Five things... Harry Redknapp said in his Birmingham City interview
I’m a top, top, top, top manager
Championship strugglers Birmingham City have pulled off a major coup by landing Premier League management legend Harry Redknapp to take charge for their last three games of the season and beyond.
The Blues directors will hope this appointment is more successful than their previous attempt at a managerial change this season. In December they inexplicably replaced Gary Rowett, who guided the club to the brink of the play-offs, with Gianfranco Zola, who subsequently won two games out of 24 and was subsequently sacked.
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But this time, there’s no gamble. Redknapp not only has a proven track record of success; he is also an expert self-publicist who is brilliant at talking about his proven track record of success.
He today revealed he was offered the City job after a “10-15 minute meeting” with the Blues board, who were evidently blown away by Redknapp listing his achievements, including around nine minutes about how England would be world champions right now if the FA had given him the job instead that plum Roy Hodgson. Not to mention the time he absolutely destroyed his son Jamie at Mario Kart on the Wii.
I will get you Crouchy
A master wheeler-dealer (although he prefers the term football manager), Redknapp would have seduced the Blues board with a list of transfer targets he would sign to guarantee survival. All top, top, top-drawer players and triffic boys, such as Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar, Jermain Defoe, Chris Samba and Frank Lampard.
At some point between now and Redknapp’s first match against City’s arch-rivals Aston Villa on Sunday, the reality will hit that the transfer window closed 11 weeks ago and he won’t be able sign anyone.
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However, it’s possible that Football League bigwigs will consider installing an emergency transfer window just for Redknapp, as it is believed that a sharp injection of Redknapp transfer business could provide a timely boost for the British economy at this important time for the nation.
The knee’s better
Redknapp’s last job in England ended when he resigned as Queens Park Rangers manager in order to have a knee operation, the timing of which seemed especially convenient because most pundits believed the Rs – deep in the relegation zone at the time – were about to sack him anyway.
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However, Redknapp will dismiss any concerns about his fitness by pointing out that he has managed Jordan’s national side since leaving Loftus Road, and has clearly “still got it” because he beat Bangladesh 8-0 in his first match, despite being down to the bare bones and getting a very tough ride from the media, as shown by this literally brilliant post-match interview.
I’ve never been relegated
Redknapp is highly experienced at fighting relegation, having variously saved Portsmouth, West Ham, QPR and Tottenham from the drop on previous occasions, so Birmingham are in exceptionally safe hands.
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Although Southampton are alleged to have gone down during his tenure in 2005, Redknapp would have explained in his interview that this couldn’t possibly be true because he, as everyone knows, is a Pompey man through and through and he would never manage Southampton. And if people are saying he did, then it must have just been someone who looked like him, or it was all a big set-up like that time they tried to get him for tax evasion.
Oh and he also got relegated with QPR, but he got them promoted again the following season so that cancels it out, right?
I won’t turn you into Real Madrid
As well as being the king of positive spin, Redknapp is also a master at managing expectations to his own advantage. While in charge of Tottenham, he frequently reminded us that “When I took over, they were bottom of the table with two points from eight games”, which meant anything better than that had to be, by definition, qualified as a success inspired by Redknapp.
Similarly, he said of his new post, “It’s not really a risk. They have won two out 22. I’m not going to turn them into Real Madrid.”
In other words, even if Birmingham lose their three remaining games and get relegated, it won’t be Redknapp’s fault. Few things ever have been.
If, on the other hand, Redknapp masterminds a great escape (from the Blues’ current position of two places above the relegation zone) Harry can be hailed as a genius. And there’s little doubt he is one of those.
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