Much-loved former manager says he'll take the Tottenham job

In October 2008, Tottenham were reeling. Just months removed from inspiring the club to League Cup glory, Juande Ramos was gone. The Lilywhites occupied the foot of the Premier League table, having amassed a measly two points from their opening eight games.

They desperately needed a saviour. This wasn't merely a 'poor' start a league campaign, but a historically bad one—the worst in Tottenham's history, in fact.

Daniel Levy wasn't always the shrewdest when it came to managerial appointments. The former executive chairman tended to chew up and spit out erroneous fits like they were going out of fashion, but he struck gold with a couple, and, crucially, he got it right at this critical juncture.

Levy didn't mess around, paying Portsmouth £5m in compensation to prise their leading man away: Harry Redknapp. For the then-61-year-old, he deemed it his last opportunity to manage a "big club" before retirement.

Despite all we achieved with Mauricio Pochettino at the helm, some look back on the Redknapp years with even greater fondness. The Englishman took a club that was on its knees upon his arrival to their maiden Champions League berth within two full seasons. The football was exhilarating, his man-management superb, and the combination facilitated some great European nights and a brief title charge in 2011/12.

Links with the England job would eventually undermine Redknapp's work in north London, but the Englishman remains an incredibly respected figure in these parts. Now, the possibility has been raised of running it back with Redknapp after the club finally cut ties with Thomas Frank.

"Of course I would do it"—Harry Redknapp wants Tottenham job

Redknapp is now 78 with a more vested interest in horse racing than football. He hasn't held a managerial post since 2017, when he briefly took charge of Birmingham City. Still, he'd be open to a stunning Spurs return, 14 years after his controversial departure.

"Would I fancy it [the Spurs job]? Of course I would do it, without any shadow of a doubt," Redknapp told Sky Sports.

"But I am a realist - I don't live in cuckoo land. It is very doubtful if I would get the job. But could I do the job? Yeah, of course I could do the job."

While some—of an older generation, let's say—are genuinely open to the idea of Redknapp steadying the ship for a second time, this isn't a route Tottenham are going to go down. In truth, I don't think they know what direction they'll turn, but Frank's position had become untenable.

Johnny Heitinga is the easy interim choice, given that he's already at the club, while Ryan Mason has held the position twice before and was recently sacked by West Brom. It's likely a caretaker will be installed until the summer, but an intriguing possibility has just become available in Roberto De Zerbi. The Italian is the early favourite to succeed Frank in north London.