Just who will be in charge of Spurs next season?

Harry Redknapp - Tottenham Hotspur News

The question of who will pick the Spurs team for the first game of next season has been on my mind for some time.

If, as expected, Redknapp takes the Football Associations dollar then it will become a very pivotal moment in the club’s history, especially if we get into the Champions League again.

One thing I noticed when talking it over with some fellow supporters was that there was no obvious candidate jumping out.

One rumor that was quite strong in the summer was that Mark Hughes did not leave Fulham thinking he would be going to Villa but that he had been given the nod that he would get the Spurs job when Harry went. This may be far-fetched but I heard it from a few people, including ones with links to the Cottagers.

Certainly the bookies seem to agree with the permed one currently the favorite to be our next permanent manager.

While Hughes did well at Blackburn, anyone who can make David Bentley appear to be worth £16m must have something in his locker, his time at Man City was characterised by dull football and shocking wastes of money.

Bellamy, Bridge, Santa Cruz were all brought in for big sums and on high wages, though it is fair to say we have benefitted indirectly from him bringing in Adebayor. He did okay at Fulham but is he really the man to have us challenging for the top four? While he may be a safe choice for the board would he really get the fans excited?

There is also his obvious Chelsea connection, a player and a fan, and is someone who Man City saw as not good enough to get them into the Champions League the man we should be turning to? However, looking at who the bookies have behind him it appears that Stamford Bridge connections may be something every manager we want has

Carlo Ancelotti, Champions League winner, Serie A winner, Premier League and FA Cup winner, there is no doubting he has the CV.

The fact he was sacked by the ‘ever exploding clown car of football’ (thanks to Danny Baker for that one) must go in his favour. As has the fact he publically came out and said he’d like the job (plus Liverpool but we’ll ignore that).

But, and this is a but as big as Carlo’s, he has always had someone buying players for him. At AC and at Chelsea he coached the team but transfers were brought in above his head. Having spectacularly done away with our director of football – how is Andy Carroll settling in Liverpool fans? – would Levy be willing to go back? And, god forbid, would it be our newly rehired scout David Pleat (with his settlement package from being sacked from a similar role by Forest in his back pocket).

Gus Poyet is catching the eye with Brighton and looks to have something about him but I fear he could be tainted by association with Juande Ramos.

If he gets Brighton up his case would be strengthened but we do not know how the club feels about him or perhaps more importantly, how he feels about Levy et al.

The worst case scenario would be Poyet with some sort of mentor figure above him (probably Pleat again I fear) which I don’t think has ever worked somewhere.

After these three is the usual collection of also rans which we’ll quickly run through.

Moyes – Interesting, transfers in the main have been poor and seems to like a very defensive team.

O’Neill – Two words. Long ball.

Martinez – Relegating Wigan this season will count him out

Benitez – Just no.

A foreign coach, one who has not managed in the Premier League before, such as Jurgen Klopp of Dortmund, is unlikely to be considered by a board which has had its fingers burned in the past. Santini and Ramos still loom large as black marks against Levy and he will not want to get it so wrong again.

So it seems the choice really comes down to Hughes or Ancelotti. The big Italian would get my blessing but I think that the Welshman could well be in the dugout come August.

Kind of makes me wish Harry was staying. Kind of.

Abuse me on twitter @carlgavaghan.

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