Harry’s tired of plaudits
Spurs boss Mau r icio Pochettino insists Harry Kane is getting bored of hearing how good he is.
The hitman heads into today’s Premier League opener against Newcastle with words of praise from his gaffer ringing in his ears yet again.
But Pochettino won’t stop talking up the England star because he’s one of the best in the business.
Kane will make it 100 Spurs goals in just 166 games if he nets at St James’ Park this afternoon.
And his boss said: “It’s a massive achievement . Harry is one of the best strikers in the world.
“Harry f inds it boring sometimes and says, ‘Please gaffer, move on – you always say the same thing.’
“He’s just a fantastic professional. We hope he’ll score on Sunday.”
Spurs full- back Danny Rose caused a storm last week by blasting the club for their pay structure and transfer policy.
But despite losing Kyle Walker to Manchester City, Pochettino believes they can still challenge for the title.
He said : “It ’ s a big challenge for us to make Tottenham a winning team, to build a strong mentality and challenge the big sides who are spending a lot.
“But when you see our philosophy and the way we work, it’s so exciting. We try to win in a different way to other clubs.” McNamara were on a hiding to nothing. And having witnessed his long-time pal go through it all, Donnelly is certain that he doesn’t want to be a manager.
As he reflected on his longest period out of the game since he broke through at Celtic as a 17-year- old striker, he told MailSport: “I do miss it. But then I think of how it ended at Dundee United and the experience at York.
“They were the two worst experiences I’ve had in football.
“I miss the good stuff and being out on the training pitch. But I don’t miss all the rubbish that goes along with it. The backbiting and in-house politics, I don’t like any of that.
“I regret going to York. In hindsight, it wasn’t the right move. I can’t speak for Jackie but it was a bad experience for me.
“It was a hard period that you just had to get through and put behind you.
“There was a lot of criticism but I was used to that throughout my career, even as a player.
“You can be the best thing since sliced bread one week and the world’s worst the next. Results dictate everything.
“But fans don’t see what goes on behind the scenes at football clubs. I watched Jackie put his hand in his own pocket at times for players – to try to get that extra per cent – but fans don’t see that.
“I don’t see me being a manager now. Having watched all the stuff Jackie had to deal with – things not even on the pitch – I don’t want that. That’s not for me, it’s not what I’m about.
“I like working with the players on the training pitch and I get a buzz out of Saturdays. For the first four or five years at Partick Thistle and United it was terrific. But then you get to see the other side of it.”
McNamara and Donnelly had built a reputation at Thistle and United as one of Scotland’s most exciting managerial double acts.
And even after their bitter exit from Tannadice, their stock was still high.
But the decision to take over at English League Two outfit York looks to have been ill-judged.
Donnelly said: “We’d come from a place where we were working with international players – boys who went on to bigger things at Celtic and elsewhere.
“Robertson has gone on to be a £10million player at Liverpool. We were working with real quality.
“We went from that to a league where the percentage, long ball is always the first choice. We found that really difficult. It was a tough transition in an environment we didn’t know that well.
“Our ideas and beliefs on how to play football couldn’t be put across. It was almost impossible.
“We intended to do at York what we’d done at Partick Thistle. We built a team in two years who went on to promotion. “We thought we could do that again down there. But up here Jackie, along with myself, has good contacts in Glasgow. There are people we can tap into. Down there it was very difficult.”
McNamara stood down as York boss last October then took on a new role as the club’s chief executive.
With Gary Mills coming in as gaffer there was no place for Donnelly who is now still looking to get back in the game. But he knows, after the York fiasco, that it has to be the right job.
He said: “I don’t worry that work won’t come. I probably just see things in a different light now.
“I speak to a lot of guys, like at the six-a-sides, who have experienced what I’m going through out of the game.
“But they aren’t keen to go back in unless it’s the right job. And that’s what I’ve learnt.
“You need to have the correct conditions to implement what you believe in. Of