Your Round, Harry

Harry Redknapp is without doubt one of English football’s greatest, and best loved, characters and it is gratifying that he is at last receiving due credit for his work in management over many years. In the past, he was too readily dismissed as merely a wheeler and dealer, albeit a very talented one, but those who know the game and especially people who have worked with and for him are aware that there is much more to Harry than that – particularly in the motivational and man management sides of the game.

All of which makes it regrettable that this engaging, amusing and gregarious man should be so indiscreet as to broadcast a narrow and unjust appraisal of one of his most distinguished colleagues – and according to reports should do so in the public domain, at a fans forum.

It was suggested in a recent edition of the News of the World that Harry told a gathering of some 800 supporters that “Arsene Wenger is the most disliked boss in the Premiership among his fellow managers.” And for the benefit of the many millions of football lovers (and especially lovers of Arsenal’s football) who were not present at the meeting, this is what Arsene has done to incur the resentment of his colleagues. Or rather what he has not done. He does not drink with them.

“Most managers,” said Harry, will come into your office for a drink after games. Wenger has never come in mine and has never invited me into his. To be honest I would not want to have a drink with him, he is not a barrel of laughs.”

What is quite clear about this is that Harry, and by implication the other Premiership managers (or most of them) consider that drinking together after matches is mandatory if you want to be popular and you almost get the impression that the Pompey boss (and his mates) consider it part of the job description.

Well, it’s a pretty safe bet that Arsene Wenger doesn’t and as an instinctively courteous man it is highly unlikely that he intends to give any offence by his absence. And judging by his outstanding success in over 10 years at one of the world’s most famous clubs, it doesn’t appear to have impaired his ability as a manager.

It is also worth pointing out something else that Harry would do well to consider. The man who is regarded as England’s most successful manager (having won the First Division Championship with unfashionable Ipswich and the World Cup in 1966) was also not noted for being fond of small talk and conventional gestures of sociability. Indeed Sir Alf Ramsey’s aloofness and independence brought him into conflict not only with the press but also a number of players and managers who did not make the necessary effort to understand him. And if Harry doubts that, he might like to read ‘Sir Alf’, an excellent and very thorough reappraisal of Ramsey’s life by Leo McKinstry. It could help him to appreciate Arsene Wenger’s nature and priorities a little better. And who knows, after careful contemplation, he might come to realise that there are times when even Sam Allardyce is “not a barrel of laughs”.