OPINION
Harry Redknapp’s latest remarks clearly show he has been left confused by West Ham’s decision to sack David Moyes but his verdict on Manuel Pellegrini is much more baffling.
The former Hammers boss went on talkSPORT to give his verdict on what was going on regarding the manager’s position at the London Stadium and didn’t hold back.
“With David Moyes – he’s gone in and I don’t see any reason why they haven’t kept him. He’s done a good job, got a good backroom staff – Stuart Pearce and Billy McKinlay looked like they worked well together,” said Redknapp on Thursday on Alan Brazil’s Sports Breakfast, as quoted by the radio’s official site.
“So it didn’t make any sense to me.”
The Hammers confirmed that Moyes was not going to continue on as manager on Wednesday, announcing the news via their website, and it was easy to see why that decision was taken.
Moyes was not viewed as a manager, who was believed by the board not to be able to meet the club’s lofty goals in the near future, nor did his style of football see him endear himself with fans.
While it’s understandable that Redknapp can argue whether that decision was the right one, as Moyes did guide the club away from the relegation zone, what he said next was completely illogical compared to the Hammers’ decision regarding Moyes.
“If they don’t get Rafa where are they going to go?” questioned the former Hammers boss.
“Pellegrini?
“Okay he won the title at Manchester City but it’s not always impossible to win the title at City with those players he had playing for him.”
While Redknapp rightly gave Rafa Benitez, who is the club’s number one target according to the Mirror, a ringing endorsement, his verdict on Pellegrini’s credentials is absolutely clueless.
The Guardian previously reported that the former Man City boss was a target for the Hammers and he is an appointment that should be hailed if it comes to it.
Redknapp seems to dismiss the challenge of winning the Premier League title with Man City due to their resources, but just because a team invests heavily in the transfer market, it doesn’t automatically hand a side the title.
While this season it did work out that the biggest spenders in the summer Manchester City, according to Sky Sports, won the Premier League title, the second biggest spenders Chelsea, had a terrible season.
The Blues finished fifth in the table and even though they spent a lot of money and had lot of talented players in their squad, it didn’t bring success as Antonio Conte didn’t get his team to gel correctly.
Therefore Redknapp shouldn’t dismiss the idea that Pellegrini would be a good manager for the Hammers as his previous success in the Premier League was well earned and a result of his managerial ability.
This all means that the former West Ham boss has issued a rather baffling verdict on the Hammers’ manager hunt as he has wrongly undermined a promising candidate.
