Harry Redknapp: Sorry to leave Spurs but I'll be back

Spurs could have pushed on but we didn’t strengthen when we needed to... I will be back. I could retire but I love this game and that keeps me going. I enjoy it and I don’t do it for the money.

Harry Redknapp explains why he's sorry to be leaving the Lane, selects his top three moments as Spurs boss and looks ahead to his future...

After four fantastic seasons at Tottenham, I'm very sorry to be leaving. I'm proud of my achievements at White Hart Lane and I can't help thinking about what we might have gone on to win. With the addition of one or two players this summer, I believe we could have won the league. We'll never know and I wish my successor and all the lads well. They're a top bunch and they deserve to succeed.

We could have been in serious title contention this season if we'd made the right signings in January. Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen came in and both did well but the departure of Roman Pavlyuchenko, who I'm pleased to see playing well at the Euros, and Stephen Piennar meant we were weaker in the second-half of the season. We could have pushed on but we didn't strengthen when we needed to.

Three highlights of my time at Tottenham stand out. Beating Inter 3-1 at the Lane was fantastic and demonstrated that we were serious about competing in the Champions League. That gave us the confidence to go to the San Siro, where we'd narrowly lost to Inter, and beat AC Milan on their own patch in the knockout stages.

Those two European ties live long in the memory but the win that got us there was equally sweet. Near the end of my first full season in charge, we went up to Manchester City and sealed fourth place in the Premier League when Peter Crouch scored a second-half header. Top night.

As for the future, I haven't had long to weigh it all up. But what can tell you is that I will be back. I could retire now but I love this game and that keeps me going. I enjoy it and I don't do it for the money. You never know what's going to happen in football.

There are only four or five clubs who can win the Premier League - Alan Pardew worked wonders at Newcastle last year but I always think of the top four plus Liverpool - so to say I'd only manage a club that I believed could win the title would be inaccurate. You never know, my mate Dave Whelan might sell Wigan to a group of billionaires and the football hierarchy could be turned on its head again. But that's unlikely and I think the clubs at the top of the table will dominate for many seasons.

We'll see what happens. After a few defeats managers find themselves under pressure and, while I don't wish that on anyone, it will be interesting to see how next season begins. I'll take my time but I would like to be back soon.

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Mayor of London: Sorry Boris, Ken is on a mission

General Politics Betting / Jack Houghton / 17 February 2012 / Leave a Comment

Casually-coifed buffoonery: voters beginning to tire of Johnson's antics?

"The Conservative-led Government are unpopular among moderates and Johnson will struggle to distance himself from his Westminster brethren."

Despite what the market might be saying, Livingstone should now be favourite for mayoral race, writes Jack Houghton.

Ears piqued politicos, it's pub quiz time.

Question one. Guess the year.

An eccentric, populist Tory, prone to gimmicky publicity stunts. An unpopular Conservative national government, two years into a term of cut-backs and austerity measures, facing rising unemployment and dwindling moderate support. Tension between the Metropolitan Police and ethnic London communities leading to the worst riots in recent memory. Ken Livingstone emerging victorious in May elections to lead the London authority.

The answer, you may have guessed, is 1981.

Question two. Are we set for a repeat in 2012?

The similarities between the casually-coifed Boris Johnson and the bow-tied and bearded Sir Horace Cutler - leader of the GLC between 1977 and 1981 - are easy to draw: both flamboyant Tories; both courtiers of the popular press. And, just as Cutler did in 1981, Johnson now faces Ken Livingstone against the backdrop of an unpopular Tory-led government, and as the man-on-watch when riots lit up the capital.

At a generous looking [2.76], then, no-longer-red-Ken looks a solid bet to regain the mayorship on May 3.

Question three. Why back Ken?
[Note to quizmaster: one mark for each of the following...]

The Conservative-led Government are unpopular among moderates and Johnson will struggle to distance himself from his Westminster brethren. In any election to a devolved body, national politics is a key determiner of voter behaviour. And although Johnson has tried to distance himself from his masters' cuts, opposition parties will constantly remind voters that Johnson campaigned for those masters at the last General Election. When Livingstone was defeated in 2008, it was thought to be largely due to him losing a swathe of swing voters disenchanted with the tail-end of New Labour. Many of those will now come back to him.

Voters have begun to tire of Johnson's buffoonery. I'm not a huge fan of opinion polls, but it's interesting that, despite Livingstone taking a lead in the last two conducted, it is Johnson's price that has shortened of late - albeit only narrowly. Of particular note, though, are not the headline polling numbers, but the significant decline they show, from polls conducted last summer, in how many voters view Johnson as "Strong" and "In touch with the concerns of ordinary people." A series of public order debacles (the most significant being the London riots of August 2011) and a panoply of public relations gaffs (from Damian Green to Chicken Feed to Veronica Wadley to Helen Macintyre) have given Johnson's opposition the perfect tools with which to beat him when campaigning gets going.

The supplementary vote system should favour Livingstone. Even if Johnson is able to win the first preference ballot, it is likely that Livingstone, sweeping up the majority of second preference votes from Liberal Democrat and Green supporters, will win the overall count.

*****

Over in the US, the race for the Republican nomination continues to fascinate. Back at the start of the year, I put up Romney as a lay at [1.30], saying that shifting allegiances could yet see Romney struggle. Since then, under a Gingrich charge, Romney has drifted out to [1.84], hardened back in to [1.13], and now, with Super Tuesday a fortnight away, is back out to [1.45]. It's now getting harder to assess the value in the market, and so I've traded out of my position on Romney for a small profit.

I suggest you do the same. Use your money instead to go back in on Obama to win a second term. Put up at [1.87] here at the start of January, Obama has since hardened into [1.58]. But that price still looks generous: the Republican candidates continue to trash-talk each other on a daily basis and it would take some inept campaigning from Obama's team to be unable to capitalise on that in the Presidential election.

Recommendations:
4pts back Ken Livingstone at [2.76] to win London Mayoral Election.
5pts back Obama at [1.58] to be Next President.

Despite what the markets are saying, Jack Houghton believes Mitt Romney is a weak favourite for the Republican nomination. And whether he becomes his party's candidate or not, the Republicans will struggle to beat Obama in November....

The following article was originally published in the Press Gazette in July 2006. It has been republished here as it is referenced in this article....

Betfair markets show that election is wide-open after Nick Clegg's game-changing performance in the first Live Debate....

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Premier League: Apologies aplenty during sorry weekend

Premier League / Ralph Ellis / 13 February 2012 / Leave a Comment

Mick McCarthy has been sacked following yesterday's 'sorry' performance

"Mick McCarthy has never said sorry for his team’s performance in 20 years as a manager but felt the need to do so after a humiliating 5-1 local derby defeat by West Brom."

When football should have been the main talking point, it was an incident at Old Trafford that made the headlines. Ralph Ellis explains why saying sorry, in most instances, doesn't usually work.

I'm reading Mike Calvin's brilliant fly-on-the-wall book recording a season behind the scenes at Millwall. There's a chapter where Steve Morison, struggling to find his feet after moving from non-League football, gets called into the manager's office after another game without a goal.

Kenny Jackett has been studying the DVD and noticed his centre forward smiling after a collision with the Wycombe defender who was having far too easy a time marking him. "What did you say to him?" asks Jackett. "I just said sorry," says Morrison. "Sorry?" queries his boss. "Sorry? You are Millwall's centre forward, you don't say sorry for anything. You tell him: 'you come near me again and I'll snap you in two.'"

It was the moment that turned Morison's attitude and career round, and he's now knocking people round in the Premier League for Norwich and on the international stage for Wales. He came on as sub in Saturday's 3-2 win at Swansea and presumably he wasn't saying sorry to anybody there, either.

So I wonder what he and Jackett, still fighting to keep the Lions in the Championship on a meagre budget, would have made of this weekend full of apologies. Luis Suarez and Kenny Dalglish were offering them yesterday - and so was Mick McCarthy.

The Wolves boss has never said sorry for one of his team's performances in 20 years as a manager but felt the need to do so after a humiliating 5-1 local derby defeat by West Brom. It dropped his club into the bottom three on goal difference and left them odds on at [1.76] to go down. And sorry might have been the hardest word but it didn't save him - Wolves announced this morning they had sacked him.

The truth is that saying sorry and success don't go together. Winners have that bit of steel that they don't care, and while I certainly don't approve of what Suarez did - or didn't do - at Old Trafford I do admire the nasty edge of arrogance which is one of the facets that make up any top sportsman.

Arsene Wenger never felt the need to explain himself when people were panning him for bringing back Thierry Henry. A last minute winner by the Arsenal legend at Sunderland on Saturday, his third in just 117 minutes of football, shifted the Gunners back into the top four and they are [2.56] to stay .

Blackburn manager Steve Kean has been every bit as resolute in the face of all that's been thrown at him. A lesser man might have admitted he was out of his depth long ago and walked away, but he has stubbornly kept on fighting. A 3-2 home win over QPR was a fantastic boost for him, although there are still trials to come - next up is away to Manchester City - and anything up to [8.8] to finish rock bottom still looks fantastic value.

Roberto Mancini's side continue to set the pace after Joleon Lescott's goal at Aston Villa yesterday secured a 1-0 win that maintained their two point lead over Manchester United. Alex McLeish must be wishing his defenders would stop saying sorry for failing to mark people at corners and start doing their jobs. Another set-piece goal was their undoing yesterday. Villa have not finished outside the top half since 2007 but are [3.0] to reach the top ten this time.

Meanwhile City boss Mancini is steadfastly refusing to back down over his insistence that Carlos Tevez must apologise before he can wear the shirt again. The signs are the Argentinian is ready to do that, and bringing his talent back to the squad would certainly increase the firepower of a club who are already [1.69] to land the title.

Spurs could still make it a three-horse race, of course, after demolishing Newcastle 5-0 in a White Hart Lane love-in for Harry Redknapp on Saturday night. Harry is now [1.4] to be the next England manager. Don't expect him to apologise for leaving - but Tottenham fans will be more than sorry to see him go.

Steve Bruce is being linked with a speedy return to management after Wolves decided to sack Mick McCarthy in the aftermath of their 5-1 home hammering against neighbours West Brom......

There were huge prizes up for grabs on Betfair if you correctly called the scorelines of the games involving Tottenham, Norwich, Everton, Brighton and Barcelona......

City won at Villa Park as Wolves were humilated at home by West Brom, a game that proved to be Mick McCarthy's last in charge......

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