'Arry gets shot at the big time

Harry Redknapp has always struck me as football’s answer to Derek Trotter.

It’s not just the Cockney accent, and the cheeky-chappy, wheeler-dealer attitude.

He is very much football’s version of the self-made man, he worked his way up from the lower leagues with Bournemouth, made an unfashionable West Ham fashionable again and then did the same with Portsmouth (if ever Pompey were fashionable before).

‘Arry has always been very much his own man, wanting things his way – he made no secret of the fact that the reason he left Portsmouth the first time was the power-sharing relationship with Director of Football Velimir Zajec and shocked everyone by joining South Coast rivals Southampton (before, of course, heading back along the M27 some 12 months later to perform a Messianic survival act at Fratton Park).

Now the East End boy made good has been given the chance he always wanted, a ‘big club’ opportunity with Tottenham Hotspur.

Exactly what defines a big club, the difference between a Portsmouth and a Spurs, is hard to define these days (indeed, if you looked at the Premier League table the difference between the two was exactly 11 points – in Pompey’s favour!).

But Redknapp has talked of the ‘history’ and the status of Spurs.

It is an undeniable fact that certain clubs will always be ‘bigger’ than others, regardless of league position or even, to a degree, financial muscle.

Indeed there are some who still claim League Two side Leeds United are a ‘big club’.
Quite why ‘Arry decided to jump ship to Tottenham when he was so adverse to moving to
Newcastle, the last big club to come knocking back in January, isn’t totally clear.

It is likely to have something to do with the fact he has been promised total control at Spurs, something Magpies owner Michael Ashley was unable to offer.

It must also something to do with the fact he has taken Pompey as far as they can go, having led them to an FA Cup win at Wembley, and is walking into a win-win situation at Spurs with a squad far better than the club’s league position suggests.

There may also have been an economic incentives for the notoriously shrewd Redknapp to move back to the club where he trained as an 11 and 12-year-old, but I feel the main reason is that he finally has been offered the chance of a job normally reserved for renowned, ‘fashionable’ managers.

After years of making his name as a kind of bargain basement operator, capable of getting the best out of threadbare resources, he has finally been accepted to the managerial top table, where he will get the resources to match.

It is like Del Boy finally making his millions and being accepted at the local country club.
Of course in Only Fools and Horses Del Boy and Rodney do actually make their fortune but the dream soon turns sour.

Even before they lose all their money through dodgy investments, there is a sense that Del Boy was actually happier when chasing his dream than after he finally realised it.

Let’s hope for ‘Arry’s sake life at a big club lives up to his expectations and he doesn’t regret his move to the big time.