Redknapp - I wouldn't swap any Spurs players for City Stars

[bluechester]

the twicht bastard is going to spontaniously combust boom, a load of vockney drivelover everyone, what a idoit, just put his quated on the wall for the players to read

[jodrellblue]

More twitchy shite, this time playing the victim "I'm just tryin' to earn a livin' "...

Harry Redknapp has accused Manchester City of adopting bullying tactics in the transfer market, claiming that they forced him to drop his interest in Craig Bellamy in January last year.

The Tottenham Hotspur manager, who takes his team to Eastlands tomorrow for what amounts to a showdown for the final Champions League berth, said he wanted to sign Bellamy from West Ham United at the same time as taking Wilson Palacios from Wigan Athletic. According to Redknapp, however, City, who also wanted Bellamy, issued a threat that forced him to back off.

"They came in and said: 'If you don't drop out of Bellamy, we'll sign Palacios as well and you won't get either of them'," Redknapp said. "So we had no choice, really. They just said: 'We'll blow you out of the water.' Did they want Palacios? Not really, I don't think, no. They were half-interested. What can you do? It's difficult. You've got a difficult decision, haven't you? And then, obviously, the money that they offered Bellamy, we couldn't compete with anyway."

Redknapp was asked whether City's tactics had amounted to reasonable behaviour? "It's reasonable ... they can do it, can't they?" he said. "They've got the clout to do that; they can do it if they want somebody."

Redknapp predicted that City would sign another batch of star names this summer, regardless of whether they win the battle to enter Europe's elite competition. "People talk about players wanting Champions League football ... If you offer them £200,000 a week, I don't think they'll worry about the Champions League too much," he said. "They know they will get in the Champions League eventually. That is the difference in what they can do.

"With the players that people tell me they're trying to bring in over the summer, they're going to put a team together that could win the championship. They probably will win it. If you bring enough world-class players in, you're going to have a chance. If you can persuade a player to come to your club for football reasons, then you've still got a chance. If you talk about five grand a week [difference], it's possible. But when you talk about 20 grand a week more, it's very hard; 99.9% of players will go where the extra 20 grand is. It's natural, human nature. That's the problem."

Redknapp feels Tottenham have overachieved this season, having claimed he would have been pleased with a top-seven finish and European football via the Europa League, but City, with their bottomless pockets and designs on dominating the game, are a different proposition. "For sure, there is more pressure on them," Redknapp said. "If you had asked me at the start of the season who the top five would be, I'd have put Liverpool in there and City. I said City could be anything this year; they could be champions. I really felt that.

"When I took over here [in October 2008] and I discussed targets with the chairman, it wasn't European football, it was too make sure we did not get relegated. We were bottom of the league and Daniel [Levy] hadn't slept for a couple of weeks. I didn't come here saying: 'I'll get you into the Champions League, Daniel.' There's no real pressure on us. We'd have taken this at the start of the season."

Roberto Mancini denied all the pressure was on City, even though he said tomorrow's game was a chance to "change history" at a club which has played in the European Cup only once – in 1968 –and has never qualified for the Champions League. "All the players have worked for this target," City's manager said. "I know this is an important moment for the club. We are trying to change the history of the club. It is important for me because I have worked here for five months. I can build a good future here.

"Tottenham have been a big club for many years. They have played in Europe for many years. We are now building a new time and must have time. Our position is different to Tottenham's. I can see how much people here want this ... But I don't think the players have pressure at this moment. I don't have pressure at this moment. We have a great chance to finish in fourth position and it's important we do. It is a chance to make history. We have worked very hard for this and that is a good thing. We want to change the history of the club. When the Sheikh [Mansour] bought the club I think he wanted to change its history and the future. We also want to achieve this."

Mancini, whose team trail Tottenham by a point, acknowledged that the outcome tomorrow night will be decisive with just one game to follow it. "If we win we have probably a 70-80% of getting fourth," the Italian said.

He is likely to keep faith with Patrick Vieira in midfield even if Gareth Barry passes a fitness test. Redknapp revealed that, in different circumstances, Vieira, might have lined up for Tottenham.

The France international was ready to leave Internazionale for White Hart Lane last summer only for José Mourinho, the Inter coach, to indicate at the last that Vieira would be a part of his plans. That was no longer the case in January when City made their move.

"Patrick would have come here at the start of the season," Redknapp said. "One of the all-time great Arsenal players wanting to come to Tottenham took some bottle on his part, didn't it? But Mourinho [Internazionale] ended up keeping him and, in January, my squad was fine. It wasn't going to happen and Man City came in anyway."

Redknapp will give late fitness tests to Heurelho Gomes and Ledley King, and he faces a selection dilemma in central midfield where three into two, in the shape of Luka Modric, Tom Huddlestone and Palacios, would not appear to go.

Redknapp has demanded that Jermain Defoe raise his game. The striker was "fantastic and unplayable", in the words of his manager, in the first half of the season but he has scored only four times in his past 14 games. "We need a performance from him," Redknapp said. "He's still got a lot to play for. He's got to try and get into that England squad because there's no certainties with any of the strikers, apart from Wayne Rooney."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... ty-bellamy

[Dameerto]

I really hope Tevez scores tomorrow night, just so he can do the 'talk talk' hand gesture again (this time to the Twitch)