Harry Carry the Can

With Michael Dawson down injured during the second half of Tottenham’s hapless display at Wigan yesterday the Sky Sports cameras zoomed in on Harry Redknapp, stood in his technical area, yapping away on a mobile phone. I cannot be the only one who presumed that Redknapp has begun to revel in his transfer wheeler-dealer reputation so much that rather than organise a substitution for the injured centre-half he was instead delving into the transfer market to try and buy a replacement mid-game.

Redknapp of course is ever happy to talk to the tabloid press about anything and everything, a trait which means he is unlikely to be criticised as heavily by the media as many of his fellow managers often are. Instead he is afforded this odd lovable rogue artful dodger like persona where no matter what he does wrong he just receives a ruffle of his hair and shrugged boys will be boys dismissive reproach.

Earlier this season the papers carried numerous stories, perpetuated by the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, regarding Alex Ferguson’s alleged ‘tapping-up’ of Dimitar Berbatov. Prior to the middle of last week most newspapers were carrying stories about Harry Redknapp’s desire to bring Jermaine Defoe back to White Hart Lane. Funnily enough neither Levy, nor the press, appear to have noted the similarities between the two deals, or sagas as I believe the correct tabloid-ease term to be.

Similarly just a month or so ago the tabloids and the press at large were full of praise for Harry Redknapp’s resurrection of Tottenham. So much so that Guardian columnist Paul Wilson even suggested that the manager should be considered as the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. Unsurprisingly whilst all was rosy Redknap lapped up the praise like the hang-dog he is starting to resemble, but now he has taken a different tact.

“It can’t always be the manager’s fault, can it?” said Redknapp during a post-match interview for Match of the Day 2 yesterday. No Harry, but its time you learnt that sometimes it can.