The Rotting Corpse of The Only Choice

"No why. Just here." - John Cage.

On the 8th of February, 2012, Harry Redknapp discovered what he was born to do in life. Just hours after successfully slipping away from a court case where he was accused of cheating the UK revenue system after receiving payments in a Monte Carlo based bank account from former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric (if Ronseal did somewhat seedy financial dealings it would probably say that on the tin), news broke of Fabio Capello’s resignation as England manager. Fortune favours the bold.

Having hurdled over the obstacle of the Southwark Crown Court an innocent Harry was seen as the only candidate for the job. As England were going through the ‘indifference to foreigners’ stage of their managerial cycle, Redknapp, flying high with Tottenham, was regarded the ideal man to finally inject pride into the Three Lions.

Players were amongst the first to endorse the Londoner’s credentials; Wayne Rooney name-dropped him on Twitter while Rio Ferdinand called him his choice “by a distance”.

Alex Ferguson was in no doubt as to who was the best man for the job. “He has changed the fortunes of every club he has been at", said the Scot. Supporters of Portsmouth, now languishing in the bottom half of League Two, couldn’t argue with the factual accuracy of that statement.

While he initially insisted he couldn’t allow his focus to drift away from Spurs, Redknapp understandably admitted the role at the head of the national team was “the ultimate job for an Englishman”.

Equally as understandable was how he firmly believed the job was his; no other candidate was considered in the media. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers later spoke about how Redknapp “was obviously very confident - as was the nation - he was going to be offered the national team job”.

His hilarious, overt celebrations during his first game in the dugout after he was cleared, a 5-0 home victory over Newcastle, were as revealing as a resignation letter; his mind was on the England job, this was his farewell.

The FA hired Roy Hodgson as manager in May. Harry Redknapp the manager has been inching closer to death ever since.

The certainty he once fought to suppress was replaced by indignation.

"I wouldn't trust the FA to show me a good manager if their lives depended on it. This isn't about them giving the England job to me or Roy Hodgson, but English football being run by people who really haven't got a clue… Everyone said I was the people's choice, the only choice”.

Redknapp’s career since isn’t as much a career as a pilgrimage to a Nirvana of failure; a tumbleweed rolling across the desert, only the tumbleweed is in flames.

Immediately, everything he touched collapsed like a house of cards. Having bottled finishing above Arsenal for the first time in seventeen years, Spurs’ consolation prize of a Champions League spot was stolen by Chelsea’s Champions League success. Daniel Levy sacked him after Redknapp overplayed his hand while pushing for a new contract that summer.

His time at Queens Park Rangers has been littered with discontent in the stands. Fans raged when Redknapp waved to the Spurs’ faithful while losing 4-0 at the beginning of the season. His excuse was vintage ‘Arry; plead ignorance.

“I don’t know which punters are sitting up where, do I? Whether that’s the home fans or the away fans”.

The stadium was his home pitch for 4 years.

All great managers have the same brazen, grass-is-blue demeanor the QPR boss exudes. The difference between them and Redknapp however is they tend to display it when pressure comes onto their players; not themselves.

This is the reason Redknapp is never seen as a success or a failure; only a punchline.

On the field his nadir was QPR’s relegation in 2012. The London club’s demotion wasn’t even the most pathetic part of the ordeal; that belong to the insipid, flaccid goalless draw with Reading that sealed their fate. Both sides needed to win to maintain hope of staying in the division; neither could muster a goal.

His legacy will be seen in the transfer window, although the Londoner wont appreciate hearing that. He will be as synonymous with Transfer Deadline Day as the mischievous elfins surrounding reporters across the land.

Redknapp is a manager who in the past has selected two goalkeepers on the bench for an important league clash against Manchester City just days before the window shut; an attempt to draw even more money from the pocket of wealthy but equally inept chairman Tony Fernandes.

His search for the public’s pity (and transfer funds) is never-ending; this week he lamented that he only has two strikers at his disposal (Charlie Austin, Bobby Zamora, Mauro Zarate, Eduardo Vargas). The rest of his squad reads like a list of recycled goods; Rio Ferdinand, Richard Dunne, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Sandro.

What must puzzle ‘Arry is how it has come to this. He has changed very little over the last decade. He interacts with the press the same way; he’s as active in the market as ever. Redknapp is the same tactically nihilistic leader he was at White Hart Lane where transfer committee signings like Luka Modric and Gareth Bale elevated Spurs to the cusp of breaking into the Champions League.

Watching his demise, as sadistic as it sounds, is quite funny at times.

Redknapp wont see it that way. He must wonder why the best manager this generation of England players never had ended up at QPR. There is no why. He is just there.

How old is a Prospect?

The rise of Harry Kane is somewhat inconceivable to modern football fans. Despite people beginning to come to terms with the idea the aging curve for athletes is shifting to the left, his influence on the Tottenham squad this season has been significant for a 21 year-old. That hasn’t stopped people belittling his achievement however; for everyone other than Spurs fans Kane is a ‘flavour of the month’ footballer. The inevitable loss of form will see him out of North London and kick-start a career touring around bottom-half clubs, probably under Harry Redknapp. Twenty-one is too old nowadays.

If a prospect hasn’t been discovered in their teens today there’s a degree of scepticism attached to them. Paul Pogba was 18 when he became known as the boy who’s self-importance dwarfed Alex Ferguson’s at Manchester United. Norway’s Martin Ødegaard made his international debut at 15 last Autumn and is currently touring European powerhouses from Madrid to Melwood; teasing fans desperate for the next big thing to inject stardom into their academy.

Kane has neither the dynamism of Pogba nor the velocity of a player like Raheem Sterling; he doesn’t appear to be a natural footballer. Despite this, and his slack-jawed appearance, he’s proving himself to be an intelligent player; his ability to find space across the pitch is superb for someone with so few minutes under his belt at the top level.

Bayern Munich once had a similar player in their academy. According to a scout for a renowned European club a young Thomas Muller “was uncoordinated, ugly to watch. He’d try to trap the ball and it would bounce three meters away. He was always in a hurry, always scrambling, like a guy who was terrified to make a mistake. In my experience, guys like that don’t have a future in the top flight”. Fortunately for the youngster the Bavarians’ manager Louis van Gaal was in awe of his positional awareness and introduced him to the first team. When other’s questioned his place the cocksure Dutchman insisted “under me, Müller will always play”.

“The idea that I should trust my eyes more than the stats, I don’t buy that because I’ve seen magicians pull rabbits out of hats and I know that the rabbit’s not in there.” – Billy Beane.

Nobody is touting Kane as a future Bayern Munich forward, but there’s plenty evidence even at this early stage to suggest he belongs in the top half of the Premiership. While eight of his goals have come in inferior competitions his tally of fifteen for the season stands out amongst Roberto Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor’s contribution this year, particularly when you take into account the fact Kane has both led the line and played behind the striker.

In Premier League games where he’s played for over half an hour he has eight goals (a rate of one every 138 minutes or game and a half), none of which came from the penalty spot. While his shot output in this period is good but nothing special at 3.5 a game he has been extremely efficient. This is a consequence of Kane’s uncanny ability to take shots from ‘the Danger Zone’ (55%, the Premiership average is under 40%), or the centre of the box, as Michael Caley discussed here (hyperlink).

There are deficiencies in Kane’s game. While his link up play is impressive in wide areas he fails to get involved in play in central areas of the opposition’s half (penalty box aside). Even against Chelsea where he bagged a brace he failed to penetrate central areas from twenty to forty yards out.

While some could point to the presence of Nemanja Matic at the heart of Chelsea’s midfield for this it is a pattern that repeats itself across a number of games.

To prove he deserves his place in the starting eleven at a club as ambitious as Spurs Kane will have to strive to improve his link-up play, try to keep the inevitable dry-spell as short as possible and more importantly maintain his current level for the next 18 months. The clamour over an England call-up beckons ahead of their clash with Lithuania in March but Kane should display something he fails to show on the pitch, selfishness, focus on his own game for the next year and serve his time in the Under-21 set up.

For now however the signs are good and in the short term he should be a lock in for you this weekend as he attempts to make it seven goals in seven games as the in-form North London club travel across the Thames to Crystal Palace.