Showing posts with label List. Show all posts
Showing posts with label List. Show all posts
Apr 28, 2010
Morrissey and The Smiths; Writing About Tottenham Hotspur All These Years?
For the first time since the Champions League was introduced in 1992, Tottenham Hotspur stand on the verge of qualification. Just three games remain, Bolton, Manchester City, and Burnley.
Win all three and Spurs will be entering virgin territory. Lilywhites fans can be forgiven for uttering a few words while looking to the skies above. It would seem that Steven Patrick Morrissey had already written the very prayer that most Tottenham fans will be uttering over the next ten days.
For those of you who don't know, Steven Patrick Morrissey is better known as Morrissey, or the lead singer to The Smiths if you will. The Manchester based band were, and still are, one of the most important and influential bands of all time.
That's not just my opinion, it is the opinion of respected magazines like Rolling Stone, NME, Q, and even the BBC.
BBC said the Smiths were "one of the most influential figures in the history of British pop", NME went one further by declaring Morrissey the "most influential artist ever" in a 2002 poll, topping The Beatles, while Rolling Stone stated that his "rejection of convention" in his vocal style and lyrics is the reason "why he redefined the sound of British rock for the past quarter-century".
In short Morrissey was a genius when it came to writing Lyrics.
For those of you who don't know, The Smiths were formed in 1982 when the 23 year old Morrissey met John Maher for the first time. A prodigious guitar player and songwriter in his own right, Maher and Morrissey instantly hit it off.
Friends were added to the lineup and in 1983 they released their first single, Hand in Glove.
It was not a commercial success but it did garner the attention of one John Peel. The highly respected BBC Radio 1 DJ championed the cause of the young outfit and from there they went from strength to strength.
Being a Spurs fan you can look back and see the irony in their song titles, and one would think they were almost written directly for the North London side.
"This Charming Man," ignoring it's original intent, could refer to the endless succession of managers and next big things that have walked through the doors at White Hart Lane over the years. "What Difference Does It Make" is an obvious one for the end of almost every season.
"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" needs no explanation...
Before we come to "That Joke Isn't Funny Any More" and the iconic "Panic".
Each one an anthem for Spurs in it's own right, before we finally come to the 1984 classic..."William, It Was Really Nothing"...yes you're reading that right.
In case you're wondering, "William, It Was Really Nothing" is about a man who becomes involved in a loveless marriage, something every sports fan can attain to at one time or another...
But that's not the song I want to talk about. No the song I'm referring to was the B-Side to that very single.
Before we go on I must explain to our younger readers that before CD's we used to have something called Cassette Tapes, and before that we had Records.
Large black things that were about the same size as dinner plates with around five or six songs on each side. Singles were smaller and only had one song on each side, they were about six inches in diameter and were the backbone of the charts.
The A-Side was the real single which received all the airplay, but the B-Side was, if you were lucky, a little gem of a song that was often better that the main one.
The B-Side to "William, It Was Really Nothing" is one of those classics. A beautiful little song called "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want."
It's the perfect song for every fan who has pleaded with the sporting God's to give their team a break. So for once in my life, Lord knows that this would be the first time, please, let me get what I want...
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want , by The Smiths
Good times for a change
see, the luck I've had
can make a good man
turn bad
So please please please
let me, let me, let me
let me get what I want
this time
Haven't had a dream in a long time
see, the life I've had
can make a good man bad
So for once in my life
let me get what I want
Lord knows it would be the first time
Lord knows it would be the first time
I guess if Spurs fans gain Champions League qualification, and it's a big if, then "Everyday Will Be Like Sunday" for a while.
Mar 10, 2010
Harry Redknapp: His Transfer History 1984 to 2010, The Best Record In Football?
Harry Redknapp is recognised as being the best English manager in the game today. He has always had a reputation as being a wheeler dealer. However, does he have the best transfer record in English football?
Between playing and managing, 'Arry's career has lasted over 40 years. With a playing career that lasted over 15 years and 276 games combined with a managerial career that has seen him manage in almost every division, Redknapp has seen everything the game has to offer.
Now in the twilight of his career, Redknapp is managing the biggest club of his career, Tottenham Hotspur, one of the great sleeping giants of English football.
Strangely enough, Redknapp began his career at Spurs as an 11 year old when their Chief Scout, Dickie Walker, brought him to the club. The love affair didn't last too long though as West Ham snapped the promising youngster up at 15 and away from Bill Nicholson who was just beginning to mould one of English football's greatest sides.
For the vast majority of his career, Redknapp was employed as a winger. An honest, skillful, industrious player, he played 149 times for the Hammers after making his debut at 17. From there he moved to Bournemouth for four years before a one game pit stop at Brentford, and then finally on to the NASL and the Seattle Sounders.
It was here in Seattle that Harry found the taste for management, acting as Assistant Manager for three years before becoming Bobby Moore's right hand man at Oxford United.
His first job in management was at Bournemouth, but he only got the job at the second attempt. Despite being the clubs Assistant Manager, he was overlooked when David Webb moved on to Torquay.
However, with the team floundering at the bottom of Division 3 under the new manager, Don Megson, the club were forced to act and they sacked their new manager handing the inexperienced Redknapp the task of saving the club.
Not only did 'Arry save the Cherries, but Bournemouth pulled off the biggest shock of the FA Cup when they dumped Manchester United out.
Redknapp had pulled off two major coup's in only his first season as a manager.
Even then he had an eye for a player, and his very first signing was to offer one of the games great journey men an in road into football, Steve Claridge.
Amazingly, between 1984 and 1992, Harry Redknapp only signed 19 players for Bournemouth. Spending a massive £1.12million, but earning £1.77m during the same period.
Many of the players he signed were making their first forays into professional football. Looking back we can see that Redknapp had a keen eye for potential.
Steve Claridge, Sean Teale, Gavin Peacock, Efan Ekoku, Jamie Redknapp, Vince Bartram, and Jimmy Quinn are just a few names who all went on to bigger and better things after Bournemouth.
In 1987 the Cherries romped home as Division 3 Champions, but only lasted in Division 2 until 1989, when they were relegated.
In the Summer of 1990, Redknapp was in Italy, watching the World Cup, with friends when he was involved in a car accident which killed five people. A passenger in the vehicle, Redknapp was badly shaken and escaped reletively unscathed, only losing his sense of smell. He decided to take a break from football after the '91-'92 season.
In 1994 he was coaxed back into football with West Ham who were struggling in the newly formed Premier League. Redknapp and Frank Lampard Sr. had been working tirelessly in the youth ranks at the Hammers and following Billy Bonds' resignation in August, they were promoted to first team affairs.
Again Redknapp went to work in the transfer market, except this time he augmented his work there with the internal promotion of some of the brightest talents in English football.
Between 1994 and 2001 at West Ham, he signed 58 players for the Hammers, spending £52.09 million, bringing £77.01 million into the club.
Again his work in the market can be judged by looking back at some of the 58 players he signed in that seven year period.
Mark Rieper, John Hartson, Eyal Berkovic, Stan Laziridis, Steve Lomas, David Unsworth, Paulo Di Canio, Marc Vivien-Foe, Jermaine Defoe, and Igor Stimac are all prime examples of good signings during his West Ham years.
Young players like Mike Marsh, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, and Joey Beauchamp all broke into the team under Redknapp too.
Of course there were some spectacular failures too, but they were few and far between. The two worst signings being Paulo Futre who barely kicked a ball in anger for a whole season as one of the highest paid players in the league, and Florin Raduiciou.
It is worth knowing that at this time both of these players had huge reputations and initially looked like great deals for the club, however, the reverse was to be the case.
Those five and a half years in charge at the Irons, Redknapp guided them to finish 14th, 10th, 14th, 8th, and a brilliant 5th.
Considering the resources available to him at West Ham these results were superb, but again Redknapp was villified with being a wheeler dealer and a risk taker and it is only now that we can look back and see how much of a profit he actually made in his dealings.
He was unceremoniously sacked in May 2001 after he spoke to a fanzine over the signing of a new contract with the club, the clubs chairman extremely unhappy over comments Redknapp made at the time.
He was not out of work for long and he moved to Portsmouth as Director of Football in the summer of 2001.
Ironically, Redknapp took over as manager of the Division 1 club and guided them into the Premiership as Champions in 2002, replacing West Ham.
In just two years at Fratton Park, 'Arry signed 41 players for £7.65 million and sold 41 players for £5.4 million.
Redknapp resigned as manager of Portsmouth in November 2004 in dispute over the owner, Milan Mandaric, bringing in a Director of Football to the club.
Even though Redknapp only spent two years at the club, he did manage to bring in some real quality, namely Dejan Stefanovic, Lomano Lua Lua, and Yakubu.
He then made the contoversial move down the coast to local rivals Southampton. Redknapp had been brought in as a Fire Fighter with the job to save the club from almost certain relegation, which he was unable to do.
In just one season at the club he signed eight players for £2.57 million, but sold 18 players for £16 million as he began a clear out at the club.
That did not last too long though as Harry resigned after Southampton brought in England Rugby manager Clive Woodward in a Technical Role at the club, many felt that the Rugby supremo was being lined up to learn from the wily old manager before replacing him.
A couple of weeks later and Redknapp was back in charge of Pompey who were hurtling out of control towards the second tier of English football.
However, there was a to be a big difference at Portsmouth this time around. Alexandre Gaydamak had just taken over and made huge sums of money available to Harry in an effort to establish Portsmouth as a force in the Premiership.
Pompey finished four points above relegation that season ('05-'06), but the next ('06-'07) they finished a club record 9th. That was followed up the following season with another record season when Pompey finished 8th ('07-'08)
The club was on the crest of a wave and also won the FA Cup in 2008.
That was the beginning of the end though as Alexandre Gaydamak stepped down from the board and withdrew his backing, and all of a sudden Portsmouth were in trouble.
Backed up with Gaydamak's money, Redknapp was given permission to spend, and spend he did. £68.3 million left the club in just two seasons with only £29.07 million coming in while Redknapp held the reigns.
As with his previous record, players of a high standard were brought to the club for cheap prices.
Niko Krancjar, Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnsen, Papa Bouba-Diop, and Jermaine Defoe are very good examples of Premiership players who were brought in to aid Portsmout's cause.
It is worth noting that although Redknapp's time in charge of Portsmouth ended in a deficit of some £40 million, the club has since gone on to sell many of the players he signed while he was there, giving the club a staggering £103,940,000 million in sales in just three years. A massive profit of around £30 million for the struggling club.
In October 2008 Harry Redknapp took over relegation bound Tottenham Hotspur after Juande Ramos' ill fated reign.
Again 'Arry was quick out of the blocks as far as the transfer market is concerned, and re-signed Jermaine Defoe and Robbie Keane as well as bringing in Wilson Palacios to bolster midfield.
The new signings worked a treat as Spurs roared up the league and only missed out on Europe on the final day of the season following a defeat at Anfield to Liverpool.
Last summer saw Tottenham strengthen their squad substantially by adding Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar, Sebastian Bassong, and Kyle Naughton to their ranks giving Spurs a squad depth capable of challenging for the Champions League positions.
As it stands, Tottenham are in a four way fight to the death with Liverpool, Manchester City, and Aston Villa for the last Champions League qualifying position.
Harry Redknapp has had a remarkable career, over 1,000 games as manager, placing him in an elite band of men to achieve that rare milestone. While he has never managed a club that have challenged for trophies, he has become one of the best managers in the game through sheer hard work.
One thing that has really stuck with him through out his career is his reputation for spotting a bargain. Certain parts of this reputation are unfair as he has had more successes than failures and when you sit doen and look at his transfer record over his 26 years as a boss you find that he has spent £208.23 million and re-coupled £230.37 million.
A quick comparison with Rafael Benitez has the Liverpool manager spending £210 million since 2004 and only accruing £125 million in the same period.
While in almost 24 years at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson has spent £392.44 million on 89 players and made some £244 million by selling 216 players in that same time.
Arsene Wenger's record is quite impressive given the rewards he has managed to bring the club during his 13 years in charge.
Le Prof has brought 86 players to Arsenal at a cost of £220 million, and he has sold 162 for £194 million. A brilliant record you'll agree, almost break even after 13 long years.
Given the resources available to Ferguson, Wenger, and Benitez, it is little wonder that the three clubs are constantly challenging for the top three positions in the league.
Redknapp's record stands up for itself, a quite excellent record in the transfer market since 1984. He has never had the oppurtunity to manage a club with the resources to challenge for the title, but with Daniel Levy's backing you get the feeling the club would rather challenge than sit in mid table.
Spurs' fans will be hoping that Redknapp manages to work some magic in the transfer market. He'll have to if they are going to make that huge step up and actually challenge for the Champions League positions.
Share
Between playing and managing, 'Arry's career has lasted over 40 years. With a playing career that lasted over 15 years and 276 games combined with a managerial career that has seen him manage in almost every division, Redknapp has seen everything the game has to offer.
Now in the twilight of his career, Redknapp is managing the biggest club of his career, Tottenham Hotspur, one of the great sleeping giants of English football.
Strangely enough, Redknapp began his career at Spurs as an 11 year old when their Chief Scout, Dickie Walker, brought him to the club. The love affair didn't last too long though as West Ham snapped the promising youngster up at 15 and away from Bill Nicholson who was just beginning to mould one of English football's greatest sides.
For the vast majority of his career, Redknapp was employed as a winger. An honest, skillful, industrious player, he played 149 times for the Hammers after making his debut at 17. From there he moved to Bournemouth for four years before a one game pit stop at Brentford, and then finally on to the NASL and the Seattle Sounders.
It was here in Seattle that Harry found the taste for management, acting as Assistant Manager for three years before becoming Bobby Moore's right hand man at Oxford United.
His first job in management was at Bournemouth, but he only got the job at the second attempt. Despite being the clubs Assistant Manager, he was overlooked when David Webb moved on to Torquay.
However, with the team floundering at the bottom of Division 3 under the new manager, Don Megson, the club were forced to act and they sacked their new manager handing the inexperienced Redknapp the task of saving the club.
Not only did 'Arry save the Cherries, but Bournemouth pulled off the biggest shock of the FA Cup when they dumped Manchester United out.
Redknapp had pulled off two major coup's in only his first season as a manager.
Even then he had an eye for a player, and his very first signing was to offer one of the games great journey men an in road into football, Steve Claridge.
Amazingly, between 1984 and 1992, Harry Redknapp only signed 19 players for Bournemouth. Spending a massive £1.12million, but earning £1.77m during the same period.
Many of the players he signed were making their first forays into professional football. Looking back we can see that Redknapp had a keen eye for potential.
Steve Claridge, Sean Teale, Gavin Peacock, Efan Ekoku, Jamie Redknapp, Vince Bartram, and Jimmy Quinn are just a few names who all went on to bigger and better things after Bournemouth.
In 1987 the Cherries romped home as Division 3 Champions, but only lasted in Division 2 until 1989, when they were relegated.
In the Summer of 1990, Redknapp was in Italy, watching the World Cup, with friends when he was involved in a car accident which killed five people. A passenger in the vehicle, Redknapp was badly shaken and escaped reletively unscathed, only losing his sense of smell. He decided to take a break from football after the '91-'92 season.
In 1994 he was coaxed back into football with West Ham who were struggling in the newly formed Premier League. Redknapp and Frank Lampard Sr. had been working tirelessly in the youth ranks at the Hammers and following Billy Bonds' resignation in August, they were promoted to first team affairs.
Again Redknapp went to work in the transfer market, except this time he augmented his work there with the internal promotion of some of the brightest talents in English football.
Between 1994 and 2001 at West Ham, he signed 58 players for the Hammers, spending £52.09 million, bringing £77.01 million into the club.
Again his work in the market can be judged by looking back at some of the 58 players he signed in that seven year period.
Mark Rieper, John Hartson, Eyal Berkovic, Stan Laziridis, Steve Lomas, David Unsworth, Paulo Di Canio, Marc Vivien-Foe, Jermaine Defoe, and Igor Stimac are all prime examples of good signings during his West Ham years.
Young players like Mike Marsh, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, and Joey Beauchamp all broke into the team under Redknapp too.
Of course there were some spectacular failures too, but they were few and far between. The two worst signings being Paulo Futre who barely kicked a ball in anger for a whole season as one of the highest paid players in the league, and Florin Raduiciou.
It is worth knowing that at this time both of these players had huge reputations and initially looked like great deals for the club, however, the reverse was to be the case.
Those five and a half years in charge at the Irons, Redknapp guided them to finish 14th, 10th, 14th, 8th, and a brilliant 5th.
Considering the resources available to him at West Ham these results were superb, but again Redknapp was villified with being a wheeler dealer and a risk taker and it is only now that we can look back and see how much of a profit he actually made in his dealings.
He was unceremoniously sacked in May 2001 after he spoke to a fanzine over the signing of a new contract with the club, the clubs chairman extremely unhappy over comments Redknapp made at the time.
He was not out of work for long and he moved to Portsmouth as Director of Football in the summer of 2001.
Ironically, Redknapp took over as manager of the Division 1 club and guided them into the Premiership as Champions in 2002, replacing West Ham.
In just two years at Fratton Park, 'Arry signed 41 players for £7.65 million and sold 41 players for £5.4 million.
Redknapp resigned as manager of Portsmouth in November 2004 in dispute over the owner, Milan Mandaric, bringing in a Director of Football to the club.
Even though Redknapp only spent two years at the club, he did manage to bring in some real quality, namely Dejan Stefanovic, Lomano Lua Lua, and Yakubu.
He then made the contoversial move down the coast to local rivals Southampton. Redknapp had been brought in as a Fire Fighter with the job to save the club from almost certain relegation, which he was unable to do.
In just one season at the club he signed eight players for £2.57 million, but sold 18 players for £16 million as he began a clear out at the club.
That did not last too long though as Harry resigned after Southampton brought in England Rugby manager Clive Woodward in a Technical Role at the club, many felt that the Rugby supremo was being lined up to learn from the wily old manager before replacing him.
A couple of weeks later and Redknapp was back in charge of Pompey who were hurtling out of control towards the second tier of English football.
However, there was a to be a big difference at Portsmouth this time around. Alexandre Gaydamak had just taken over and made huge sums of money available to Harry in an effort to establish Portsmouth as a force in the Premiership.
Pompey finished four points above relegation that season ('05-'06), but the next ('06-'07) they finished a club record 9th. That was followed up the following season with another record season when Pompey finished 8th ('07-'08)
The club was on the crest of a wave and also won the FA Cup in 2008.
That was the beginning of the end though as Alexandre Gaydamak stepped down from the board and withdrew his backing, and all of a sudden Portsmouth were in trouble.
Backed up with Gaydamak's money, Redknapp was given permission to spend, and spend he did. £68.3 million left the club in just two seasons with only £29.07 million coming in while Redknapp held the reigns.
As with his previous record, players of a high standard were brought to the club for cheap prices.
Niko Krancjar, Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnsen, Papa Bouba-Diop, and Jermaine Defoe are very good examples of Premiership players who were brought in to aid Portsmout's cause.
It is worth noting that although Redknapp's time in charge of Portsmouth ended in a deficit of some £40 million, the club has since gone on to sell many of the players he signed while he was there, giving the club a staggering £103,940,000 million in sales in just three years. A massive profit of around £30 million for the struggling club.
In October 2008 Harry Redknapp took over relegation bound Tottenham Hotspur after Juande Ramos' ill fated reign.
Again 'Arry was quick out of the blocks as far as the transfer market is concerned, and re-signed Jermaine Defoe and Robbie Keane as well as bringing in Wilson Palacios to bolster midfield.
The new signings worked a treat as Spurs roared up the league and only missed out on Europe on the final day of the season following a defeat at Anfield to Liverpool.
Last summer saw Tottenham strengthen their squad substantially by adding Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar, Sebastian Bassong, and Kyle Naughton to their ranks giving Spurs a squad depth capable of challenging for the Champions League positions.
As it stands, Tottenham are in a four way fight to the death with Liverpool, Manchester City, and Aston Villa for the last Champions League qualifying position.
Harry Redknapp has had a remarkable career, over 1,000 games as manager, placing him in an elite band of men to achieve that rare milestone. While he has never managed a club that have challenged for trophies, he has become one of the best managers in the game through sheer hard work.
One thing that has really stuck with him through out his career is his reputation for spotting a bargain. Certain parts of this reputation are unfair as he has had more successes than failures and when you sit doen and look at his transfer record over his 26 years as a boss you find that he has spent £208.23 million and re-coupled £230.37 million.
A quick comparison with Rafael Benitez has the Liverpool manager spending £210 million since 2004 and only accruing £125 million in the same period.
While in almost 24 years at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson has spent £392.44 million on 89 players and made some £244 million by selling 216 players in that same time.
Arsene Wenger's record is quite impressive given the rewards he has managed to bring the club during his 13 years in charge.
Le Prof has brought 86 players to Arsenal at a cost of £220 million, and he has sold 162 for £194 million. A brilliant record you'll agree, almost break even after 13 long years.
Given the resources available to Ferguson, Wenger, and Benitez, it is little wonder that the three clubs are constantly challenging for the top three positions in the league.
Redknapp's record stands up for itself, a quite excellent record in the transfer market since 1984. He has never had the oppurtunity to manage a club with the resources to challenge for the title, but with Daniel Levy's backing you get the feeling the club would rather challenge than sit in mid table.
Spurs' fans will be hoping that Redknapp manages to work some magic in the transfer market. He'll have to if they are going to make that huge step up and actually challenge for the Champions League positions.
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