Rent-A-Quote

Last updated : 17 December 2007 By Jim Bonner
As much as I respect Harry Redknapp as a manager and what he has done for the club, sometimes his quotes in the press really annoy me and I'm sure I'm not the only one to find his comments tedious.

The most common one is the "We're only Portsmouth...." line that is usually spouted whenever we are beaten by a club bigger than us such as on Saturday. Just because Spurs are a bigger club than us it doesn't mean that we shouldn't have been expecting a victory given Tottenham's current state. If that were the case in football then we would should be bowing down to such football "super-powers" like Leeds and Nottingham Forest.

Following on from our defeat to Tottenham, Redknapp claimed that we were still "punching above our weight" despite the money we have spent this season. Yes, we are no "Chelsea or Arsenal" but that doesn't mean that we are over-achieving.

I agree that some fans can be a bit spoilt and struggle to remember how far we have come in a short space of time, but it shouldn't be made out to be an excuse.

Harry also mentioned that he took over the "worst Portsmouth squad in 50 years" when he came back. What about the side he had when he first took over? What about the side that were slugging it in Division Four back in the 70's? I get tired of Harry's over-exaggerating at times as he sounds like a broken record every time we get beaten by any side that is seen as "bigger" than Pompey.

The only thing I was surprised about on Saturday is the trademark "look what I've done at the club since I took over." There's blowing your own trumpet but Harry takes it to a whole new level at times and I just wish he'd button it sometimes. Yes Harry, we know you have been the best Pompey manager in the last 50 years but there's no need to remind us every five minutes!

Could you imagine what he'd be like if he did become the England manager and he won the World Cup? He'd most likely say "Yeah, I'm the best manager this country has ever had, the squad I had when I took over was the worst since 1966 but now we've been through some far bigger countries to get where we are today. Now where's my gold statue?"

I understand that Harry is trying to lower the expectations of the Pompey fans, but he's going about it the wrong way when he uses the tired "They're bigger than us, but look where we were five years ago..." excuse.

Speaking of excuses, is Harry making another one already by claiming that he'll have to rely on loans in January as he won't have funds? And is that the "bare bones" quote we're so used to hearing when he claims that he will only have 14 players available in January?

He says "I won't have money to spend, I'll have to rely on loans really." despite admitting that he hasn't spoken to Sacha yet. Then he's saying (again) that he's got no idea where he's going to get them from. But then we've heard this how many times before?

I don't want Harry to shut up full stop, as it's nice to see him rubbish stupid tabloid stories like "Muntari to Liverpool" but we've been accustomed to his usual antics for so long now. I just wonder if he'll ever change the record.