Happy Anniversary Harry!

Last updated : 07 December 2006 By Jim Bonner
Being the manager of a football team for a year wouldn't be seen as much of an achievement at most football clubs. However at Portsmouth a service of 365 days would be classed as "long-term" for a manager as they don't seem to last long at the Pompey helm in recent times.

Perrin, Zajec, Rix, Claridge and Pulis didn't achieve the feat that Redknapp has now managed to repeat after he returned to the club in very controversial circumstances a year ago. What Harry has done since his first game back in charge at Spurs last season is nothing short of remarkable.

The dross has been shifted and then been replaced with quality, and then even more quality over the last six months. Results eventually began to go our way after a tricky period and Harry's team have now gone from 18th in the league to 4th. What a turnaround it has been.

Milan Mandaric today hailed bringing back Harry as the best decision he has ever made. His record at Pompey since his return would back that statement up.

In the 39 league games Harry has been in charge in since last year, he has won 15, drawn 8 and lost 16 games. That's a pretty good stat considering that those games contain the two horrid defeats in Birmingham and all of those games where our new players had to gel.

If you take away last Saturday's draw with Villa, in the "season" Harry has been back at Pompey, we would have 52 points from 38 games played which last season would have meant that we'd have finished 10th in the league.

Even better, since that infamous last second winner from Pedro Mendes against Man City, Pompey have picked up 45 points from 26 league games played. Putting that into perspective we would have been 4th in the league with that many games played last season. That further underlines the job that Harry Redknapp has done at Portsmouth Football Club.

There's still the odd fan who believes Redknapp shouldn't be at the club after his defection but there's no debate that he has silenced all of the doubters who didn't want him back at the club. The man performed what some Pompey fans say is a "miracle" and for that, he earnt our forgiveness and under his management Portsmouth look like a team who have gone up to the next level.

So let's raise a glass to Mr. Redknapp as he continues to work wonders for this club. Who knows what we will be saying this time next year?