Tottenham Hotspur | Who was Spurs best manager? Redknapp

Following Harry Redknapp's surprise (to me, anyway) sacking by Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, I thought I would have a look to see how successful he actually was as a manager.

Note that I used the term successful, as opposed to 'good.'  I am seeking not to determine the impact of Mr Redknapp  as a manager in the last 4 years, just his 'winnngness' if you like.

It is as well also to restrict analysis to the modern era.  This can be defined in many ways, but taking it to mean since the inauguration of the Premier League in season 1992-93 the table of the top 20 managers in the club's history below shows that Harry Redknapp has won 49.5% of his matches, more than any other Premiership era Tottenham manager.

	Manager	Years	Played	Won	Win %
1	Frank Brettell	1898–1899	63	37	58.73
2	Arthur Turner	1942–1946	49	27	55.10
3	John Cameron	1899–1907	570	296	51.93
4	David Pleat	1986–1987	119	60	50.42
5	Harry Redknapp	2008–2012	198	98	49.49
6	Bill Nicholson	1958–1974	832	408	49.03
7	Arthur Rowe	1949–1955	283	135	47.70
8	Fred Kirkham	1907–1908	61	29	47.54
9	Jimmy Anderson	1955–1958	161	75	46.58
10	Percy Smith	1929–1935	253	109	46.38
11	Doug Livermore  Ray Clemence	1992–1993	51	23	45.09
12	Martin Jol	2004–2007	150	67	44.67
13	Peter Shreeves	1984–1986 & 1991–1992	177	79	44.63
14	Jack Tresadern	1935–1938	146	65	44.52
15	Peter McWilliam	1913–1927 & 1938–1942	750	331	44.13
16	'The Directors'	1908–1913	231	99	42.86
17	Joe Hulme	1946–1949	150	64	42.67
18	Keith Burkinshaw	1976–1984	431	182	42.23
19	Terry Venables	1987–1991	165	67	40.61
20	Billy Minter	1927–1929	124	49	39.52

So why would you sack a successful manager?  The Chairman, David Levy, is said to be disappointed to have lost out on a Champions League spot.  Tottenham were 10 points clear of a guaranteed Champions League spot when the FA sacked Fabio Capello as England manager.  Immediately the media and England fans started a campaign to get Harry Redknapp installed as England manager.  According to Harry Redknapp, it was complete coincidence that this coincided with a drop in form for Tottenham.