Former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has criticised Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville over his comments on Monday Night Football.
The ex-Manchester United captain launched a scathing assessment of Spurs’ recent history as he looked to favourably compare the current side to those of days gone by.
During a debate with Jamie Carragher, who felt the London club should spend more in an attempt to land the title, Neville explained why the current Spurs side are ‘the toughest, most resilient’ in his lifetime.
“Tottenham for 30 years of our life were spineless and soft, flaky, rubbish,” he said. “You could be 2-0 down against them and think you’d win 5-2, that’s just the way they were. You knew one little bump in the game and they’d just fall over it. They were pathetic.
“Basically now we’ve got the toughest, most resilient robust Tottenham team we’ve ever seen, we shouldn’t get tired of them.”
Spurs manager for over three-and-a-half of those 30 years, Harry Redknapp, has taken exception and admitted he was angry after listening to Neville’s comments.
Redknapp led Tottenham to two top four finishes in three full seasons at the helm. He also helped his side to a Champions League group stage victory over reigning champions Inter Milan and knock-out success over AC Milan in the 10/11 season.
Pointing to those results, Redknapp pulled no punches as he hit back at Neville.
“I managed a team there who had to go to the Etihad and beat Man City to get into the Champions League. We won 1-0, got into the Champions League, got drawn into a group with Inter Milan who were the holders at the time,” he told Talksport’s Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast.
“We finished above them. We went to Milan, had a goalkeeper sent off after 10 minutes, conceded four in the first half and got three goals back in the second. Gareth Bale ran them ragged. If the game was 10 minutes longer we’d have won. That’s not a team that is gutless.
“You’ve got players in that team – it’s a disgrace to label people like Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Ledley King, Rafa Van Der Vaart – it’s a disgrace to talk about players saying they’re spineless. I was so disappointed and so upset with his comments. I think he wants to do his homework before he comes out making comments like that.”
A clearly rattled Redknapp then referenced Neville’s own ill-fated flirtation with management – a four month spell at Valencia that began with a 10 game winless run in La Liga and also saw the club slip to a 7-0 defeat to Barcelona.
“He was totally out of order and listen, we could all come back,” said Redknapp. “He managed Valencia and when he managed their team, they were the worst Valencia team, not just in the last 30 years, in their history.”
Redknapp, 71, has been out of management since September 2017. After he was dismissed by Birmingham, he admitted there was ‘every chance’ his managerial career was over.
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