Harry Redknapp has moved to publically criticise fans of Tottenham Hotspur who vented their rage at both Redknapp and the players via a radio phone-in following their 1-0 defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday night.
As a result, Spurs subsequentially missed out on Champions League and the only hope of European football they can hope for a place in next season’s Europa League.
Liverpool currently stand in the way of of Tottenham’s potential spot in the competition with the Merseysiders currently occupying fifth spot heading into the penultimate fixture this afternoon. Victory for Redknapp’s side, who haven’t won at Anfield since 1998, would see them leapfrog Liverpool into fifth meaning the final spot wouldn’t be settled until the last game of the season.
Redknapp said on the situation “The reaction doesn’t hurt me. The reason I don’t listen to phone-ins is because you’re talking about idiots.
“Who rings up a radio station? My dad lived for football, went every Saturday, but he wouldn’t pick up the phone to a radio station. It’s absolute nonsense.
“They’re idiots who don’t even watch football. They say, ‘We were rubbish today’.
“The guys on the radio ask them if they were at the game, and they say, ‘No, I heard it on the radio’.
“When I start worrying about what they think, I’ll be in trouble.
“99.9 per cent of people who go to Tottenham have loved everything they’ve seen. That’s all that matters.”
“I can’t believe what’s been said. I don’t know where they’ve been the last few years. Not watching Tottenham obviously.
“We’ve seen some great football this year, some great games.
“Maybe expectations have been raised, but they don’t have any brains, they don’t understand.
“If they think we should have Champions League football every year, then what’s been happening during all those years we didn’t qualify?
“I didn’t see us reaching the Champions League previously.
“It’s not as if it’s something that happens every year but hasn’t happened this time, so it’s a disaster.
“It’s so hard to get into the top four now.
“We were flying until Gareth Bale got injured and that was a massive setback for us. We could have got an extra four or five points.”
Former Portsmouth and West Ham manager Redknapp has been with Spurs since 2008 when the club were languishing at the bottom of the Premier League having taken two points from the opening eight games.