A manager is paid to do a job. That usually involves targets. We do not know precisely what targets Redknapp were set by Levy. But I would be astonished if Levy expected any less than CL qualification, with the squad and wage bill he has now. Jol certainly was expected to qualify for the CL by Levy, 5+ years ago, and Jol had his ass chewed off when he suggested otherwise, to the press. Redknapp has a much better and costlier squad now, with a much higher wage bill. Modric's improved pay deal, for starters. With increased costs/quality of staff, expectations go up. Same anywhere.
If it is going accordingly, then people will be happy. The managers role is to nurture that along, as I have already put. So what is the point of spending much time on dissecting it when things are going OK, to a level that they should be achieving, anyway, with the resources they have available. I would argue a hugely well-paid manager should be achieving this.
If a couple of games go against you, thats a blip, and you have to manage it as a manager. This does happen to 'the best', even SAF. Wigan? Blackburn? SAF managed theirs and they very narrowly missed out on the title in the end. When things suddendly go tits up, bigtime, and last 9 games, and results go through the floor, that is a season-wrecking issue. A collapse. The manager has to correct that too. Its his job. In our case, was the manager the issue in the first place, and it points to that massively, IMHO. THAT IS WHY this needs dissecting, rather than that, where he was only doing what he is paid to do.
