All Action, No Plot

A home win against Bolton really should not be any cause for particular celebration for Spurs. Admittedly the mismanagement of the last 18 months has meant that the immediate priority is avoiding relegation, but frankly, finishing 17th would represent a woeful season for Spurs.
I am not suggesting that we have a divine right to make the Top Four, or that this will be “our year”, as is trumpeted each August. But at the start of each season, making Europe certainly is a realistic goal. On the back of three successive seasons of European qualification, one strong push for the Champions League and a trophy, European qualification – ie finishing 6/7 and/or winning a trophy – is a reasonable goal for the club.

Is Redknapp the man to achieve this? I’m not yet convinced. He’s definitely the man to lead us out of the relegation scrap, but that’s certainly not all we should be targeting. This season is likely to end in mid-table obscurity and failure to make Europe. Looking ahead however, is Redknapp ever going to get us into Europe, even after starting with the luxury of pre-season and his own transfers? His record overwhelmingly suggests he’s the man to haul a club into mid-table or top-half security, so as a short-term fix this is fine; but there’s far less to suggest he can meet Spurs’ fairly reasonable expectation of regular UEFA cup football.

Last year he won the FA Cup with Pompey, meeting or perhaps exceeding their expectations, and we’ll now see whether he can do the same and better with a club that is bigger in terms of fan-base, history and financial backing. The manner in which he put together a combination of English and foreign talent, youth and experience, at Pompey, bodes well for Spurs.

However, I’m not yet convinced that he’s the man to meet our goals. Aside from the top four, we should be aiming to beat every other team in the division at least once each season. A home win vs Bolton should not be a cause for oarticular celebration. Certainly next season, Redknapp will have to show that he can turn us back into a team that regularly makes the UEFA cup – and then, as under Jol, we can start to dream of bigger and better things.

Hmmm. Redknapp eh?
Writing prior to kick-off v Bolton – it will get Spurs out of the relegation zone. We’ll have an immediate bounce, and get ourselves mid-table/bottom half. Might even manage a good cup run. ‘Arry will bring in some African muscle, particularly in midfield (Diarra seems a cert in the January window) and will also hopefully restore an English core to the team.
Unlike Ramos, Redknappy knows how to deal with the weekly hurly-burly of the Premiership. Ramos has proved he can cut it on the continent (witness several trophies, and Sevilla’s dismantling of Martin Jol’s Spurs in the uefa cup a couple of years ago) but just didn’t seem to know how to set out a team in the Premiership (witness the weekly changes of personnel and strategy this season, to no avail).
So we’ll avoid relegation, which was an obvious priority – and yet…
I’m not particularly confident that Redknapp can turn us into a regular European outfit, let alone push for Champs Lge qualification. No-one has a right to this, and Spurs’ fairly illustrious history, sizeable fanbase and huge financial backing has undoubtedly exaggerated expectations amongst deluded fans, including yours truly. However, with some justification Spurs fans now realistically target European qualification – in recent years we’ve had three consecutive seasons in Europe, challenged the top four and won a cup – so of course our target is now European qualification. Not so long ago we had a great platform in place to achieve this again, and challenge for greater things. The last 12 months has undone a lot of good work, and necessitated relegation avoidance as the immediate priority, but the broader aim of this club has to be European qualification. Redknapp’s history of achieving survival at his former clubs makes me wonder whether he is what we need to meet our realistic target.
I realise this completely ignores the very pertinent question of who else could possibly have been a more suitable replacement for Ramos. I also realise that he has just won the FA Cup and reached Europe with a Portsmouth team which only a couple of years ago would have settled for 17th in the Prem. As such Redknapp has my backing, and he will no doubt have the full backing of the Spurs fans (who to their credit did not turn on manager or players in recent weeks, but continued to encourage) and the chairman.
Nb – credit to Levy for having the courage to swallow his pride, admit his mistake, shell out the 10 mil compensation and make a change before it’s too late.

This badboy was also published on the letters page of football365.com: http://www.football365.com/mailbox/story/0,17033,8744_4408266,00.html