I'm hoping you'll turn that frown upside down when Ashley gives Redknapp that £100M Parky was talking about. I'm not dancing around the room at this potential move, simply because it's Harry Redknapp, but there's more to all of this than just the manager himself. I'll try and explain:
If it's cost upwards of £5M to sack Allardyce, being conservative given the reports, without even taking the staff that'll go as well into the equation, and it looks like costing another £5M to get Redknapp, without taking any of their staff into account either... then surely Big Mike is going to back this man to the hilt when he does arrive after such an outlay. People seem to be underestimating the fact that this will be Ashley's man, not Shepherd's. Which rightly or wrongly is an entirely different kettle of fish.
It seems he's been the first choice all along and that quite a few inside people knew (hence the monster cash being chucked on him from the first moment betting opened), and so fair play to the big fella for sticking to his guns. For all Redknapp's said about not speaking to us (he can't exactly say anything else, can he because we'd be in deep shit otherwise!) if we've made an official move for him already then I reckon he'll have been tapped-up, or whatever you want to call it.
The ITK's who were right about Allardyce called this almost immediately, so there has been a plan in place after all, and this is the man that the people in charge want to back and move forward with. It all seems a very strange set of affairs if Ashley doesn't have big plans for us, people have to admit that. Why go to all of this bother and then let Redknapp fail like Allardyce?
They've given Allardyce time, backed him with quite probably as much money (if not more) than he'd have had from Freddy Shepherd (not a dig, just a realistic assumption) and it hasn't worked out. I'm not on their backs about this just yet, but I will be if we're in this exact position at this time next year or in another 8 months, because they will have undoubtedly have made a real error and they will deserve some stick for it.
For now I'm trying to quell the optimism as much as I can and be realistic, and I realistically believe that IF Redknapp and his boys from Pompey are brought up (and we fucking need all of them, if possible, I'll be distraught if we miss out on his right hand man like we did with Allardyce's) at great expense, then firstly we'll start looking better on the park and secondly he'll be given some serious cash to take us to the next level. Ashley gets nothing out of us doing shit, absolutely nothing. He'd be an idiot to want to "support" a shit team, let alone own one.
Through Kelmsley the man himself has asked for more time from us before we judge him, I say that's fair enough. "The point he made to me was 'people talk about managers being given time. Well what about giving me time?'. He hasn't even had a window to work in yet."
I'm excited by this, not because it's Harry Redknapp the manager taking over from Sam Allardyce the manager, but because of all the other things/signals/signs that are coming with it.
excellent.
I see this in one of 2 ways.
They want Redknapp because he has shown he can put together a decent team, playing good football with little money [unlike Sam who did the same but played unattractive football, which is why it is all been so restless].
Or - irrespective of what individuals like us may feel about him - he is THEIR choice. It is THEIR decision. THEIR man and THEY trust him more and have genuine ambition.
If they are wrong, they will be looking for someone else within a couple of years, and money spunked, just like the last board. If this happens I'll be happy with the board, just like before, but accept they made the wrong choice and hold out more hope the next time.
However, they may have made the right choice, and if they back him, we will find out. It goes without saying this is what I hope happens, even if he is a cockney eastend west ham supporting tosser ......
Agree entirely with all of that last bit. I don't like the bloke, but like you say he has done the business elsewhere, albeit in a different fashion to what I'm hoping for in my post.
Your first point is a bit pessimistic for me to take at the minute, but it's also something that cannot be counted out!
The thing is, I'd assume one reason for Harry leaving Portsmouth is because they aren't backing him as far he liked and he believes he could/can take Portsmouth further (which is different to why Sam left Bolton, in a way). Redknapp said himself in the Summer that they might need to sell Nugent to raise funds for other areas, when the lad had barely been there a month or two, that was a sign of discontent if anything, to me. It was unheard of at the time.
I don't see why he'd come here without the promise of some good money.
Coming to the end of his career, a nice pay packet.
