Im not comparing the two managers.
Im pointing out that if you want to factor in everything else for one, its fair to do so for the other.
Redknapp took over a far worse situation with zero preparation, so how everything was just in the right place at the right time for him, only you can tell.
You say his greatest accomplishment was to stop our bleeding. Yet it took him one month to move us from rock bottom to mid table,
Your rose-tinted glasses are showing, Sammy. Harry got the job on October 26th and we ended off the month with a record of 1-3-6 that accounted for 6 total points. The win came on the day he was appointed manager, and we were sitting in dead last. By the end of January, we finally hit maybe the lowest position that you could reasonably call a team mid-table. We were in 14th place with a record of 6-6-12. In three months of him at the healm, we won four games, tied three, and lost six more. We weren't doing well, but there were others that did significantly worse.
As for things being there at the right place and time, Harry walked into a team that just picked up the following players that summer before he came on board:
Modric
Gomes
Pav
Corluka
We had also acquired Dos Santos and Bentley in that time as well, but they came to very little obviously. Within two months of him joining, we gained Defoe, Cudicini, Palacios, and brought back Keane. Aside from Defoe, I highly doubt that we can attribute most of those acquisitions to Redknapp considering he had been there for two months and we are well aware of Levy's positions on transfers.
As for the next summer, the only players of note (that had an impact on that season's success) was Crouch and Krancjar.
So, yes, I think it is fair to say that within one year of transfer windows, and remember he wasn't even around for the first one, he wound up with ten players that would have an impact during that successful season.
and he achieved the same as Poch did in the CC in half the time and no pre season.
And it was his system that allowed for that to happen, or the dark cloud that was Ramos was finally pushed out?
The next season it was 4th.
People didnt want to talk about that when they were crying about AVb not being given enough time after 18 months. And while Im a Poch backer, and want him to be given his entire contract and not a day less, I also want to see some progression in terms of our football and position, so no, in two years, if we are still treading water (in those terms) I wont be all zen about it.
Most people think Harry was a clown.
Well, Im afraid, its him who has set the benchmark for our PL era, and he did it in his first full season.
He helped, and did so wonderfully. What he did not do was something along the lines of what Poch is attempting to do. Build a new system, implement a new way of training, mindset, and level of fitness we haven't really seen yet. I'm a fan of Poch but we will have to see how this pans out for him, considering AVB was trying the same thing and didn't do so well. We can't take away credit from Harry but we can't overly attribute credit to him as well.
