Gary Neville has drawn the ire of Harry Redknapp by branding Spurs a “spineless” side before Mauricio Pochettino.
It happened on Monday Night Football, when Neville and Jamie Carragher were debating the achievements of Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs. Neville pointed out that Pochettino is turning Spurs into a stable side that were hard to beat, which in itself was an incredible achievement.
Well Redknapp, who managed Spurs for 198 games from October 2008 to June 2012, took exception to this. As the man who took Spurs into the Champions League for the first time ever and won Manager of the Year in doing so, he looked to have every right to be offended. But looks can be deceiving.
Redknapp boldly defended his players, citing “Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Ledley King, Rafa van der Vaart, William Gallas,” and saying “it’s a disgrace to talk about players saying they’re spineless and gutless.” But Neville never attacked those players, just as he didn’t praise the current Spurs crop. He is saying that the Spurs team as a collective had a mentality problem.
“I thought Gary’s comments were an absolute disgrace,” Redknapp insisted.
“I can only comment on the three-and-a-half years I managed the club, and we weren’t gutless, we weren’t spineless, we weren’t pathetic, flaky or soft.”
A fair assessment from Redknapp? Well, let’s see: in his first season, he stabilised a free-falling Spurs side who had grown complacent after winning the League Cup in the previous season under Juande Ramos. Redknapp lifted Spurs off the bottom of the table and guided them both to safety and also back to Wembley for the League Cup final, where they lost on penalties to Manchester United.
That was one of three defeats to The Red Devils that season, one more in the FA Cup, and a 5-2 beating at Old Trafford despite Spurs taking a 0-2 lead (they drew 0-0 at White Hart Lane). Spurs also lost to second-placed Liverpool 3-1 on the final day of the season, having beaten them 2-1 and 4-2 (in the League Cup) in November.
Then in 2009/10, Redknapp’s side pipped Manchester City to fourth place by three points, essentially a 0-1 win at the Etihad Stadium on the penultimate day of the season. A commendable achievement, but Spurs were five points behind Arsenal and a whopping 16 behind league leaders Chelsea. They played Manchester United three times that season and lost all three games. They lost away to Champions Chelsea but beat them 2-1 in mid-April.
In 2010/11 they finished fifth, 18 points behind Manchester United’s miserable title-winning total of 80 points. Again they lost to United and Chelsea away, drawing with both at home. This was the season of “that” Gareth Bale hat-trick, which in many ways sums up Redknapp’s time in charge of Spurs in that it was very impressive but ultimately counted for nothing as Spurs still lost against a terrible Inter side. This was also the season Spurs got the bejeesus beat out of them by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
2011/12 ended with a fourth-placed finish again, but this time they were a whopping 20 points behind Champions Manchester City and runners-up Manchester United. The Manchester clubs smacked fire outta Spurs at the start of the season, beating them cumulatively 8-1 (3-0 and 1-5) in the early weeks before doing them over 6-3 (3-2 and 1-3) at the start of 2012. Spurs’ fourth-place finish didn’t even get them into Europe as Chelsea won the Champions League, and Redknapp was sacked over contractual wrangling.
Did you notice a trend there? In Redknapp’s “three-and-a-half years” at White Hart Lane they recorded just three wins against either the Champions or runners-up from that season. And one of those wins came in the League Cup against a significantly weaker Liverpool side.
In his interview, Redknapp brings up victories over Arsenal and Liverpool as a counter to Neville’s statements, ignoring that Arsenal were at their lowest ebb under Arsene Wenger during that period and Liverpool were a helter-skelter side (and Spurs never beat them when they had a full-strength XI out). Against the actual best sides during that era, Spurs weren’t a threat.
That is especially true of Manchester United. Two home draws and a whole host of defeats, including one when Spurs went 2-0 up at Old Trafford only to get eviscerated in the second half, ultimately losing 5-2, are all Redknapp’s Spurs have to show against United.
What’s amusing is that absurd comeback is not even the first time United have done that to Spurs. Back in 2001, United were 3-0 down at White Hart Lane before a roaring second half comeback saw them win 3-5. And this match is key to understanding Neville’s comments.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s half-time team-talk in that game, the genius he imparted to his players in order for them to go from dead and buried to triumphant in Spurs’ own backyard consisted of saying “lads, it’s Tottenham.” That was it.
Gary Neville was in that team (and, indeed, got the first assist for United’s comeback) and was still part of the squad when they pulled off a similar comeback, winning 5-2 in 2009 to all-but secure the Premier League title. How can you expect him to have a view of Spurs’ existence pre-Pochettino that is anything but derisory? Pre-Poch, from a Manchester United perspective, Spurs were worthy of derision!
Sure, they had the odd good result, but they never consistently became a thorn in the side of the biggest and best sides until the Argentine coach took over. And under Redknapp, in particular, they were almost never a threat to the best sides in the league.
Objectively, were Tottenham’s achievements under Harry Redknapp impressive? Well… sort of. On the subjective scale of Redknapp and Spurs, however? They were definitely impressive. To make the Champions League? To finish top four twice? Phenomenal.
But on the subjective scale of Manchester United at the time? The subjective scale Gary Neville would judge teams by? Tottenham were a joke. No serious teams were afraid of Spurs, and that’s why Neville said what he said. Sorry Harry, you did a good job but Gary Neville was right; don’t be mad because Mauricio Pochettino has done what you never could and make Spurs legitimate.
The post Why Harry Redknapp is wrong to be personally offended by Gary Neville’s ‘disgraceful’ comments about Spurs appeared first on Squawka News.
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