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Despite the changing of the clocks giving everyone an extra hour last night, the development at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club still took place in an extremely short period of time. As we end Daylight Saving Time, we enter winter and welcome Harry Redknapp as the new manager at White Hart Lane. The problems at Tottenham have been well documented due to the poor start and languishing position the side find themselves in. Bottom of the Premier League with just two points from eight games was not the situation Spurs supporters had expected before the season got underway. With signings including Luka Modric and David Bentley, pundits were even backing the North London team to break into the top four. After Tottenham’s loss to Portsmouth it was their worst start to a season since 1955, a year which saw Winston Churchill resign as British Prime Minister, the opening of Disneyland and the untimely death of cultural icon James Dean. Following their subsequent defeat to Hull City, it was revealed it was their worst start since 1912 and the sinking of the Titanic. Cue similarities between a ship far too good to go down and a team so widely supported finding themselves sinking quickly. After their home defeat to Stoke, there were no history books to compare this start with. Tottenham’s start to the 2008/09 season is officially their worst ever. With Spurs fans embarrassed, humiliated and fed up of hearing the huge number of jokes that are spreading quickly around, many searched for someone to blame. The candidates: Daniel Levy, Damien Comolli, Juande Ramos and the players. Chairman Daniel Levy has been generous with his money during his time at the club having spent around £175 million on new players over the last three years however many fans saw his decision to sack crowd favourite Martin Jol as the wrong option, this choice has recently been emphasised as Jol has guided his new club Hamburg to an impressive start in the Bundesliga. The Director of Football Damien Comolli has come in for much abuse due to his transfer dealings. Disappointed with the sale of star strikers Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, many followers viewed Comolli’s inability to replace the partnership with proven scorers as an important reason for the poor form. Despite success at Sevilla, Juande Ramos failed to impose his tactical knowledge on the players at White Hart Lane and due to his failure to learn English surely must shoulder responsibility. Having only guided the team to three league wins since the Carling Cup victory in February and failing to communicate with the fans, numerous supporters saw Ramos as the man to blame. The players on the other hand are the ones who have to deliver the goods and as Jonathan Woodgate admitted this week, “we are not pulling our weight on the pitch.” Expensive summer signings have not produced what was expected and a poor mentality has contributed to the dismal start. With protests organised for before the match against Bolton today, the Board decided to make “some very difficult decisions”. “Relieving Juande Ramos, our Head Coach, and Juande's assistants, Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez, of their posts is not something I have undertaken lightly” said Levy following the surprise and swift announcement during the night. “In Harry, we have secured the services of an excellent Manager of proven Premier League quality. Harry will be working with a squad of quality internationals.” Having also sacked Damien Comolli, Levy, perhaps in an escape from the blame himslef, therefore believed that it was the fault of the management. Whether Redknapp can get the best out of the squad and aquire some shrewd purchases in the transfer window is yet to be seen. With the North London derby on Wednesday night, Redknapp could make a dream debut as Tottenham manager and with a motivational talk expected before the match today, the players could gain a win that will rid the world of the Spurs/three point jokes. However the former Portsmouth manager reaslises his first task is to save Spurs from the “desperate situation, a relegation battle.” One year on from Levy’s decision to part company with Martin Jol, will his decision this time prove the right one?
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