I AM AN IDIOT

In one of his most famous "speeches" as Spurs manager, Harry Redknapp labelled all Spurs fans who were unhappy with last seasons 5th place finish as "idiots". I was one of those who fell into that category, one of those who has spent more money than i care to think about on tickets, shirts, DVDs, etc, yet I was not allowed an opinion. In reality was I an idiot, Spurs were poor in the league, we did not pick up a win at all against West Ham, Wolves and Wigan, so it cant be claimed we had our best ever season, as i seem to remember Redknapp suggested at one hilariously dark moment. Granted our Champions League run was fantastic, but with that success you want to get back into the Champions League and have more nights like the ones in Milan and Madrid (even with the 4 0 loss), not soggy Thursday night matches against Shamrock Rovers.

The real question is if we were not allowed to find last season disappointing, what am i allowed to think of this season should our worst fears be realised and we finish outside the top four and do not win the FA Cup? I would personally see this as a disaster, and in my life this would become the worst season were I have followed Spurs. Losing to Bradford 1 0 at home is not so bad when you are slowly crawling into a 14th position finish, but when you were 12 points ahead of your greatest rivals, when you could do no wrong and for once you held all the bragging rights, losing at home to Norwich and drawing with Sunderland is completely unacceptable. In fact very little has been acceptable about the run of form Spurs have been on since the away defeat to Man City. If we do not turn this slump around immediately we will suffer the ultimate humiliation, not finishing in the top 5, where once we were title contenders.

It is all well and good being a manger when things are going well, it is when things are not so good that you show your class. There is no doubting when things are good Harry is a good manager but, in the last two seasons when things are not so good, nor is he, and he can't seem to shake the team out of that. On top of that his reluctance to make substitutions has cost us dearly this season. He stated after the Norwich game, he knew 442 was not working, yet he still persisted with all for the full 90 minutes, it our time of need he let us down sorely. There does come a time when every manager, even the nice guys like Harry need to take the players by the scruff of the neck and say, you were sh*t out there, if your not better next week your dropped. Without criticism praise is meaningless. Take the great Brian Clough for instance, his players worked hard for his praise and really appreciated it, i don't feel the Spurs players do anymore, to them it is an every day occurrence. Even after the Arsenal defeat they were praised, and it has subsequently shown that it did them no good.

As i have stated before it is not all over, and we can still finish in top 4 and win the FA Cup; if this happens Harry will go down as a Spurs legend, and i will be at the front of the crowd singing his name. After all, credit where credit is due, he will have achieved something for Spurs. However, if we don't get either it is surely time for him to pass the responsibility onto someone who is more capable, someone who knows when to make substitutions, someone who knows how to behave in press conferences, someone will not bemoan there own team selection because there "has been a lot of talk about 442". Only time will tell how Harrys' reign is remembered, but that is just my opinion, and after all i am an idiot.