I dialled into Graham Roberts' Q&A session with 'Arry last night.
Didn't start well, as he couldn't get the tech to work, so Robbo had to send his daughter around to Harry's house. At one stage, he muted himself and had to get Sandra to help him
My question to him was, apart from H, who from the current squad would he have wanted for his group of players. Sonny was his first choice, and Dele from a couple of seasons ago. I ventured Hugo (as an improvement on Gomez?), and he demurred to give a straight no, as he said that bringing in Tony Parks as goalkeeping coach improved Gomez no end. (Going back to Dele, Robbo stated that he thought Dele was a pure no. 10, and that's where we should play him to get the best out of him.)
As you can imagine, he had some stories to tell. He's convinced that it wasn't Levy that got rid of him, more Joe Lewis. He thinks that Lewis is richer than Abramovich and he's just building up the Club to sell it for a fortune.
Daniel had in fact approached Harry two years before he got the job, which Harry turned down, as he thought that taking over a popular manager (Martin Jol) would put him on the wrong foot with the supporters.
When he eventually took over, the day after his first game in charge (Bolton), he had to go back to Portsmouth, as he was due to attend a ceremony at the Town Hall, as he had been awarded the Freedom of the City. He got a lot of abuse from some supporters who had got into the public gallery.
He listed players we were in for during his tenure - Eden Hazard was very close to signing and Suarez was also on our radar, but he had to settle for Saha and Nelson (just signed to get some bodies in). He did however say that Rafa was his best deadline signing. Talking about Rafa, Robbo asked if he would do a Q&A, Rafa said to speak to his agent, as Rafa couldn't manage his diary(!), and the agent asked for four grand. As Robbo does these for charity, he told the agent no thanks. Will be interesting to see if Rafa overrides his agent. The players he thinks we should be looking at now - Maddison, Chilwell, Rice, Grealish (he thinks that he would become a star in the right team).
He spoke very highly of Billy Nick, and had seen our Double side several times, recalling the electric atmosphere, especially at the European night games. He said that in his opinion, although Greavsie was a footballing genius, Dave Mackay was our best player, because he had everything - skill, hard as nails, leadership, mental toughness, winner's attitude.
One player he had an issue with regard to getting him to work hard and to play to the top of his ability was Adel Taarabt. Someone asked him about Pav, and he said the first time he took him for training, his interpreter had to run alongside him. Pav had a 'handy' back injury when it came to travelling to away games.
He was asked about his favourite game, and he found it difficult to pin just one, but he gave a special mention to the the week we beat Woolwich and the Chavs to get us back into top 4 contention, so pleased with the bounce back after the disappointment of losing the FA Cup semi final.
He was really upset that when he came back to The Lane with QPR (and Hod was part of his coaching team), there was no mention of their names in in the programme.
He thinks we'll end up 6th or 7th ( as he thinks the Chavs and the Mancs are showing good form and improvement), but thinks it wouldn't be a disaster if we are out of Europe altogether for one season only- Robbo agreed to that.
He has definitely given up on football management and coaching, happy with playing golf and going to the races (he has 10 horses - Sandra thinks he only has one!). He did say that for a joke, he did phone Daniel when Poch was sacked, to say he would come back and he wouldn't take a salary. He was asked who he thought would survive the best in the jungle out of the current Premiership managers, and he said Jose. (I personally think Sean Dyche would scare the critters away).
Another enjoyable evening, Robbo trying to get Jermain Defoe for next Friday.
Didn't start well, as he couldn't get the tech to work, so Robbo had to send his daughter around to Harry's house. At one stage, he muted himself and had to get Sandra to help him
My question to him was, apart from H, who from the current squad would he have wanted for his group of players. Sonny was his first choice, and Dele from a couple of seasons ago. I ventured Hugo (as an improvement on Gomez?), and he demurred to give a straight no, as he said that bringing in Tony Parks as goalkeeping coach improved Gomez no end. (Going back to Dele, Robbo stated that he thought Dele was a pure no. 10, and that's where we should play him to get the best out of him.)
As you can imagine, he had some stories to tell. He's convinced that it wasn't Levy that got rid of him, more Joe Lewis. He thinks that Lewis is richer than Abramovich and he's just building up the Club to sell it for a fortune.
Daniel had in fact approached Harry two years before he got the job, which Harry turned down, as he thought that taking over a popular manager (Martin Jol) would put him on the wrong foot with the supporters.
When he eventually took over, the day after his first game in charge (Bolton), he had to go back to Portsmouth, as he was due to attend a ceremony at the Town Hall, as he had been awarded the Freedom of the City. He got a lot of abuse from some supporters who had got into the public gallery.
He listed players we were in for during his tenure - Eden Hazard was very close to signing and Suarez was also on our radar, but he had to settle for Saha and Nelson (just signed to get some bodies in). He did however say that Rafa was his best deadline signing. Talking about Rafa, Robbo asked if he would do a Q&A, Rafa said to speak to his agent, as Rafa couldn't manage his diary(!), and the agent asked for four grand. As Robbo does these for charity, he told the agent no thanks. Will be interesting to see if Rafa overrides his agent. The players he thinks we should be looking at now - Maddison, Chilwell, Rice, Grealish (he thinks that he would become a star in the right team).
He spoke very highly of Billy Nick, and had seen our Double side several times, recalling the electric atmosphere, especially at the European night games. He said that in his opinion, although Greavsie was a footballing genius, Dave Mackay was our best player, because he had everything - skill, hard as nails, leadership, mental toughness, winner's attitude.
One player he had an issue with regard to getting him to work hard and to play to the top of his ability was Adel Taarabt. Someone asked him about Pav, and he said the first time he took him for training, his interpreter had to run alongside him. Pav had a 'handy' back injury when it came to travelling to away games.
He was asked about his favourite game, and he found it difficult to pin just one, but he gave a special mention to the the week we beat Woolwich and the Chavs to get us back into top 4 contention, so pleased with the bounce back after the disappointment of losing the FA Cup semi final.
He was really upset that when he came back to The Lane with QPR (and Hod was part of his coaching team), there was no mention of their names in in the programme.
He thinks we'll end up 6th or 7th ( as he thinks the Chavs and the Mancs are showing good form and improvement), but thinks it wouldn't be a disaster if we are out of Europe altogether for one season only- Robbo agreed to that.
He has definitely given up on football management and coaching, happy with playing golf and going to the races (he has 10 horses - Sandra thinks he only has one!). He did say that for a joke, he did phone Daniel when Poch was sacked, to say he would come back and he wouldn't take a salary
. He was asked who he thought would survive the best in the jungle out of the current Premiership managers, and he said Jose. (I personally think Sean Dyche would scare the critters away).Another enjoyable evening, Robbo trying to get Jermain Defoe for next Friday.
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Nah, didn't want the England job, I told Daniel that. 100%. Absolutely.
I said otherwise in my column and my books? Dunno nuffin about that