CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINALS
AFTER the bitter disappointment of defeat at Wembley and the anxiety over whether they can secure a Champions League place, the Tottenham board remain sensitive to the subject of an approach from the Football association about Harry Redknapp.
That is perfectly understandable and it has caused a slight division among the White Hart Lane hierarchy, with some insisting the Fa should wait until may 14 and others more relaxed about dialogue taking place sooner rather than later. They acknowledge how respectful the Fa have been already, just as they appreciate that the powerbrokers at Wembley need to crack on. It is 55 days before england meet France in their first game of the european Championship, three days into the tournament.
There is a desire at the Fa, Sportsmail understands, to make contact this week and there really is no reason why they should not when Redknapp has until Saturday to prepare his side for a game at QPR.
Until now the Fa have played it right. They left Redknapp (below) well alone after he was acquitted from a Crown Court trial that proved as physically draining as it was mentally and emotionally.
Then they kept their distance when a tiring Tottenham team started to suffer some disappointing results and the battle for a top-four place became a rather more tense affair.
It still is, of course, but it is also fairly straightforward for Redknapp’s side now they have been eliminated from the Fa Cup. They have five games to secure their return to europe’s biggest stage — encounters with Blackburn, Bolton, aston Villa and Fulham to follow their trip to Loftus Road.
They will not be easy games given the scrap developing at the foot of the Barclays Premier League table. But compare it to the challenge Tottenham faced when they last lost an Fa Cup semi-final while trying to qualify for the Champions League.
after losing to Portsmouth at Wembley, they beat arsenal and Chelsea before winning the decisive game at manchester City.
Things are different this time. Two years ago the Fa were not searching desperately for a new manager. But how much has being linked with the job really unsettled everything, when Redknapp has been the favourite for it all season — we knew long before Fabio Capello’s sudden departure in February that he would be gone by the start of next season — and Tottenham’s first two games after Capello left the Fa were a 5-0 win over newcastle and a 5-2 defeat at arsenal?
everyone at Tottenham expects Redknapp to be the manager of england come the summer. The players, the staff, the directors, with chairman Daniel Levy already thought to have drawn up a shortlist of replacements that includes Brendan Rodgers, Carlo ancelotti and David moyes. But one man remains left in limbo — Redknapp himself — and it is starting to become unfair if he really is the man the Fa want.
Redknapp publicly dismisses such talk but it might help him focus more clearly on the task ahead with Tottenham if he knew, for sure, that the Fa want him.
Right now he really cannot be certain, and he could be forgiven for starting to wonder if Tottenham’s dip in form is harming his chances of succeeding Capello.
Is one win in seven Premier League games and a 5-1 thumping at Wembley, albeit after a phantom goal, forcing the Fa hierarchy to think again?
IT would be only human for Redknapp to have such concerns, just as it would be only human to let his mind wander to the challenges he might face this summer.
Who would be in his squad? Who would be in his coaching staff? The longer this drags on, the less it helps all involved.
The Fa want to have things sorted by the end of the month and Tottenham should let them talk to Redknapp so he can actually relax a bit in the knowledge that his career is taking one particular direction.
The advantage for fourth spot remains with Tottenham when Chelsea have to juggle an Fa Cup final and two legs of a Champions League semi-final against Barcelona.
Chelsea also have Premier League games against arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn, QPR and a newcastle side also involved in the battle for fourth spot.
Chelsea travel to anfield on the Tuesday after the two teams meet in their Wembley final. as well as going to Chelsea, newcastle play manchester City and meet Stoke, Wigan and everton, too.
Redknapp insists his side can repeat the success of two years ago. ‘That’s going to happen again now,’ he said defiantly. ‘We have to show some character.’ He could still use his future being resolved, though.