Remember being in school and there being a load of hype around a big signing that summer, was underwhelmed when Merse turned up ... 2 weeks into the season I ate my words, absolute poet! Wonderful season.
Amazing player, criminally underrated by those who probably don’t support the teams he played for. He almost single handedly got Middlesbrough promoted back to the Premier League in the 97/98 season, he was ridiculously good.
Absolutely gutted we sold him, it was Graham Taylor not John Gregory best player I’ve ever seen down the Villa & he said in his boom he cried when he had to leave the villa as it was the most settled he’d been in his career & the best football he ever played was & Villa park, what a fantastic player he was.
It's brilliant to hear Harry's side of this story, exactly the same as Mers told it! Brilliant stuff, and this says a lot about Harry's man management, he knew exactly how to handle this situation
Harry was the most uncomplicated manager of all time and he always delivered. His priority is get the players on the pitch and get them to play well. It’s why he would have made a great England manager. At Spurs his only tactic was give the ball to Luka Modric 😂 all the players were told when you get the ball “give it to Luka!” One time Palacios passed the ball to someone else and Harry chewed him out and said “I don’t care if he’s two yards away from you Wilson, always give it to Luka!” Also Joe Cole said he asked Harry what to do when he was about to send him on for his debut and he asked Cole who his favourite player was and he said Zola so Redknapp said “go play like him”
@@darrenwessman3827 Redknapp made the calculated decision that calling Mersin out on his actions was not going to help him get promotion, so he just accepted it due to Merston being an exceptional talent. So yeah you're probably right about his man management. Many managers would have likely disciplined him for it, which would have been the fair thing to do. But would they have then lost form because they lost their best player? Possibly. Redknapp knew what he needed to do to get promoted.
For real. Everyones a winner. Merston got the rest he needed. Portsmouth got the results. Had Merson told the truth, Redknapp would have been burdened by the club official policy. I've had similar as a supervisor, trust me.
The thing is, had he been an average player, he would have been hammered for it - possibly out the door! But because of his talent, the team needed Merson more than he needed them. Great decision by Harry
Well done Harry for being decent there is probably a few other stories you could have told there but you kept it clean and respected merson in the process
That’s what a lot of people/managers (not just in football) fail to understand. Some people - wild characters and macericks - don’t respond well to having the book thrown at them! The only issue you should have with them is whether or not they’re performing. If they are, then just learn to let certain things slide.
Proper manager Harry was. Imagine the managers today letting their ego go for the sake of the team like that. Jose would be on tv in 10 minutes slagging the guy off lol
Some managers let some players get away with stuff. Even Alex Ferguson turned a blind eye to Cantona not following rules. The player has to produce though, or it all falls apart.
Merse took the Boro up on his own in the 80s under Robo brilliant player like the late Martin Peters he was 10 years ahead of his time would of fitted in to the great Holland team of the 80s easily
Never take Harry's stories as gospel. Just had a quick look, and the game he's talking about at the end where Merse scored 2 never happened. His stories are always too convenient
@@deanwatson3498 No I'm not: www.theguardian.com/football/2002/feb/05/newsstory.sport14 And with your grammar, I wouldn't try to correct anyone on anything, son.
Also he left on a free transfer so no manager would have called any manager to try offload anyone regardless.. and James g your a weasel I see you post on lots of footie stuff son
@@deanwatson3498 Dean, Paul Merson joined Villa in September 1998 and left in the summer of 2002. John Gregory left Villa in early 2002 and was replaced by Taylor almost immediately. In an interview at the time, Merson said he asked Taylor if he'd be a first team regular. Taylor said no (wrongly IMHO, he was still class). Because of Merson's age, the fact he didn't want to be a squad player, and the large salary he was on for another year, Villa were content to let him go on a free. Plus there were his off-field issues. Also, Doug Ellis was tightening the pursestrings because he wanted to sell up. It's similar to when Steve Stone left Villa for Pompey - he was under contract on a big salary, not 1st choice and the wrong side of 30 so Villa were content with him going.
Your right way overrated! Likeable fella to listen to , that said I’d believe Billy Bonds when he said H was a liar . Plenty of managers s have done what’s he s done in football and wouldn’t have the same platform suppose that’s how it is sometimes
@@deanwatson3498 Wouldn’t begrudge him his few quid or any man for that matter but in comparison to other top managers he’s achieved very little way down the pecking order , pro rata , plus he s a spoofer I believe Mr Bonds based on instinct what he says ! Shush now with the insults based on your love of H , ask him to adopt ya why don’t ya sounds like a fantasy of your s