Redknapp's massive gamble

He's always liked a flutter, though he knows the odds of avoiding relegation and reviving the once great club in north London are stacked against him.

Like any manager at a new club, what Redknapp needs is time - and the White Hart Lane hierarchy granted precious little of that to his predecessor.

Juande Ramos got precisely a year. Redknapp has only months to save Spurs from the ignominy of relegation but it will take years to reclaim a place alongside Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool.

Redknapp is about to discover that club chairman Daniel Levy does not have a particularly benevolent attitude when it comes to managers.

Last October, he dumped Martin Jol and lured Ramos from Seville. Jol had led Spurs to fifth place in consecutive seasons but, Levy claimed, Ramos was the man to take the club back to the big time.

It was Levy, remember, who also hired Damien Comolli and watched him spend around £175 million on players, many of whom were of questionable value - think Ricardo Rocha, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Younes Kaboul.

So it's hardly surprising that Levy also decided to axe Comolli, along with Ramos and his coaches, and abandon the two-tier continental structure of management.

It was the head coach-sporting director partnership between Ramos and Comolli that, according to Levy, would lead Spurs back to the top. He was wrong and not for the first time.

So, suddenly, foreign coaches and ideas are out and tradition is back.

I think Harry will be good for Spurs, but if it all goes wrong, will Levy finally accept his share of the responsibility or will Harry join the growing list of casualties?