T’riffic, cheers Levy.

It’s 4pm in the afternoon, I’m still in my dressing gown and I’m chowing down on some Tesco Everyday Value chocolate biscuits, searching for YouTube clips of obscure Jonah Hill interviews. Now this only happens on two occasions: 1. Sundays and 2. On realising something really terrible has happened like your best mate’s been kicked out of Uni., you’ve been cheated on, or that you live in a country that is in love with an old lady who wears silly hats. And it’s not Sunday.

Last night I went to bed in the knowledge that my beloved football team Tottenham Hotspur were sacking the best manager we’ve had in decades. Harry Redknapp sauntered into Spurs as manager when we were bottom of the Premier League, in the 2008/09 season, with two points from eight games. In that campaign he took us to a commendable 8th position and in the next he did the unthinkable, guiding us to the elusive 4th place, a spot in the Champions League, and our highest League position since 1990. Redknapp, within the space of a season, had transformed us from a mediocre, perpetual mid-table finishing team, into Champions League competitors.

The next season saw us defeat both Internazionale and AC Milan to reach the competition’s quarter-finals and finish 5th in the League. Again, in the season just ended, Redknapp had moulded together a side boasting scintillating flair with the likes of Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart; pace, youth, and English potential in Aaron Lennon and Kyle Walker and some much needed solidity at the back, with William Gallas and Younes Kaboul forming a resolute partnership. If it weren’t for a mid-season wobble our ever-improving squad were touted as title contenders, and Harry once again took us to the final Champions League 4th spot, only for Chelsea to cruelly take our place in the competition away by winning it this season, and finishing below us in the league.

Now, if you’re not a football fan right now you’re probably thinking Mr Redknapp must have either killed David Levy’s (the chairman) family or slept with his wife, to warrant getting the sack. And with all due respect to Harry, neither seem feasible somehow. The reasons speculated in the media regarding Harry’s dismissal are threefold:

1) The (unpreventable) speculation linking him with the vacant England manager’s job and his court trial in which he was cleared of tax evasion charges, affected our league form last season and hence the side aren’t in the Champions League next season.

2) He’s too old.

and 3) Levy, didn’t want to offer him a long-term contract extension, Harry sulked, so Levy said ‘good riddance’.

However, none of these reasons are sufficient enough to explain why such a catalyst for out radical improvement should be dismissed. Firstly, there is no psychological, scientific evidence that Harry’s off-field problems distressed the players on the pitch, he was always very gracious about the club and fans for their support of him during the court proceedings and dismissive of the idea that he would leave Spurs in the cold for the England job, constantly publicly stating how much he loves the people around the club and the day-to-day running of the first team. Also, he was very unlucky to see us not be able to attend the Champions League party next season, despite finishing 4th, given the unorthodox case of Chelsea finishing 6th in the league, yet winning the greatest club competition in Europe.

Secondly, Redknapp quite rightly scoffed at a reporter suggesting he is coming to the end of his career, after his sacking, stating how he is certainly not too old considering Sir Alex Ferguson is in his 70s and in charge of the second best team in England. And finally, Levy is a fool to not want to extend the contract of a person who not only has done wonders for our club, is widely considered to be the best english manager around, and is universally respected in the game. As such Harry would be well within his right to be a little choked at allegedly only being offered a year-long extension to the one year he already had left on his contract.

As a result, Levy and Spurs will now have to pay out an expensive compensation package to Redknapp, try and find a new manager (who will no doubt be inferior in terms of nous and experience), and deal with the mass exodus of quality players who will now be inclined to leave the club, as they were that attached to such a knowledgeable and loveable coach, which Redknapp undeniably is. What this whole episode has again proven is that a bunch of rich oligarchs should not be trusted with the day-to-day running of a top football side and Spurs have once more needlessly pressed the self-destruct button.