Harry is the right man at this time for NUFC

I never liked Harry Redknapp.

Maybe it was his smug attitude in press conferences. Maybe it was how he always seemed to be talking out of turn about players on our club rather then worrying about his own players.

I never liked him.

When he was manager at Tottenham, the Spurs seemed to revel in doling out humiliating defeats to Newcastle United. (Remember the Feb. 2011 5-0 thrashing! I still have that one in my nightmares!)

I never liked him.

But now I want him for Newcastle United. And he is available and I am sure more than willing to jump back into the Premier League cauldron.

He left Queens Park Rangers for what was originally reported as health reasons, but recently a story in the Guardian talked with Redknapp and he elaborated more on why he departed.

"I always thought I had everyone pulling with me and suddenly I felt some were and some weren’t. I didn’t know who was on my side at the end and who wasn’t. Behind the scenes, I always thought there were one or two people with their own agendas.

"There was always talk about Tim Sherwood coming in. It was like a bit of a soap opera. QPR was in the paper every day. I’ve been at lots of other clubs, big clubs as well, where you didn’t get that. That got on my nerves. That was the big problem for me.

"As soon as we lost a few games, it would begin. I always thought there was someone mischievous causing it. I’d never had that before at any club I’d been at. I didn’t see the teams below us getting the same sort of headlines every other week. It wore me down a little bit."

Now that he has had a few months out of that situation, Mike Ashley needs to give him a call and get him to St. James Park immediately.

Why?

Because the man can coach.

When he took over Tottenham, the team was at the bottom of the league with just 2 points from 8 games. In his first two weeks in charge, Redknapp led Spurs to achieve 10 out of a possible 12 points. They eventually shot up the table and while delighting their fans with a Carling Cup run that ended with them losing in penalties to Manchester United in the final.

Wait. On second thought, maybe Redknapp is not the man for NUFC because he cares too much about the F.A. Cup and League Cup. Redknapp led Portsmouth to the F.A. Cup title in 2006 and regularly had Tottenham challenging for silverware.

In Redknapp's four seasons in charge of Tottenham (2008-2012), Spurs finished fourth place twice and reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 2011. Amazingly, after leading Tottenham to fourth-place again in 2012 (when Alan Pardew guided Newcastle to fifth in the same season) he was sacked because of a contract dispute.

Maybe it was sour grapes, but I don't know what possessed Redknapp to take over QPR. But he did and it was a roller coaster from the start. He got relegated with QPR in his first year in charge, although to be fair the team only had 4 points from 12 matches when he started. He is not a miracle worker.

But what Redknapp would immediately provide to NUFC is a shot in the arm. Just hiring him next week, regardless of of what happens at Leicester on Saturday, would guarantee, in my mind, Newcastle grabbing six points from its remaining three matches.

That secures premiership safety. Then Harry can start working his transfer magic and lure players to Tyneside like he did Luca Modric and Robbie Keane to White Hart Lane. While doing this, he also has shown a talent in turning promising young players into superstars (Jermain Defoe, Gareth Bale).

Too bad Hatem Ben Arfa is gone, but think about what he could do with Rolando Aarons or Adam Armstrong.

Sure, John Carver wants the job and Steve McClaren is a name to think about, but Newcastle can move now to lock up Redknapp, who will push this club to Top 4 heights instead of the mediocrity and doldrums the club finds itself in now.

The clock is ticking and Redknapp is available.

Make the call, Mike.