A Question Of Timing

I’ve got a question for you:

Who do you reckon the happiest manager in the Premier League at the end of the last weekend before the break?

Alex Ferguson?

Roberto Mancini?

Kenny Dalglish?

All valid opinions given the results that their teams achieved.

But allow Soccer Business, if we may, to come up with another suggestion.

Here’s one for you to think about.

Harry Redknapp.

Now, old floppy chops, it can be argued has every reason to be upset given his team were tonked 5-1 by a team they finished about two seasons before but I think it can be viewed in a different light.

And sometimes it’s all a question of timing.

See, up the road at Arsenal, something even more catastrophic happened. They were annihilated 8-2 of course by Man United, and all the press - who had been sharpening their knives for Arsene Wenger anyway, had all the excuse they need to go after him again.

Net result: only one North London boss under pressure when really, it should maybe have been two.

So Harry can breathe a little sigh of relief and move on to Wolves tomorrow having let the dust die down in the intervening fortnight.

And it’s a valuable lesson that, possibly we can all learn from.

Timing is vital, you see, in all things.

And this is an example from our leagues: One of our Franchisees is based in the Midlands and heard that his local football club was laying an artificial pitch in time for the new season.

And, before work had even started he was down there organising a booking.

Did it work? The fact he’s got 16 brand new teams starting on Monday probably tells you all you need to know on this score.

Sometimes it’s just of keeping an ear to the ground and being in the right place at the right time.

Ask Harry Redknapp. He might well agree.