Premier League - Harry Redknapp extends his contract at Tottenham till 2013
Harry Redknapp also known as Harry Houdini has decided to extend his stay in London by putting pen to paper on a contract extension. Now he will be at Spurs till 2013.
The previous contract would have seen him leave the club by 2011, but the great work that Harry has done at Spurs prompted the board to make sure they keep hold of the man for much longer. The initial contract did have the clause that if Tottenham wanted to add 2 more years to the contract they could do so, hence they used that clause to further his stay.
Harry said he is very happy to have extended his contract, because he believes in this club and knows he can do a lot more there in the next few years.
The former Portsmouth manager said that he has loved his time with Spurs, if things start to go well he may even stay there for many more years after 2013.
Harry Redknapp led the club to phenomenal success in the 2009-10 season. Tottenham finished 4th in the league and that is their best finish till date. Now they also get the chance to play Champions League football in the upcoming season.
There are a lot of perks that come with playing in Europe; there is the obvious financial advantage and when more money starts pouring in the cash can be used to lure in big names. Hence, both are directly linked with one another.
Harry Redknapp has immense respect among his peers and was also named the manager of the season for the Barclays Premier League season 2009-10.
Harry said he is already 63 and who knows how long he can carry on doing this. He added that he will continue to do the job as long as he has the energy and he keeps enjoying it.
He said that there are many examples for him to follow; he referred to the Manchester United manager sir Alex Ferguson who is now 68 and has been at the helm of united for more than 2 decades. Harry said he gives me inspiration to keep going and not only him, he said that the current England Manager Fabio Capello is also 64 but he is showing no signs of slowing down.
After that there is Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, who is already 60 but seems young enough to go on for a decade more at least, and finally Roy Hodgson who is not 62 but earning great success. He guided a team like Fulham to the final of the Europa League and now is in charge of Liverpool.
Redknapp said that all of them are pretty much in the same age bracket but look at the commitment and energy they have. The hunger for win at this age that these men have is phenomenal and he said that they inspire him to go on and on. Harry added that there is nothing better than experience and that is what all these men have and so does he. As a result age cannot be termed as a problem but an advantage.
Harry left Portsmouth in 2008 to take over the reins of Tottenham at a time when they were relegation threatened. By Christmas they were the best pick of the pundits to go down. By the end the season Redknapp managed to change their fortunes and Spurs finished 8th.
Redknapp started his managerial career at Bournemouth and moved on to West Ham united and later took over Portsmouth.
From there he went to the city rivals Southampton but soon came back to Portsmouth and guided them to FA Cup the same year.
Spurs will be relishing the chance to play in Champions League and so will Harry Redknapp as he has never been in charge of a team at that level, Harry will love to test his metal against some of the best in Europe and who can bet against the magician to come up with the good in Europe as well.
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