Vince Lombardi. Tom Landry. John Wooden. Joe Pa. These coaches built and molded magnificent teams. They laid the groundwork for successful players with assembly line-like precision season after season. Now-a-days more credit is given to the General Manager for a team’s short lived success. Longevity is in the coaches, though. The coaches.

I noticed the same thing happening in soccer after the 2008 European championship. It bothered me, sure, but it didn’t surprise me. I haven’t been bothered by a managerial move until my post last week on Tottenham. A manager abandoning his team mid-season to join another team? In the same league? Who, by the way, is performing worse than the team he’s currently employed with? No, can’t be true…

Harry Redknapp is apparently a great coach. He’s salvaged a few teams on the verge of relegation, which is what he’s built his reputation on. Ultimately he’s the man responsible for Portsmouth FC’s (or Pompey as their fans call them) success and even existence in the English Premier League. Pompey won the Division One title in 2003 with Redknapp at the helm, thus earning promotion to the Prem. In Portsmouth’s first premier league season, Redknapp left in November, a third into the season, to become Southampton’s manager. Unable to keep them from relegation, he stayed on for one more season and when they did not regain promotion, he left in December 2005 – again, midseason.

Portsmouth welcomed him back with open arms as they had been spending dismal seasons at the bottom of the premier league table. It took some time, but Redknapp had Pompey on the road to success, finishing in the eighth spot which qualified them for UEFA cup, the club’s first European competition in their history (they even went on to win their first game, which sent them to the group stages).

Redknapp with FA Cup

The dream season for Pompey reached its climax in the infamous Wembley Stadium where they won England’s coveted FA Cup, their first. It was doubly sweet because they defeated Manchester United along the way. So all was well in the Port City, and Redknapp and his club went into this season with some high expectations. With England’s own David James in goal, Jermain Defoe, and the addition of Peter Crouch, things were looking up. Many picked them to finish in the top half of the table again, including me.

Perhaps the fear of actually having expectations other than, “just make it so we don’t get relegated, Harry!” scared old Redknapp off. He recently took the offer to manage Tottenham. Yes – the team who spent hundreds of millions of dollars only to be in danger of relegation. Oh – and lest we forget that he once again screwed Pompey by leaving halfway into the season. What was that conversation like?

“Hey Harry, old chap? Stop fulfilling people’s dreams there in Portsmouth and come to North London where expectations are irrationally set by our fans. We’re in dead last and have no money to spend, so you have to win with what we got. And don’t worry about leaving us midseason. If you don’t get the bloody job done, we’ll run you out of here. So what’ya say?” He said yes to this offer? Talk about fear of success, Harry.

But wait – here’s the kicker: Redknapp was given an award by the city of Portsmouth two days after he resigned and took the Tottenham job – and he actually showed up! Don’t believe it? You can watch the video at Dave’s Football Blog.

I’ve read about how Portsmouth has achieved as much as possible - the pinnacle reached - and that they don’t have the money to continue to contend like they’d wish. So it is therefore unforgivable for Redknapp to go to a club that can reach a level of success that continuously qualify them for European play. But to me, it seems like another typical move by a cowardly manager who feared lofty expectations by his own creation.

So what do guys like Harry do? Find a place where there is nowhere to go but

Redknapp with his new club, Tottenham

up so everyone will revel in your brilliance. Such is the current state at White Hart Lane, as Tottenham won their first game under Redknapp’s guidance and then upset Liverpool this weekend 2-1. But don’t stay to celebrate too long, Harry, because you might be expected to actually improve and achieve something other than getting out of the basement.

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On the flip side of Redknapp we have fellow Scotsmen Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes. Ferguson, the manager at Manchester United has been there since 1986 and his accolades are unmatched. He’s apparently announced his desire to step down in 2010. Naturally United fans want to know who will replace him. One name that has recently been mentioned is Inter Milan’s manager, Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho is the thriving clubs’ version of Redknapp. He won the Champions League while at FC Porto, then went on to Chelsea and steered them to their

Enjoy this image while it lasts, Inter fans

first premier league title in over fifty years. He won another and then left after some disappointing finishes in Champions League. His departure was perhaps more due to the unrealistic expectations of the fans and owners than Redknapp’s. Now he is at Inter Milan priming them for a return to stardom, trying to solidify the club ahead of traditional Italian powers Juventus and AC Milan.

My advice to United is to keep looking. Apparently there is something with this guy that causes management and fans to turn against him after only a

Sir Alex has brought titles galore to Old Trafford

little success. Don’t make a mess just to temporarily uphold what Ferguson has established at Old Trafford. You have to look at these candidates and think long-term.

You won’t replace Sir Alex, so don’t try to. Find someone with a little thing called commitment. I hate to say it, but Everton’s David Moyes seems all too perfect for this. He is dedicated, evidenced by recently signing a new contract extension

Next Scotsman at Old Trafford?

for a club that is incessantly inept in off-season acquisitions. Despite this, Moyes praises the club and expresses his dedication to make things right at Goodison Park. I’d love to see him take over Scotland’s national team some day, but with United available, maybe Moyes will be the next Scot to manage at Old Trafford. At least you can trust that he won’t be like Redknapp or Mourinho and leave after what he achieves what he wants.

Tottenham Hotspur currently find themselves at the bottom of the table with

White Hart Lane - home of Tottenham Hotspur FC

just five points in nine games. The facts are ominous. This is Tottenham’s worst start since 1912. Only one team, Southampton, has avoided relegation with as few points as Tottenham after as many games (two points in eight games). Their manager, Juande Ramos, has been sacked after just eight games at the helm. His buyout will reportedly cost Spurs £12 million.

Every team has its ups and downs, but what is most frustrating for Tottenham fans is the poor results after two summers of record spending. In their outwardly desperate attempt to compete with the top four clubs in England (Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea), Spurs have squandered their funds.

A financial report from 2006/2007 season by accounting firm Deloitte stated that Tottenham was one of the richest clubs in the world. Apparently this meant nothing to those in charge at White Hart Lane. They see the glory in UEFA Champions League, which requires a top four finish in the Premier League. In a league where debt is commonplace (latest reports show a £3 billon debt for the English Premier League), Tottenham decided to join in on the fun and become a frugal farce.

How do they compete with the top four? Buy high quality players, apparently. Last summer saw Tottenham outspend (£54 million total) everyone except Liverpool. This past summer Spurs spent close to £60 million, while selling their top scorers from last season, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.

Irishman Robbie Keane at Anfield - not a site many Spurs fans wanted

Tottenham has spent more the past two summers than any other club in England. The only good news is they continue to have a halfway decent turnover despite other clubs getting hit hard. The bad news? They have nothing to show for it except a Carling Cup victory last season.

The idea of spending a lot of money in free agency in hopes of quickly putting together a winning franchise is not foreign to us American sports fans. In exploring expensive off-season spending and its capability to produce championships, I decided to examine North American sports leagues. I barely had to look outside of New York City.

I started with the New York Giants. In 2006, they had the eighth highest payroll in the NFL at $108.1 million. They finished 8-8 and were eliminated in the first round as a wild card. In the 2007 season, the eventual Super Bowl champions had the lowest payroll at $75.7 million. Who’d they beat in the Super Bowl? The team with the second highest payroll, the New England Patriots ($117.9 million). The Giants cut roughly $33 million, became the

Epicenter of American sports greed: new Cowboys Stadium

cheapest team in the league, and walked away champions. Meanwhile, teams like the Redskins and Cowboys spent over $100 million in each of the last two seasons and have come away empty-handed.

In the actual city limits we have an obvious case study for inflated payrolls: The New York Knicks. It’s no secret that their record payroll has not paid off. Since the 2001-02 season, the Knicks have had at least the second highest payroll in the NBA, having the actual highest

Money not well spent

for five of the last seven seasons. Since 2001, the Knicks have gone 256-356, a winning percentage of .418. Even worse, they have not made it out of the first round of the playoffs during this stretch. The NBA champion the past two seasons has spent an average $24.6 million less than the Knicks.

And of course we have to talk about the New York Yankees. The Yankees’ payroll and the correlation to championships becomes a little more complicated than its New York brethren, the Giants and Knicks. I’d like to emphasize the word excessive here. The Yankees have four championships in my lifetime, and for three of those championships they had the highest payroll in the majors – but not by much. Take a look at the last four championship seasons for the Yanks and how many dollars separated them from the next highest payroll:

- 1996: Highest payroll by $3.4 million
- 1998: Second highest payroll, behind Baltimore by $7.2 million
- 1999: Highest payroll by $6.8 million
- 2000: Highest payroll by $2.5 million

Excessive? Not really, especially when many people would say their best team was in 1998, when their payroll wasn’t the highest. But the championships ceased after 2000, and the real spending began. From 2002 on, they have had the highest payroll in the majors – by a lot. Here’s the dollar separation between the Yankees payroll and the second highest payroll in MLB since 2002 (World Series Champions and their MLB payroll rank in parentheses):

- 2002: $17.5 million (LA Angels – 15)
- 2003: $35.5 million (Florida Marlins – 25)
- 2004: $56.8 million (Boston Red Sox – 2)
- 2005: $84.8 million (Chicago White Sox – 13)
- 2006: $74.5 million (St. Louis Cardinals – 11)
- 2007: $46.6 million (Boston Red Sox – 2)
- 2008: $71.2 million (Tampa Bay Rays win AL pennant with the second lowest payroll at $43.8 million compared to Yankees’ $209 million)

"Maybe they'll pay us more money now!"

It’s interesting to note that from 2004 to 2006, the second highest payroll dropped each year (a total of $7 million over the three seasons). In the Yankees’ championship years, the average separation of the two highest payrolls was close to $5 million. Since 2002, the Yankees average a whopping $55.2 million higher than the team with the second highest payroll. Frugal they are not. And how many championships has this excessive spending turned out? A big fat goose egg, capped off this year with no playoffs after a thirteen-year run.

"Guess not. These guys must want to win badly."

There is no formula that could possibly prove some type of correlation between money spent and championships. Plenty of rich teams have won. But the sports deities frown upon excessive spending and vain attempts to “buy championships,” as we so often put it. Instead of mimicking the desperation of the Knicks and Yankees, Tottenham should take a page out of the Giants’ playbook. They stuck with Coughlin and Manning, made good draft picks (Jacobs) and played it out.

So as Spurs fans ponder the meaning of this season, a few things to me are for certain. First, they should not succumb to the temptations of spending money on just any players. Last season they tasted a little success with a Carling Cup and perhaps thought they were on to something. Figure out your identity, buy players who can fulfill that vision even if they are not necessarily the best at their position, and find a coaching staff that will carry this out. Oh – and this is very important – allow what you have put in place to run its course.

Secondly, don’t bury your club financially to be successful this instant. They were the only club ranked in the top twenty of the richest European clubs to have not played in the Champions League. That means they’ve figured out how to be profitable without it, so they could have afforded to be patient. Unfortunately, now they find themselves having to fight off relegation, which could reportedly cost the club more than £40 million in revenue.

They’ve done well by putting a new stadium on hold (a reported mortgage of over £300 million) and have avoided disaster with their bank investment owner. With a new coach in place who has proven himself more than capable of leading a club to success, Modric, Bentley and the other players are going to have to get themselves out of the bottom three. Then the powers that be at White Hart Lane can reevaluate their spending habits the past two seasons and perhaps see the benefits of frugality in these dangerous times.

This is sure to be an exciting relegation season with Tottenham and Newcastle United sitting at the bottom. To be sure they will start to scratch and claw their way out sometime soon.