Harry Redknapp has finally returned to management and is faced with an almighty task of keeping a struggling Queens Park Rangers side in England’s top division. Having being overlooked by the FA for the England job, it will be good to see Harry back in a dugout following his surprise sacking by Tottenham this summer.
It’s an accustomed scenario for Redknapp at Loftus Road. When first appointed Spurs boss back in October 2008, he found his new side bottom of the Premier League, four points adrift. Sound familiar to anyone?
Whilst it was sad to see Mark Hughes given the boot by owner Tony Fernandes, it was hardly a surprise. A return of four points from 13 games just isn’t good enough for the amount of quality players they brought in over the summer. Many will argue that the team still needs time to gel but we are over a third of the way through the season and it didn’t seem like QPR’s fortunes were improving any.
Redknapp also managed to engineer a remarkable relegation escape during his second spell at Portsmouth at the end of the 2005-06 season, this will certainly encourage the QPR faithful.
It seems likely that Fernandes made his move for Reknapp once it broke that the former West Ham boss had been in contact with the Ukrainian national team. However, I think Harry taking that particular job was an unlikely prospect.
One thing that Harry will undoubtedly bring to QPR are his man-management skills. It will be important that Redknapp unites the squad immediately so that they find their first win of the season as soon as possible.
When Hughes arrived in January he was welcomed as their saviour. QPR’s new boss has been welcomed in the same fashion but surely with an experienced man like Harry at the helm things can only improve… can’t they?
Andrew Floyd