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Football without Spin

January 19 2009

Harry Redknapp: Open door/open mouth

For all the headline grabbing antics of self-styled richest club in the world Manchester City, tracked by Sport Without Spin since November, and the current whirlwind surrounding the potential transfer of Kaka to Eastlands, Tottenham appear to feel there is some kind of competition in place for ‘Best Window Display’ this January.

With Harry Redknapp’s renowned wheeler-dealer tendencies married for the first time to a traditionally free-spending club, Spurs have slowly gone about signing a lot of players with mixed success, upsetting no small number of other clubs and reportedly trying to offload a fair amount of first teamers should you believe what you read. Or indeed, if you believe what Redknapp says, such has been his open door/open mouth transfer strategy since joining Spurs. 

Ricky Sbragia was notably upset by Tottenham’s tactics, as the Express reports on January 16th:  

“We show interest in players but what I don’t do is make it public. No matter what club he is at, he is at their club. Tottenham seem to be in for everybody and they make sure it goes in the papers. That’s completely wrong. We can all be desperate but we have to keep our house in order. I will not sell players to teams around us.

Spurs do what Spurs do, that’s what they do. It’s not the way to do business. It should be in private and I would never leak anything out. It’s not right.”

Redknapp, for his part, has repeatedly defended their conduct, as reported in the Metro on January 17th: 

"We haven't tapped anyone up," Redknapp. "Why has their head been turned? All that's happened is that (chairman) Daniel Levy spoke to Niall Quinn and asked if they'd sell Kenwyne Jones."

He was also reported by Sky Sports News on January 16^th as being frustrated at a supposed leak form the club, resulting in his transfer targets being splashed over the back pages: 

"Every player I have spoken about is in the newspapers and that means someone at this club is passing information on.”

So, where are the press getting all their juicy gossip from? Who is doing the talking at White Hart Lane? 

31^st December, the day before the opening of the transfer window, Redknapp had this to say to BBC Sport:

On Jermain Defoe and Craig Bellamy:  

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has said he would be interested in signing either Jermain Defoe or Craig Bellamy in January but for the right price. He told BBC Sport: "If they don't want to sell, there's nothing we can do."

 It was thought Tottenham had ended their interest in buying back striker Defoe after Redknapp revealed last week that the south coast club had received a "massive offer" for the England striker.

 "If the price is right and if Tony Adams [Portsmouth manager] and Peter Storrie [Portsmouth chief executive] want to sell him and it's what we consider at our valuation and theirs, then fine," said Redknapp on Wednesday.  

On Stewart Downing:  

The Spurs manager also revealed he was interested in signing Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing.  "I like Downing but I don't know whether Middlesbrough want to sell him," Redknapp said.  

So, twice the BBC claims Redknapp had “revealed” information on Tottenham’s intentions, before the window even opened. 

On January 10^th, Redknapp cleverly talked openly about Portsmouth players he would like to sign, though claims he wouldn’t unless they wanted to sell like they did with Defoe, which is open enough to question given the range of noises that came out of Fratton Park at the time. The Telegraph reports Redknapp’s musings:

On Portsmouth players:

"I would have gone back and taken Glen Johnson," Redknapp said. "But I didn't want to get involved and cause any problems. Defoe was different, they wanted to sell Defoe.  

"Man City were in for him, there were a few clubs in for him. He was up in the open market. But they didn't want to sell Johnson. I've not gone near him. They wanted to keep him and he's signed a new contract, which is great for the club.  

"I wouldn't bother going for [Niko] Kranjcar. Unless they want to sell them, I wouldn't go, I wouldn't do that. Somebody said I was disrespectful to Tony over Defoe, but I wasn't. I wouldn't cause any problems for Tony Adams or [chief executive] Peter Storrie or for the club."  

In summary, Harry wouldn’t want to cause problems (which given he has walked out on the club twice then bought from them a first choice striker, should really have been phrased “any more problems”) and won’t sign Kranjcar, unless he wants to go now Redknapp has made it publicly clear he would definitely sign him.

And with a fair amount of players linked with exits form White Hart Line, the same story reported Harry talking candidly about a bid for his first choice keeper Heurelho Gomes:

"'I'm not telling you a lie, I know a club that want to give us our money back for him. Abroad. And that's genuine."

It is funny how he expresses surprise at how the papers get their scoops after offering up such information – no doubt he was shocked four days later when Gomes is linked with a swap deal for AC Milan's reserve goalkeeper Christian Abbiati in the Mail.  

The same press conference, reported by The Times on January 11^th revealed further thoughts form Redknapp on Stewart Downing, another player mentioned by an admiring Redknapp on the eve of the transfer window. Despite claiming the deal had gone dead after Middlesbrough told Spurs in no uncertain terms he was not for sale, Redknapp continued to talk about what Downing would add to his side: 

Redknapp was looking for “one, maybe two players to thicken the squad up”, and said: “The money is there. We tried to get Downing but Middlesbrough didn’t want to sell him, so that’s dead now. It’s not going to change, so we move on. We need a left-footer to give us balance. Jamie O’Hara came on there against Burnley and did well, and Gareth Bale can move forward one from left-back and do the job, so we’re not desperate, but Downing would give us that bit more.” 

After turning his attention to Wigan’s Wilson Palacios, Redknapp once again was happy to go public with his yet to be completed pursuit of the midfielder. The Evening Standard quotes Redknapp:  

"He's a good player," said Redknapp. "The chairman is dealing with it - he's talking to Wigan. I've spoken to him and he was pretty close to doing a deal." 

On his continuing attempts to lure Bellamy from West Ham, he used the classic ‘unnamed source’ trick to try and chivvy things along in the face of West Ham’s resistance to selling the player: 

"Someone has told me he wants to come here and play," said Redknapp. "If we can do a deal, good." 

And confirmed the club’s attempts to purchase Sunderland’s Kenwyne Jones: 

"The chairman made an offer for Kenwyne Jones. They don't want to sell him, so that is the end of that one," Redknapp accepts. 

So, whilst Redknapp suggests that since "every player I have spoken about is in the newspapers and that means someone at this club is passing information on,” it is not difficult to infer that he is the person passing information on, since everybody has seen him do it. Frequently. Mentions of looking for “one, maybe two players to thicken the squad up”, and readily insisting that “the money is there” in the middle of a transfer window, an event that everyone knows welcome fodder for newspapers looking to fill column inches, it is hardly surprising that the rumour mill surrounding Spurs is in overdrive. 

As Redknapp found out himself, rumours build off the back of far smaller things than openly talking about who you want to sign before the transfer window even opens. Sky Sports report his frustration with rumours about Jenas leaving the club as follows:  

"Am I getting upset because suddenly (Inter Milan boss) Mourinho says he wants (Jermaine) Jenas? I don't want to sell Jenas. End of story.” 

Given the widely perceived gap in class between the serial Italian Champions and Champions League contenders under the tutelage of the hugely ambitious Special One and Tottenham’s talented yet inconsistent fringe England midfielder, it was not a huge surprise when Mourinho denied wanting to sign Jenas, revealing the source of the rumours to be his Telegraph Fantasy Football team: 

"Last July the Daily Telegraph started their fantasy football league and paid me to take part," said Mourinho.  "In my squad I put Jenas and others. Six months later the market reopens and it comes out I like these players. I like them, otherwise I wouldn't have put them in my squad, but that's a transfer market without rules."