to the clubs he’s managed at. Admittedly this isn’t a trait which exclusively applies to Harry Redknapp, but that doesn’t make it any easier for angry Portsmouth fans who have had Redknapp walk out on them twice, both at times when they needed him most. Just a few weeks after the first time he walked out on Portsmouth, he joined their most bitter of rivals Southampton, before rejoining Portsmouth after suffering relegation with Southampton. He did a good job there and won the fans around but then he was off again, this time to Tottenham, leaving Portsmouth in the lurch once again. If that wasn’t bad enough he proceeded to raid Portsmouth of their best players and they were relegated the following season after financial difficulties. His constant fluttering of his eyelashes towards the England job suggests he may not be in it for the long haul at Spurs either. It could easily be argued though, that there is nothing wrong with attempting to further your career. Then there have been the allegations of corruption, and the tax evasion charge on which everybody has their own opinions.

It may not look like it but I have tried my best to stay diplomatic about Harry Redknapp during this post even though I’ve clearly stated my own views on the man (and I could have gone on and on with that). He has never been far from controversy during his managerial career yet people still seem to have great affection for him, particularly in the press. I don’t know if I’m missing something when it comes to Redknapp or whether certain people just don’t see him the way I do. I'll end with a quote and you can make your own mind up about it.

On Samassi Abou: "He don't speak the English too good." – Harry Redknapp

- James