Said and done — Redknapp
Tuesday, 3rd Feb 2015 21:05 by Clive Whittingham

Harry Redknapp’s excuses, half-truths and outright lies continued right down to the bitter end, when his long-standing knee condition suddenly caused a resignation the day after the transfer window ended. LFW rounds up the best/worst.

Lonely in Ireland

Harry says: We're short in key areas. We went on a pre-season tour to Ireland two weeks before the season and I only took 12 players with me.

Real world says: The club's official website (still) lists those 12 players as: Rob Green, Brian Murphy, Joe Lumley, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Caulker, Clint Hill, Armand Traore, Ale Faurlin, Danny Simpson, Nedum Onuoha, Richard Dunne, Joey Barton, Yun Suk-Young, Karl Henry, Junior Hoilett, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Matt Phillips, Charlie Austin, Adel Taarabt and Bobby Zamora.

Newbies

Harry says: "To be honest, our team hasn't changed an awful lot from last year when we finished miles behind Burnley and Leicester, it's still more or less the same group."

Real world says: QPR have signed Rio Ferdinand, Steven Caulker, Jordon Mutch, Leroy Fer, Jack Robinson, Alex McCarthy, Sandro, Eduardo Vargas, Mauricio Isla and Mauro Zarate for fees in the region of £30m since the play-off final. Leicester have signed eight players for £4.5m. Burnley have signed eight players for £10m.

The boy Sandro

Harry says: "‘Sandro injured his knee after scoring a goal in training and sliding on the dry ground celebrating."

One week later: "Sandro says he didn't do it sliding on his knees. I saw him slide, that's when I thought he'd done it."

How much?

Harry says: "I don't deal with the contracts, that's up to Phil and the chairman. I couldn't tell you what each player earns."

Post Newcastle December 2012: “Bosingwa didn’t travel. He felt he was too good to be on the substitute’s bench. I’ve fined him two weeks’ wages, which is £130,000, which isn’t bad for two weeks work is it?"

Post Liverpool September 2014: "Adel played in a reserve team game the other day, and I could have run about more than he did. I can't keep protecting people who don't want to run about and train, who are about three stone overweight. What am I supposed to keep saying, keep getting your 60, 70 grand a week but don't train?"

Pre-Man Utd January 2015: “I've told Shaun Wright-Phillips he needs to go out on loan or permanently. He's not going to move if he's got a fantastic contract. If you're earning X amount and somebody is offering you nowhere near that you're not going to go. I like him an awful lot, he comes out, trains hard, but he earns fantastic money. He had a chance to go on loan to Blackburn, Bolton, one or two clubs, Charlton, but he tells me I'm not interested. Nobody will pay the same money he earns here. You can't blame the boy, if you're earning 1000 a week and you're offered 100 a week you're not going to go. Nobody is blaming him, he's got a great contract.”

Evil media

Harry says: "I don't read the newspapers."

August 25: "It's only some idiots writing rubbish, people who don't understand the game want to write nonsense."

September 20: Filmed by club's tunnel cam walking into the home dressing room with three newspapers including the Mail rolled up under his arm.

Post-Villa after he'd been accused in the papers of deflecting attention away from improvements against Liverpool with his 'Adel Taarabt 3-stone overweight' spat: "I've no need to deflect the attention away from a positive result today, as I was supposed to have done last week, which was the biggest load of nonsense I've ever heard in my life."

Pre-Swansea: "All the good judges at the start of the year had West Brom 37-38 points, QPR 35 points, Palace 36-37 points, all the teams are where they should be. We're halfway to what people predicted who study these things."

Fatigue

Harry says: "Sheff Utd looked sharper than us all over the pitch. They were brighter and better than us and looked like a team that had ten days without playing a game - we were playing our fourth and looked lethargic. We looked sluggish today."

Real world says: QPR had played 22 times prior to that game and enjoyed three separate fortnights off for international breaks, during which time only four senior players travelled to play for their countries. Sheff United do not get the international breaks off and they compete in one more competition than QPR, play in a division where you have eight more fixtures than the Premier League, and have reached the semi-final of a cup Rangers shuffled out of at the first hurdle. Nigel Clough's team had played 33 times prior to the game at Loftus Road .

Of the QPR team selected for that game Alex McCarthy had not played at all since October; Nedum Onuoha played in defence having sat out the previous two just like Sheff Utd; Rio Ferdinand started for only the second time since September; Armand Traore played down the left after only playing 62 minutes since November 29; Jordon Mutch had played twice in the month leading up to it; Matt Phillips had just an hour at Everton and a quarter of an hour against Palace to his name in two months; and Junior Hoilett had started only once during the Christmas fixtures.

When is a striker not a striker?

Harry says: "West Ham have got four good strikers, I've only got two here — I've got Charlie and Bobby."

Real world says: Eduardo Vargas has 18 goals in 38 appearances for the Chilean national team as a striker.

Systems

August 24 Post Spurs: 'I don't know if the (back three) system is a problem. We were slower on the ball and were off the pace a bit - in certain areas we weren't sharp enough. I don't think it is systems. That system allows me to get two strikers into the team which I was trying to do. You look to play 4-4-2 and you get slaughtered in midfield, it is not easy."

August 30 v Sunderland : Switches to 4-4-2, wins 1-0.

Stupid

August 25: "I love Les, I took him back to Tottenham, he's a super fella. I've got Glenn here, we'll end up with more coaches than players if we're not careful. Les would be a great person to have here, but I don't know where this director of football stuff is coming from."

October 7: Les Ferdinand returns to QPR as head of football operations.

Pants down

Post Newcastle December 2012: “There are a lot of players at this club who earn far too much money. Far too much for their ability and what they give to the club. I don’t really want to see the owners have their pants taken down like they have in the past.”

January 2013: Signs Chris Samba for £12.5m from Anzhi on wages reported as high as £100,000 a week and Loic Remy for £8m and £80,000 a week from Marseille.

Man with a plan

Harry says post-Man Utd: "It was disappointing, Man Utd have got quality up front. We didn't have a cutting edge up front to cause them problems. Things were going along nicely, I've come here over the years and been smashed to pieces in 25 minutes, they hadn't had a shot after 25 minutes."

Karl Henry says: "We didn't know whether to press them or sit back, so we sort of got caught in between."

Dotted line

August 25: "I'll be signing a new deal today or tomorrow - a two year extension. I'll sign it. I haven't read it, probably won't even read it, I'll just sign it.

September 12: I haven't seen the contract yet, the chairman and Phil have been busy. We haven't got round to it. There's no timeline. Nobody is being difficult. Maybe we'll get it done today, or tomorrow.

September 18: "No I still haven't signed the contract. I've got to nip down the ground and get it done. Maybe today."

October 17: "The impasse over my contract, I won't tell you lies, is because I wasn't bothered about signing a new contract. Not bothered in the slightest. Didn't bother me. There's a manager in the Premier League with an eight year contract, if he gets the sack he won't get eight years money. What is a contract? Contracts mean nothing. I don't need a contract."

Bunse

Harry says: "I was up at 4am this morning and I was out of my house at twenty to five. I must be doing it for some reason, I enjoy it. I'm not doing it to feed the dogs this week."

August to present: Appears in adverts for the prestigious Bet666 website. Previously appeared in adverts for Nintendo Wii.

The Boy Remy

August 14: "Losing Remy at the end of the window would be the worst-case scenario but I don't think he would do that to us. He's a good lad and has a good relationship with the chairman. A week before the window closes we will need to know where we are going but I don't think he would suddenly walk away the day before. He's too decent a guy to do that."

August 31: Loic Remy joins Chelsea for £8.5m.

The problem with Adel

October 3: "You've got to have patience with Adel. I get on well with him."

October 19: "He is not injured. He’s not fit. He’s not fit to play football unfortunately. He played in a reserve game the other day and I could have run about more than he did. I can’t pick him. I pick people who want to try, who deserve to be at a good football club like QPR, who come in every day and want to work, train and show a good attitude. When he starts doing that, if he ever can do it, maybe he’ll get a game.”

October 21: “The only reason he has lost weight is because he has had tonsillitis — even I could suck my stomach in for a picture and look OK.”

January 9: "With Adel I can’t get him fit. If he was, he’d been in my squad.

January 10: Taarabt starts at Burnley. “I was pleased with Adel, I thought he worked hard. He played well.

January 17: Taarabt dropped for Man Utd at home.

Excellent young boy

August: “Jordon Mutch is a fine young player, with a big, big future. He's already shown what he can do at this level with Cardiff last season, with a decent goals return, and this move will provide him with a great platform to take his game onto the next level."

January: Sold to Crystal Palace at a financial loss after nine appearances - never more than two of them consecutively, never twice consecutively in the same position.

Nights out

Before Man Utd at home: “I go home Saturday night from Burnley and I can’t talk to my wife. I can’t talk to anybody. I get so low. It’s scary. It’s not right really, but that’s how it gets you. When I stop feeling like that is probably the time I should retire. When I go home and think, 'Oh, it doesn’t matter — what’s for dinner, darling?’ Have some fish and a nice glass of wine. I go home now and just sit up watching television, watching football until about 05.00 on Sunday morning in a room on my own. It’s wrong. It’s a silly way to live your life, but if you care, you care. You can’t change the way you are.''

After Man Utd at home: ''Do I look like I feel under pressure? When I get home I'll take my wife for a nice meal somewhere, have a nice bottle of wine, then in the morning wake up and take my dogs for a walk. My life's very good.”

February 3: “The last week has been the tipping point. I can barely move and I'm not enjoying my life.”

February 3: “I can't even walk the dogs. I stand watching the team play, and I'm struggling. It's reached a point where I can't ignore it any longer. It's not a decision I would take lightly. I've thought about it a few times this season, but have always decided to give it one last go.”

Talk to me about training

October 25: “I'm first one out on that training ground every single day. Every day. Anybody who says I'm not out there every day is lying. I'm in this ground 07.30 every morning. Everybody can bring their cameras any day of the week, when the players are out there I'm there.”

February 2: “I'm struggling so badly now. I can't walk, I can barely stand and watch. I'm in pain all the time. I went to see my grandson play football at the weekend, and after five minutes had to go back to the car. I couldn't even stand up. What sort of life is it if you can't watch the kids play? I feel positive about the future at Rangers — Sandro is back at the weekend and he will make a huge difference. We've got other players coming back from injury, too — if I could get out and coach them like I could five years ago, I'd be optimistic. But I can't.”

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London_Pride added 21:31 - Feb 3 And not to forget the famous 'Niko practices those free kicks all the time in training' ....
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pedrosqpr added 21:47 - Feb 3 I suppose I could stick the knife in further after my trip to Stoke and our farcical defending but I hope Harry has a speedy return to health and enjoy taking his dog rosie out for walks . we all move on
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Burnleyhoop added 21:50 - Feb 3

Sorry Harry, it doesn't make good reading does it. Constant contradiction and essentially full of shit. Your signings have been abysmal, man management non existent and tactics laughable. Thanks for dragging us back into the cess Pitt that is the Premier league, but your style of management belongs back in the 70's. Sort your knees and get back on the golf course, we need a plan and quickly before we sink without trace.

romfordranger added 21:59 - Feb 3

Good riddance Harry, never bothered with tactics and never had a plan, just going through the motions in the end. Couldn't motivate himself, so how the hell could he motivate the player. He should have been sacked around the time both WBA and Palace fired their managers. At least their new managers have strengthend their squads. We desperately needed a couple of new faces and certainly a striker. Still, at least now we have some hope, hopefully Sir Les gets a chance and if we go down, let's stick with him anyway and plan for the future. Develop the youth squad and give the youngsters a chance. I suddenly feel excited again and looking forward to Saturday and the start of a new era.

connell10 added 22:51 - Feb 3 Arry myth busted!
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TacticalR added 23:08 - Feb 3 As one of the characters says in 'Life of Brian'...'He's making it up as he goes along'.
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cranieboy added 23:23 - Feb 3

The irony that he has decided to go the day after the transfer window shut without making any signings just cannot be ignored, it just seems that he's saying "if you don't let me sign these players then there's no point". Where he should have been working his best efforts to motivate and dictate tactics/game plans to those players we do have, many of which he has overseen the purchase of. Whether we are good enough in this division remains to be seen, but we definately should have been trying harder and working as a team, with balance and some shape and purpose. I think Arry is right it's about the players on the pitch but it was his job to procure them and then train, motivate, galvanise and send them out with a clear plan and counter plan and know when and how to change things if it didn't work. Unfortunately we saw little of that, for a few games at home we have tried hard and done well albeit in a fairly one dimensional way, and that all hinges on one Bobby Zamora not only having a good game but being fit most games, which is a high risk strategy. I am quite pleased he's gone but wish he'd gone a few weeks earlier at least, did he not know his knees were bad before the deadline?
Now looking forward and hoping(eternal optimist even after all this time) that whoever takes over can at least give us something to be proud of and a semblance of a team that cares and gives it a go.

NathanNI added 06:18 - Feb 4 What a total c*nt. Reading this makes me fume. Ah. Onward and upwards.
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QPunkR added 09:29 - Feb 4 Buh-bye, King of Shysters
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marty7 added 13:02 - Feb 4

Great article again Clive. I noticed most of these as they happened, and I'm glad you've opened a few more eyes to what a senile old dinosaur of a manager he really is, and how out of touch he is with the modern game. I made a promise after the Man.Utd. game, that I wouldn't watch my beloved Hoops again until HR left. I couldn't keep my promise, and watched them vs Stoke, but for the 1st time in my 40 years as a supporter I didn't celebrate our goal, and only realised a couple of minutes later. Felt strange, and yet I was jumping around like we'd just stuffed Man.Utd, when I heard the news he gone last night. Up or down? Who know's, but now I look forward to watching my beloved Hoops again.

DANRANGER added 14:55 - Feb 4

And he is still at it. Heard him on Talk sport this morning. Yesterday claiming how he couldn't go to watch Fulham - Sunderland cos of his knee but stating he'll go to Bournemouth to pass the time and was at Liverpool - Chelsea only a week ago (His knee wasn't a problem last week then).

Truly staggering how some of the press believe his sh1t! Anyone see the Adrian Durham column on the mail online yesterday blaming the players and not the manager for the defeat at Stoke. It must have been posted hours before he left so made Durham look a complete fool once again.

smegma added 15:15 - Feb 4

Truly staggering someone reads anything spouted by Adrian Durham. No doubt Harry will pop up on the MOTD sofa soon. You know, the programme that is filmed in Manchester, some 250 odd miles from Sandbanks. Maybe he'll get Bondie to drive him there as his knees are agony and he can't read a sat hav or the motorway signs as he cant read of course. In fact, he's going blind, has had glaucoma for 50 years. And he's diabetic, causes untold grief. and has he told you about the boils on his arse?

saintjeff52 added 08:29 - Feb 5

I feel so sorry for you all at QPR. No, I am being serious. What did you do to deserve such a self promoting, over rated Manager like Arry ? Sadly, I think you will be relegated again this season. That's TWO Relegations down to Arry. Of course, It's not his fault you know !!
Arry left West Ham in trouble all those years ago. He was instrumental, with others, in destroying Portsmouth. No, I am not a Pompey Hater. He couldn't give a toss in the 20 games in charge with us in 2004-2005. He took us down, and we continued downwards for another 4 years, until Liebherr saved our Club.
Have you noticed that Arry ALWAYS walks away before the Final Meltdown. He did it at West Ham, Pompey, Us, and now you. The Football League will be gunning for you should you actually be relegated.
You as a Club deserved better than Arry. I wish you all well, after Saturday of course, as I think that your Owner is a decent Man, but has been caught up in the Arry Circus !