Redknapp: Crazy wages leave Scots out in cold
● Top players won’t come north for trophies
Harry Redknapp has painted a stark picture of Scottish football’s pulling power by claiming that only players in the final stages of their career would swap the top flight in England for a club north of the border.
Rangers have this season managed to lure Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis to Ibrox but both men are bordering on superannuated in footballing terms.
Defoe is 36 and Davis 34 and Redknapp believes such an age profile is consistent with the type of big-name player Scottish football is now able to attract.
The former Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United manager states that the inflated salaries paid by clubs in England’s Premier League makes it very difficult for Celtic and Rangers to compete, despite the platforms offered by both clubs through their huge fanbases and the intensity and global renown of their rivalry.
“It sounds nice, but players are not going to take a massive wage cut to come up here for a trophy,” said Redknapp, who was at Trump Turnberry Golf Course to promote the John Hartson Foundation annual golf day.
“Players today don’t do wage cuts. Whatever way you box it up, if you get £100,000 in England and you’re offered £50,000 a week here but you might win a trophy – you ain’t coming! It’s just not going to happen.
“People are earning crazy money now [in England]. Even average players are earning £100,000 a week. I spoke to a boy the other week who is playing at a bottom half club and he wanted to move. He was on £80,000 a week, it is crazy.
“If you’re going to get names
up in Scotland it’s going to be guys at 33 or 34 at the moment. You might get some players from the Premier League up to Rangers or Celtic but you’re not going to get the top players [because of ] the money.”
Redknapp added: “You can talk about the challenge, but, without being disrespectful, the challenge is of being in Glasgow playing for Rangers or Celtic. But what about the rest of the games, if you are honest about it?
“Whereas in the Premier League, every week is a proper game. I watch all the games, if it is a midweek game in Scottish football I watch it. But apart from Rangers and Celtic… Aberdeen are a good side but they are nowhere near Premier League if we are honest.”
There is no doubt in Harry Redknapp’s mind that Rangers under Steven Gerrard are getting there. Said by some to be the greatest English manager that his country never had, Redknapp just doesn’t know if England’s former captain will get there in the timeframe demanded by the Ibrox club’s predicament.
Redknapp, whose son Jamie played with Gerrard at Liverpool and then shared a television studio with him as a fellow analyst, believes the 39-year-old is fulfilling his destiny by taking on an unforgiving first role in management. Despite the club heading towards an eighth consecutive season without a major trophy, the 72-year-old personality believes that Gerrard has made sufficient impact in his first year in the coaching frontline to suggest Celtic will be pushed further in the quest for a ninth straight title next year.
“Stevie’s done well. He can’t do miracles. He’s done what he could do, he’s improved Rangers this year big time,” he said. “The future looks good for Rangers, I think, over the next few years. I’m sure about that. They’ll get stronger again next year, I’m certain of that. They’ll close the gap. There’s still a way to go with Celtic, but Stevie’s making progress.
“He’s done very well and it’s good to see him in management. I think it was a great move for him, to come up here and manage one of the great clubs. OK, people can say Celtic and Rangers in Europe at the moment aren’t doing well. But, listen, they’re still two of the biggest clubs in the world. Wherever you go in the world, America – I played in the States – there are people supporting Rangers and Celtic. They’ve got massive supports.
“They are two great football clubs and to manage one of them for his first job was a great move for Stevie. Outside of managing a decent Premier League team there wouldn’t be a better job around. Stevie started on TV, he was also coaching the kids at Liverpool, but when this opportunity came along it was too good for him to turn down. It’s what he wants to do in his life. He wants to be a manager
and it’s good he’s getting the chance.” Redknapp was there when Gerrard took the first steps that have led him to his current position, with a first-team debut at the age of 18, in 1998. What he learned in the 18-year senior career that followed, which made him a storied figure for a club he led to Champions League success, can all be brought to bear in this new phase of his footballing life.
“You’ve only got to listen to him, he knows what he’s about, he knows the game. He’ll be a big, big success in management,” said Redknapp. “You look at Rangers, it needed lifting again. They improved a bit last year. It was too good an opportunity for Stevie to turn down.
“I always knew Stevie would go into management. I just thought he was an amazing footballer, a great character and a great lad. He’s switched on and I always felt he would be a big success whatever he did. Stevie was a bit younger when Jamie was there, but they’ve always been good pals. I remember Jamie saying to me one day, ‘there’s a kid playing in the youth team here, he’s just started training with the first team, my God you want to see him play.’ I saw probably his first game, I think he came on at rightback. Then it was midfield – and he quicklyshowedhow incredibleheis.”
Redknapp thinks it is incredible that Gerrard’s Rangers prospects will be on the line if he cannot stop Celtic equalling the record nine-in-a-row run of Scottish titles.
The Ibrox side’s dealings, rather than whether Neil Lennon is named permanent successor to the departed Brendan Rodgers at Celtic, could determine how realistic bringing to an end their rivals’ league dominance is, Redknapp believes. Equally, he knows that Celtic can flex financial muscle at the behest of largest shareholder Dermot Desmond, pictured, that is beyond the Ibrox side.
“Whether he can be the man to turn it around will depend on their recruitment in the summer,” Redknapp said. “But the gap is closing. They could do it next year. Good players are the most important thing, aren’t they? When you have got good players it is an easy job. If they can get a couple of top players in, it could tip the balance possibly. But Dermot Desmond’s a winner in whatever he does. Will he up the ante? He’s such a clever man. He’s done amazing with Celtic. He will keep pushing Celtic on but Rangers will keep pushing on too.
“Stevie’s not going to want to stand still at Rangers, is he? He’s going to try and stop them [Celtic] getting that title again. But it’s good because a few years ago with no Rangers in the league it was farcical. But now they are back in the top flight it’s good again. I follow it. It’s not a one-horse race any more.”
• Harry Redknapp was speaking at The John Hartson Foundation Golf Event at Turnberry. In its ninth year, The Hartson Foundation helps to raise awareness on testicular cancer and will exceed £1 million this year in funds raised.