Beginning of a New Era at Tottenham—Again?

Anybody who watched the two Spurs games that Harry Redknapp took charge of in the last four days will realize that Tottenham are no longer the laughing stock of the English Premier League. 

The question is, what will happen to the Spurs side in the long run?

If I remembered correctly, I argued recently that Spurs' former manager, Juande Ramos, will be sacked if results did not go Spurs' way in the beginning of this season.

I was right. Such is the nature of the Spurs' board of directors that a few wrong results will trigger them to push the "sack" button.

Look at how many managers Spurs have had over the last few seasons. Starting from Christian Gross, Spurs went through the management of George Graham, Glenn Hoddle, Martin Jol, Juande Ramos, and now Harry Redknapp.

It was almost impossible for a manager to settle down and work on a team that had promised so much, yet delivered so little.

Now Redknapp has a task that is seemingly insurmountable, considering the history of this capricious Spurs board. Redknapp may go on to win the FA Cup, League Cup, or even the English Premier League this season but if his Spurs side misfire again next season, he may well be out of a job.

In the build up to the Arsenal v. Spurs game, Wenger came out and defended Juande Ramos. Wenger mentioned that Ramos did not deserve the sack and given more time, he would have been able to get his ideas through to his Spurs side.

This is definitely a point to consider for the Spurs board. A manager is not a messiah. As the match commentator for the Arsenal v. Spurs game said last night, there are no messiahs in football. In such a highly competitive league, simply choosing the right players that look strong on paper may not necessarily deliver the right results.

I am pretty sure that given more time, Ramos would have steered Spurs' future for the better.

Yet, here we are now, discussing about the future of Spurs under Harry Redknapp.

Redknapp is a great coach. He knows the pressures of a big club stuck in relegation battles. I am sure he will bring Spurs out of the relegation zone and into mid table safety. Judging from his first two games in charged so far, my prediction seems to be on the right track.

But the question is no longer about this season.

To constrain the future of this illustrious club to merely this season will be to ignore the root of the whole problem.

Spurs is a team in need of long term stability. Whether Redknapp is the answer to this necessity, I am not sure. But if he is sacked again when the results don't go the way of Spurs, I am pretty sure that the rest of the footballing world will sigh, "here we go again".